after it blew open on the motorway

Ah so thats where it ended up!!! I won the chassis on ebay but it was gonna cost me more than the price to ship it down to me so opted for another route with a more local solution.

Chicken; mind you, mum once nearly got pulled out of the car when she opened the door whilst "making progress". Given she believes a 2CV should always be driven with your foot flat to the floor it got quite interesting. I can still remember the occasion 40 odd years later. She backed out of the throttle to regain control so it was clearly serious.

The same car also gave her a scar on her eyebrow when the side window got her. After that it got traded for a non suicide door car.

Thanks Ken, and don't worry folks I am going to use the original (bear claw) handle and catch mechanism, all be it with significant alteration. I saw pictures of the old style latch, reminded me of 50's VW's, not the most sophistimacated of designs. If I'm not convinced it is strong enough to keep my gf safe at 60 mph then I'll fit some kind of extra catch.

Aha! shame you missed out, it's a goodun.

Yes prob better than the one I ended up with!!
but needed to get car back on the road quickly so ended up swapping it out with another one all in one day!

just like me then

PBP i am going to pack the bootlid up this week, and see my friend about getting the door i want to keep repaired so i can get the other door of the car and up to you, it may take a week or two but im on the case mate

Well I've updated this for a while, mainly due to there not being much going on, I've got the suicide door finished on the other side, and been pissing about figuring out the handle and latch shenanigans.

Decided to use the old locks latches and catches etc, all be it in a chopped up form.

Started by cutting the latch assembly mount area out of the N/S door to use on the O/S, and plating over the hole.




Hung the door and figured where the latch needed to go, and marked it out. Annoyingly it landed exactly where the old hinge was mounted, so I had to redesign the area to mount the latch and handle assembly.





Mounted the striker on the A post


And after a few measurements and messing around, fitted the latch to the door.



Due the the fact that I had to avoid fouling the dash, the handle is slightly lower than the rear, which I'm not happy about but it's a bit late to go back and redesign. Also because the latch was at an angle to match the striker, the handle was at an angle..



Needed sorting as it looked stupid, so I filed out the locating lugs from the inside of the handle


Drilled and tapped holes in the underside of the handle


Figured out what angle the barrel needed to sit at, marked it and drilled a couple on indents to line up with the holes in the handle (Slipped on the one nearest the camera >_< )


Replaced the barrel in the handle and secured it in place with a couple of stainless grub screws. Used Locktite so they shouldn't go anywhere.


Bobs your real dad


Tried it about 20 times and seems strong enough, I guess time will tell.

I then fiddled about with making an interior latch release, using the original handle mechanism.

Firstly the lever on inside of the latch was at the wrong angle to be pulled in a more upwards direction, so I cut the end off it and welded it 45 degrees round.



Mocked the lever mech' up and figured where the handle needed to go, so cut the new pivot and handle holes


Shortened the old latch release bar and put a blob of weld on the end to hold the little washer in place.


Fitted the handle mechanism and it worked to an extent, but needed about 10mm more leverage to open the catch, so I cut and bent the lever to give more leverage



That sorted it, now works very well. Needs a bit of tidying and I need to strengthen the pivot point, but the tricky bit is done, and I have a reference point for doing the other side which will make it alot easier.


That's all folks..

Woha.....the time and effort you put into this.... And the great results! Respect

+1,
Mind you, I'd still opt for a safety catch on that ejector lever on the door...
(Wondering if a rear door catch would fit, then it could be locked? )

Ken