...... and put it back together successfully?

I have a few rock chips and wanted to have the metal casing powder coated gloss black so it will match the rest of the car's paint.

The OEM look is dull IMHO.

Is this going to be a major chore or are there some ancient secrets to this that someone can share with me?

 

IIRC, it's just two 10 mm nuts that need to be loosened to get the handle off. There are 2 plastic connectors which attach the locking mechanism to the handle but these just pop off.

Easy job, in my opinion.


PS: The last I did this was like over 5 years ago

 

Yeah, Batman... and if I'm not mistaken... one electrical connector.

 

Warning on powder coating the door handle plate - it's made of crappy pot metal, and will out-gas badly.

The shop needs to pre-heat the panel before PCing. My handles were done over 4 times no less, but then changed my mind again and had them CFed by mkoch1.

If the panel is not preheated, gas bubbles will be released by the metal as the PC cools - and you'll have a finish with many little bubbles. First local PC shop did it twice, and I gave up and sent them to one of the Cincy RX7 club members, who had to do them twice again to achieve a very nice job. Search the Interior/Exterior section for 'powder coating'.

 

Mr. Stock, was it more difficult to dismantle or re-assemble them?


Dclin, good point........ these are spare handles, so I'll give it a try.

Got any pics?

 

Hey...

Taking the door handle off is really easy, it takes about 45 mintues to pull it off and put it back on.... the worst part, is all the little plastic pieces that crack when you pull the interior door off to get to the bolts taht hold the handle down...

i need to replace these plastic things as the door dosent fit snug against the actuall door any more.. heh hard to explain but yea, its easy... I could explain it to you step by step if you need, lemme know\

 

The procedure is of equal difficulty or should I say ease.

It really is simple.

 

I just replaced my driver side door handle and it only took me 20 minutes for the whole job. As mentioned before be very careful when you disconnect the plastic tab that connects to the rod that opens the door. As for the 2nd tab on the lock just take off the entire lock by removing the white plastic cap on the back of the lock. Then take off the wire clip that holds the lock to the handle.


Jason

 

batman...

I have taken mine apart to replace, its easy. I have an extra door handle, its broken, but if you want it to practice on to see how it powdercoats, PM me.

 

Did not think of taking pics of the messed-up finish, but here is it CFed:



The forum member in Cincy got it to where it was almost perfect though (PCing), with only a couple tiny pin-head sized bubbles. In comparison, my local shop could not do them w/o having hundreds of tiny little bubbles in the finish. Make sure you go to a PC shop that knows what they are doing.

 

U've seen my wheels?

I will have them do my fenders, hood and doors.........

 

Powder coating the fenders??

Interesting.. i would like to see that..

 

Yeah, I am sooooo tired of fricken rock chips.

I'll take pics of it and will make a seperate thread for this.