C2 Passenger door inop!

[Jim Dailey]

The passenger side door on my 1963 has decided to remain closed! The exterior and interior door release function, but fail to release the door latch. I have tried locking and unlocking the door, and the lock functions, but this does not help. I have rolled the window down and can see the mechanism's (lock, releases) moving, but nothing releases the catch. Is there any way to release the catch through the window slot?

I have recently joined the NCRS, am new to the forum and certainly a novice Corvette owner. I appreciate any assisatnce you might provide.

[Joel T.]

Re: C2 Passenger door inop!

Hi Jim,

I'm not sure about opening the door the way you mention. I have never had to do that... Can you see the rod which runs from the inside release knob to the mechanism at the end of the door, and does that move when you slide the knob? Similarly, when you press the exterior button, you should see movement of the mechanism. It is hard to describe, but in the mechanism (rear edge of the door) there is a little spring loaded pawl which gets moved aside so as to release the locking star shaped gear, and hence the door. If everything is connected I would make sure that the part of the mechanism which is activated by the exterior button is out (toward the exterior handle and not stuck)and then try the interior knob. Failing that, moving that little pawl may be the answer but I have no idea if that can even be done through the window opening. The actual door lock (key) does very little actually.

I had a similar problem (but thankfully not the same)on my 1963 SWC; passenger side. The symptom was that I could open the door from the inside but could not open it from the outside. It drove me nuts for a bit. I finally removed the locking mechanism (three screws on the trailing edge of the door) and spent some time figuring out how the thing actually worked. Cleaned it in some gas to get a good look and to get all the years of grease and gunk off. In the end, there was one sliding part (the one which is moved by pressing the exterior button) which was slightly out of alignment and which would stick once depressed effectively screwing up the mechanism. A careful bend with a screwdriver was all it needed. With a little red grease it is back in the car and working just fine! Sorry, I cannot be of more help...

Good luck, Joel

[Jim Dailey]

Re: C2 Passenger door inop!

Joel, thanks for the responce. I have checked the movement of the mechanism's, both on the exterior and interior handles, and both are moving, although somewhat slowly. I can see a thick coating of a yellow substance, perhaps aged white lithium greese that could be causing the mechanism to slow. I also see the locking star shaped gear you described. I tried bending a hook in a coat hanger to see if I could move the gear, and it won't budge. Last year, middle of a hor summer at a car show the passenger door was locked while we were away and when we tried to open it, the locking mechanism wouldn't budge. I suspect the greese coating may have somehthing to do with this problem. I can work the lock, and can see how the locking mechanism block the inward movement of the exterior door handle, and it appears to be functioning fine. It is cold here in the midwest and maybe the greese has things gummed up, who knows. It will be difficult, if not impossible to remove the door panel from the inside with the door closed, but will have to see if this can be done.

[Ken K.]

Re: C2 Passenger door inop!

The other thing you can do is to take the driver's door panel off and study how the levers and rods work. From that, you can use a coat hanger on the pass door to help you release the correct item.

[Ken Edmunds]

Re: C2 Passenger door inop!

Jim, if you think solidified grease is the issue you may want to try to melt the grease and hopefully free up the mechanism. I would try suffing some rags up under the door from the outside- a lot of them as there are drain holes in the bottom of the doors and you wan to catch any drips that come out of them. Take a can of carburetor cleaner with the plastic tube that comes with it and spray the latch down through the window opening-that may free it up.

[Jack H.]

Re: C2 Passenger door inop!

With a flashlight, and appropriate length pry bar and experienced 'feel', a good Corvette mechanic can have that door open in about 5 minutes flat! He does this by reaching the pry bar through the window channel and getting it directly onto the door latch release handle.

Typically one of two things fail: (a) either the connecting rod to the door latch has fallen off, or (b) the latch release handle has fatigue fractured. With prior experience and the right sense of 'feel', zip, he'll open the door.

If you haven't done this before, you can spend HOURS dinking around until you happen to get 'lucky'... I suggest you go see Mr. Goodwrench and save yourself some frustration!