Door lock

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Dear Friends,

Does anyone have this door lock extra? I need one – left side. It is not working perfect anymore, I think something is broken inside. When I found my project this was one of the most rustY parts. I put it into a box full of diesel and oil and after some years I got it working again.

I think the lock was used in 1929, 1930 and 1931 (may be in 1932) for all open cars.

I have an adress in US and will also vist Hershey in october so you do not need to ship it to Norway. Thank you!

Oivind.

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These touring-car door locks are VERY hard to find. I believe the reason is that the touring cars and roadsters often got left out in the weather without their side-curtains, and the locks got exposed to a lot more rain than a sedan door lock.

Your lock is actually in pretty good shape compared to some that have been repaired and put back in service.

I’d very carefully take it apart and repair or fabricate the broker internal part and reassemble the lock. Door lock springs are available, from vendors at Hershey and on the internet.

Finding a good usable lock will be very difficult.

Greg

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Thank you for the advice, Greg!

In fact I have thought about that but I have been a little bit anxious to open it. Could it be that all the parts inside will fall apart? At Hershey I have earlier bought different types of door lock springs so most likely I have the correct one (I hope).

May be I should take that as a winter project?

Here is enclosed a photo of the inside of the door lock.

Oivind

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The lock assembly was not made to come apart,, it has metal ears or tabs that are bent over to hold part of it together. These ‘ears’ will likely break when bent to open up the lock, you need to plan on having to make some parts and probably weld or braze some parts.

Looking at the photo of the ‘inside’ of the lock, in the lower left corner, the round spring is broken, the center tab is supposed to be attached to the tab on the lock body.. Maybe this is your failed part? I think that spring is the one that pushes the catch back out to engage the door post ??

I would look is over very carefully, operate it while you look at the internal parts moving, see how it works, Take many photos, and make drawings of what you can see. Then if you do need to take it apart, it will be less of a mystery when it is opened.

The job is time consuming, but it can be repaired. I don’t think it will come apart if opened up, but you do need to take it slow and make drawings and take photos..

If you do need to open it up, I’d suggest using a small tip on an Oxy-Acetylene torch to heat the bent tabs RED before trying to bend them, this will reduce the likelyhood of breaking the rusty tab.

Can you take a few photos of the ends and top an bottom views of the lock? Take a look at that lower left spring, and see if you have one similar to replace it with, that might be all you need to do, and it looks like that spring could be replaced without disassembling the lock.

I have some pierce door lock assemblies for closed cars, while they are not at all compatable with your lock, the mechanisms do work in a similar manner, I’ll try to look one over for some more ideas.

Greg Long

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Greg,

Thank you for many good advices. I will of course first check out the spring in the lower left corner. Report will be made. I will wait untill the driving season is over!

Oivind.

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