Left and Rights

[Richard G.]

Often there are left hand and right hand parts for our cars.
It is not always evident what the differences might be.
With that said, here is my story;

I noticed the RH door lock was sitting cattywampus.
Below is a picture of my issue. It isn't flush with the door at the bottom of the bezel. Picture is looking up towards the handle.



I thought the lock hole may be too small after painting. I pulled the lock, no small task. I found the hole size was just fine with clearance around the lock. I could now get it to set flat by holding it, by hand, against the door.

Before I pulled the lock I did notice the lack of clearance between the door handle backing plate and the lock. So I pulled the backing plate and this is what I found;

At first glance I though this was the plate supplied that trim parts supplied with the handles had been incorporated into the assembly. Closer inspection identified it as the OEM plate not a reproductions.

Then I noticed the hole in the plate is not centered in the plate and this one obviously belonged on the LH side. That would account for the lack of clearance! Because it hand been installed on the wrong side of the car it had been forcing the lock down and out on the bottom because of lack of clearance between the handle backing plate the the keyed lock retainer plate.
I know the pros are saying to themselves, "you didn't know this"? Well I didn't and neither did the installer.
Go figure.

Here is a picture of the drivers side "as found".

The backing plate used on the drives door is obviously the one that came with the replacement handle.


Maybe the backing plate changed design when the door handles design was changed in 64 I don''t know but I can tell you for sure there are two sides to this story.
Rick

[Joe L.]

Re: Left and Rights

Often there are left hand and right hand parts for our cars.
It is not always evident what the differences might be.
With that said, here is my story;

I noticed the RH door lock was sitting cattywampus.
Below is a picture of my issue. It isn't flush with the door at the bottom of the bezel. Picture is looking up towards the handle.



I thought the lock hole may be too small after painting. I pulled the lock, no small task. I found the hole size was just fine with clearance around the lock. I could now get it to set flat by holding it, by hand, against the door.

Before I pulled the lock I did notice the lack of clearance between the door handle backing plate and the lock. So I pulled the backing plate and this is what I found;

At first glance I though this was the plate supplied that trim parts supplied with the handles had been incorporated into the assembly. Closer inspection identified it as the OEM plate not a reproductions.

Then I noticed the hole in the plate is not centered in the plate and this one obviously belonged on the LH side. That would account for the lack of clearance! Because it hand been installed on the wrong side of the car it had been forcing the lock down and out on the bottom because of lack of clearance between the handle backing plate the the keyed lock retainer plate.
I know the pros are saying to themselves, "you didn't know this"? Well I didn't and neither did the installer.
Go figure.

Here is a picture of the drivers side "as found".

The backing plate used on the drives door is obviously the one that came with the replacement handle.


Maybe the backing plate changed design when the door handles design was changed in 64 I don''t know but I can tell you for sure there are two sides to this story.
Rick

Rick------


When GM specifies and catalogs different part numbers for left and right side, there IS a difference between the parts. It might be subtle, but there is a difference.

By the way, left side usually have odd numbered part numbers and right side have even numbered part numbers. However, there are exceptions.