The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area The HiPo Shop shaving the door handles

I have seen alot of truck with the door handles removed, I wonder how difficult it is to do the job, I would like a hidden push button to open the door, I know a selinoid to pop the latch is required. Just wondering if any one has done it and how tough it was?
I will listen any options to get rid of those pesky door handles!

I didn't use a solenoid on my '49. I ran a rod from the bear claws down to the bottom of the door through a drain hole. Wasn't noticeable from the outside.

would love to see some pics of how you did it

Unfortunately, I sold my '49 many years ago. I had used early versions of bear claws, mid eighties Camaro arm rests and inner door handles. I remember I had to fabricate a small plate to attach the actuator rods to. But sorry, no pics.

Did the deed on an early import pickup and it wasn't to hard. Used lock selonids from a Caddy in the wrecking yard heavy duty ones with a strong pull. Welded up the hole and leaded over the repair. Still working 5 yrs later.

If you shave the door handles and use solinoids, you may want to have a mechanical backup. I have used a hood release cable run thru the door jambs and behind the kick panel so that the handle is inside the front fender. It beats sitting there with a dumb look if your battery goes dead.

I'm going to email you some pics of the bearclaw conversion. When we do another we will put the latch in the door post so no wires will have to be run in the door. I'm such a computer ignoramus I don't know how to put pics on a website. This is a 48 shown but applicable to all AD's.

Are hidden door latches high performance?
How many MPH can I expect to gain on the top end?
What about the drop in my 1/4 mile time?

High performance no, but one hell of alot safer. How many mph and lower ET does you seatbelts and rollbar gain. If your happy with turning 10's at 130's with the maybe will stay latched factory pieces, be my guest. The 48 with the bearclaw latches has a 10 liter Arias, dual plug heads, 14-71 huffer, new F6 hat, hat and port injectors, dual mags and makes 2300hp on alcohol. Picture available. Now tell me about your bad ride.

I was not referring to the latches themselves, but the absence of door handles.


Just joking about the "shaving the door handles" as the title of the thread in the high performance section.
I think it a good section for the post, but kinda funny to me.

Is it just me, or did someone else chuckle about it too?

Sorry Grigg, I am pretty new here and I was looking at the list of forums this one said "Thinking about a hotrod, street rod or other custom work? Stop in here. Shoot, we'll even talk about power brakes, power steering and CD players!" so i figured it was the best place to post.

Anyway.... wouldn't "shaving the door handles" cut down on wind resistance and therefore drop your drop your 1/4 mile time by about .00031 seconds?

Don't be sorry Captin. This is the place for it.
True, it theoreticaly should increase performance, but it is so small its worth laughing at.
Personaly I never really liked the shaved door handles. I am a practical kinda guy and I see no practical reason to do it. I suppose if you were trying to set a land speed record in an AD chevy it may be worth the effort.