How To : Upgrade your Door Handles

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steamer1227
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How To : Upgrade your Door Handles

Post by steamer1227 » Wed Mar 17, 2010 7:04 pm

This is how to properly upgrade your interior door handles.

Parts needed :

1.) Flat-head screwdriver
2.) Phillips-head screwdriver
3.) Small pliers
4.) Razor blade
5.) Two Driver side Handles
6.) Two Passenger side Handles


**Optional** For Step 6******************
Hot Glue Gun *
Hot Glue *
Bolt with head that is bigger than studs *
**************************************





Est. Time : 20 - 30 min per door

Difficulty : Medium

Cost : $10 for four handles at Local Junkyard

(already had hot glue gun and glue)



First off I want to say that If you dont know how to remove the door panels, please refer to the door panel removal how to in this section. Or you can just follow the link here
viewtopic.php?t=43114


Once you have your door panel off steps are as follows:



1. I have the door panel upside down for better access. There are 6 factory plastic welds holding the handle and lock in place. Cut off with a razor blade by just sliding the blade underneath the "mushroom". It comes off fairly easily. DO NOT cut the studs !!

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2. Once all "mushrooms" are cut, simply pull off. you may have to make a little more cuts to completley free the piece.

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*as the picture says watch for the spring position before next step. there is a groove in the piece that the long straight part of the spring rests in. There's kinda one way for it to go in.











3. Locate the Pin that holds the lock and Handle together. **Once you pull this out the spring will fall out**

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I used a flat head screw driver just to stick in to pry the pin up a little bit in order to grab ahold of it to remove. The pin moves fairly easy so dont pry hard or you might break something.

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I used small plyers to pull the pin out.

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4. Now once you have the pin out, the handle and lock comes out. Also now would be the best time to swap out the clip that holds the handle to the lock bar to the door. You can just squeeze the clip a little and pull it out. To put in new handle simply just push into place.

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Out with the old and in with the shiny new

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5. Now install is pretty much reverse. Install the handle and lock. Now you want to put in the spring for the handle. you can just simply lay it in the handle to line it up. Once the ends of the spring are in place**remember theres a groove for the one end and the other just rest on the handle** have your pin pushed through the lock part and just about to go through the handle ,but dont go through it because it must go in through the spring. I used my thumb to hold the spring steady as I pushed the spring back far enough with a screwdriver so that the pin can be pushed all the way through. *a little tricky, but hang in there*. Once thats done your ready to install.

Spring would sit in handle like so when its together
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Groove that spring sits in
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6. Now you can go all the way and re-melt the un-used studs down to make them into mushrooms or you can even just hot glue the old mushrooms to hold all in place. I did neither "at first" and just placed over the studs and it actually holds good. In the picture below you can see that i just have it over the studs.

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But being bored with nothing else to do today I re-did all four doors with hot glue. Came out very nice. Here are some pics

In order to due this you will need a hot glue gun and a bolt that the head is bigger than the studs.
Here is the bolt I used.
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Simply put a little bit of glue on the cut stud, take bolt head and place it on the glue. Press down to flat'n out the glue. Wait about 30 seconds or so and gently remove the bolt. ( you might have to play with it a little to get it to break cleanly free.)
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This is what the glue should look like after you take off the bolt.
Simply repeat for all the cut studs.
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When all done it should look like this.........Very nice in my opinion. Works very well too.
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7. Now just install the door panel and your done.

Now you have some nice shiny new door handles.

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Feel free if you run into any problems along the way you can PM me or email me. I will do my best to help you.

Thanx
Last edited by steamer1227 on Mon Dec 17, 2012 1:48 am, edited 14 times in total.
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steamer1227
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Post by steamer1227 » Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:56 am

I'M going to try and get a picture of the spring location today
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r/tguy02
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Post by r/tguy02 » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:18 am

good writup, i was just getting ready to do this myself and figured dissassembling the whole thing would be the trick.
Justin
[02 R/T sold][00 Highline sold][04 r/t scrapped][95 NYG Sport coupe][01 r/t DD]
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steamer1227
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Post by steamer1227 » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:43 am

Thanx. The front doors have one "mushroom" that's pretty tough to get to but with a little patience it can get done. I always seen people saying to replace the whole thing but it's actually pretty simple.
Last edited by steamer1227 on Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:29 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Danteneon
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Post by Danteneon » Thu Mar 18, 2010 9:46 am

Nice write-up :thumbup:

I will add that this procedure is the same if you want to change your handles to the ones with the power lock switch in them. I did this to my 2000.
If I could just figure out how to meld the Outback and the Neon into one car...

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steamer1227
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Post by steamer1227 » Thu Mar 18, 2010 10:50 pm

Danteneon wrote:Nice write-up :thumbup:

I will add that this procedure is the same if you want to change your handles to the ones with the power lock switch in them. I did this to my 2000.
Thanx

Would you have to change the main piece that holds the handle and lock to the door ? Due to the power door lock switch, or do they both have the same hole for the power switch to go in ?
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Danteneon
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Post by Danteneon » Fri Mar 19, 2010 8:18 am

The whole "pod" needs to be swaped. So your write-up is perfect for that too, you just don't have to remove the door handle from it's mount.

As a sort of side note, the manual lock pod has a score line where the switch goes, but not the mounting provisions.
If I could just figure out how to meld the Outback and the Neon into one car...

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steamer1227
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Post by steamer1227 » Fri Mar 19, 2010 10:04 am

Nice info to know thanx
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steamer1227
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Post by steamer1227 » Tue Mar 23, 2010 10:20 am

I would definetly do the hot glue procedure. At first I didn't and it holds good, but you could move the handle assembly just a little bit by pushing on it once installed. It wouldn't really matter because I don't see a reason why you would push the handle, but I didn't like that it didn't feel like a factory job to me. I tend to be a little anal with small things. After doing the glue, it holds SO nicely. Plus it's easier to just do it all in one shot. Unless you like taking the door panels off alot. Lol.

Also, I hope to see a lot more neons rocking the chromies wit the homies !
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éric550
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Post by éric550 » Mon Mar 03, 2014 5:53 pm

very nice work! im gonna try it ! i prefer the chrome one! ;) thanks for the tips!
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