Otto Mechanic

Extra credit: put some masking tape around the hole in the door to protect the paint while you're trying to install the handle. You'll be rotating the handle through at least 180 degrees during installation and it's easy to scratch the door.

Also, installing a Band-Aid or cloth athletic tape on the base of your index finger (you'll know exactly where to put it after your first attempt) might relieve some of the pain.

Oh, and get a stool to sit on. Standing over the door, half bent at the waist while doing all this will not be easy on your lower back. Sit while you're doing it, don't stand.

mazdaverx7

Why not just remove the door handle all together and fix it that way?

V2Rocket

that's a spendy "looks" upgrade that only you will notice...

sucks that you have a late model car, they have some kind of anti-theft sheet metal in the way.
on early model 944s door handles can be installed and functional in a few minutes, still tight space but nothing in the way.

Otto Mechanic

Well, at least the door handles suck The rest of the car seems OK. I've never tried the repair on an early car so I hope it's easier. What helps? Can you work on it after removing the door card for better access? Taking the door card off on an S2 gained me nothing because there was sheet metal in the way and I couldn't see a way to remove it.

FRporscheman

That black metal anti-theft sheet metal is THE DEVIL!

hanick

My 83 has blue anti theft sheet metal on the passenger side only.

Otto Mechanic

Has anybody ever tried just cutting it out? I've looked into tools for breaking into these cars, they aren't very sophisticated. Seems to me that thing is just a PITA that needs to be deleted.

Arominus

On a late car the hot ticket is to just remove the door glass, after that its trivial to remove the window track and gain access to the door handle area. It does add about 30 min per door but really worth it and you don't mess up the handle/latch getting to it and you don't end up wanting to kill the designer. Also be very very nice to the door lock/door latch release mech, the arms on it that the handle attaches to are very easy to bend and to introduce a significant amount of play, this will reduce the effectiveness of the trigger. I have a tech post coming about this.

Otto Mechanic

Arominus-

It would be great if you could share that tech note with us, I'm almost certain I'll need to do this all over again on the passenger side someday and I'd rather not have to kill the designer

Regards,

FRporscheman

The black sheet metal can be removed; it does not NEED to be in place for anything to function.

I don't know if I'd go as far as to remove the window just to change the door handle. All you need is the right pry tool and the right set of pliers to detach/attach the linkages. But then again, I have a thing for tools...

TintyJ

Hi Hanick,

Can you confirm this part worked onthe pre-85.5 model? I've snapped mine exactly the same but it appears to be a very slightly different shape and isn't on the parts list. Did it all work out 3 years ago!?

Cheers!

Tiger03447

Several years ago, I repaired my passenger door handle. It needs adjustment as the trigger depresses, but the latch doesn't fully disengage.the lock.. I think I need to either lengthen or shorten the black plastic ball connector...Should I go shorter or longer with it to get the lock mechanism below to actuate correctly? Currently, I have to push on the door to get it to open, while using the trigger, and then it opens, but reluctantly. TIA..

hanick

Yes I can confirm the part worked Three years ago and is still working today. Good luck.

secondchris

I used this late-style repair linkage in an early car handle and while it does work the operation is definitely looser than with the original linkage. If the other pieces in the door mechanism are in good condition this extra slop may be tolerated but if the latch is worn or bent then the addition of the extra wiggle in this linkage might be too much and the handle won't work as intended despite how much time you spend adjusting the black plastic connector.

I'm showing the photo posted earlier in this thread and you can see how loosely this new linkage fits into the old handles. When I installed this on my early car the handle would work, but I had to pull the trigger until it bottomed out. I used to think that the problem was the inability to lengthen the rod sufficiently before the black connector unscrewed completely, but I realized that good operation requires the rod to engage with the latch at the correct angle as well. When fitting the poor fitting later linkage to an early handle you introduce lateral movement to the rod and this will affect how it engages with the latch. If you are lucky and your latch is in great shape then this won't matter as much.