Modified Door Latch

[SCFFR]

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After getting both doors trimmed, aligned and fitted, I started looking at installing the door latches. After reading the FFR manual, I have to admit I was not that thrilled with the factory installation. I just didn’t like the idea of taking the striker bolt out of the nice chrome bracket, pitch the bracket and then add a bunch of washers to shim the striker out to meet the door latch.

I looked at some pictures of an original Cobra that Chris (Gumball) had posted some time ago. There was a good picture of the door latch (which uses the complete door latch assembly) so I thought I would see if I could come up with something similar. I started with some 3/16" thick by 2" angle iron and cut a piece 4" long. I then trimmed one side to be the same width as the striker plate and the other to fit inside the door opening (see pics). I then removed a section from the middle to clear the round part of the striker plate where the striker bolt attaches. I also added a small triangle shaped piece on the top end to fill up the opening. Then the scary part...........cutting off the tab where the striker bolt attaches. A hacksaw and side grinder made quick work of that so I was able to get the new attachment piece fitted. I kind of put everything together and held it in place so I could get the exact placement correct so that the striker bolt would like up with the opening in the door latch area. Once that was done, I drilled several 1/4" holes in the piece and put some serious spot welds to hold it in place. I then drilled holes in the piece to line up with the four screw holes in the striker plate. Since the plate is directly over the chassis square tube, I was able to drill and tap four holes in the angle iron and into the tube for the screws that hold the striker plate in place. So, everything is either fastened and/or welded very securely.

It turned out to be an all day job but I am very happy with the results. I think it is just a cleaner installation. Of course now I have to do the passenger side but as we all know, the second one goes much quicker.

Ron

[SCFFR]

Just a few more pics.
Once I remove the body for painting, I will get the new attachment plates painted gloss black to match the rest of the chassis.

Ron

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[Gumball]

Ron - Very cool mod!!! Nice work... thanks for sharing. This is an area that I hadn't give much thought to, but will make it something to look more closely at.

[skullandbones]

SCFFR,

Congratulations on completing the bodywork on the doors. I'm just getting to that and it doesn't look like a lot of fun. But I have to say, I had the same feeling you did about the factory install of the striker. I hated the idea of discarding the nice chrome original style hardware. I saw the same pic you described of the CSX latch and striker install. I may try this without welding (tap the 4 screws like you did and thru bolt the angle iron into the 3/4 tubing) but you get all the credit for the idea and the guts to cut off that mounting tab. Once you did that, you were "all in", so to speak. Thanks for documenting this in such a timely fashion. I really like cool mods like this!!! WEK.

[michael everson]

This is how they used to do it on the Mark 2s. Not sure why the change.
Mike

[SCFFR]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the "credit"!!

Mike - wonder why they did make the change? Using the entire door latch assembly certainly looks better. Maybe its easier to fabricate or get the striker lined up with the latch.

Ron

[Erik W. Treves]

Do yourself a favor and while you're at it do the door handle mod

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[Jeff Kleiner]

Well done!

Jeff

[skullandbones]

The odd thing to me is that the complete kit just as I got in my MkIII kit is still sold as is in the FFR product catalog for $120. It just seems to be such a waste of a nice peice of gear. IMO, WEK.

[edwardb]

The odd thing to me is that the complete kit just as I got in my MkIII kit is still sold as is in the FFR product catalog for $120. It just seems to be such a waste of a nice peice of gear. IMO, WEK.

To be fair, that's for the complete set of door latches and striker plates. It's a standard reproduction catalog item, used on other replicas as well. Suspect only available as a set.

The mod to use the complete striker looks good. I'm not sure why the MK3/Ml4 design uses only a tab on the frame. I also agree the stacked washers looks a little unprofessional. Once I had my doors set, I measured the stacked washers and cut pieces of aluminum tube spacers. All polished up they look great, and the setup looks pretty clean and works fine.

[skullandbones]

Sure. I was just making the point that it was not cheap and the value of using if possible. I was thinking of your suggestion of making spacers (more finished looking) and even shortening the striker bolt and using the chrome nut in the kit. It looks like SCFFR did that in his last pic. Thanks, WEK.

[cHEAPSNAKE]

Do yourself a favor and while you're at it do the door handle mod

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x2. They're gonna break, guaranteed.

[SCFFR]

Erik - I have the door hand mod on my list of things to do but thanks for the reminder.

I looked at the pic of the original door latch setup on the Cobra pics that Chris posted and it appears that the striker bolt plate is much narrower (you can see how close the screws are) which would make for a little easier installation. Not sure if these are available anymore or everyone is using the reproduction sets we all have.

Ron

[CraigS]

When you do the latch mod, also thro out the tension spring that is visable in the pics. The spring inside the cage is plenty strong enough. With only one spring there is much reduced stress on the whole thing so it lasts longer.