Jack - I'm located west of Oxford, and 8 miles north of Clarkston. I'm retaining the original outside handles.
Myron - No insult taken! I was ready to reply to your hood gig when I cruised down to see yer other notes. The slot thing won't work; it will only work in one-way applications...like the hood release idea you mentioned. I have to be able to use the inside door handle to open the door from the inside. Just went out to the truck and was fiddling around with a spare OEM latch and handle.
Not looking good. For the solenoid to work for power locks (must push and pull) the solenoid rod must be attached to the lock lever,without a slot, as it has to move the lever in both directions. If mounted in this way, I'm not sure if the solenoid or it's rod wouldn't be smushed or bent when the inside handle is moved to unlatch, as this movement is a very long throw. If the lock lever is slotted to allow this inside handle release movement, the solenoid may not have enough throw to compensate for this slot. (Difficult to verbally articulate this!!) Another issue is the "detent" in the inside handle mech that holds the lock lever in the locked position. The solenoid has to be powerfull enough to pull the whole mess out of this locked position to put into unlocked position. Keep hammering me with ideas - I'm sure one of us (or all) will figure this out. I'm still curious about chevy1's input on this and my question. Best to all - Steve
