87-93 Door Latch Assembly

I am replacing the left hand door latch on my 91 GT and I am not certain of the orientation and location of the rods on the latch since I did not disassemble the door. The illustration (Page 44-16-3) in the official Ford 91 Mustang Car Shop Manual was not easy to understand.

I took a picture of the latch guessing at the location and function of the rods...did I guess correctly?

I installed the new latch this weekend...It went in suprisingly easy!

1) Inserted latch with key lock rod installed on latch, inside door and then connected the other end of the lock rod to the key lock. That allowed the latch to suspend inside the door and swing freely on the key lock rod.

2) Connected inside door handle rod to latch. this required turning the latch mechanism 90 degrees while it was suspended on the key lock rod.

3) Connected other end of inside door handle rod to door handle. Then installed handle on door.

4) Oriented the door latch properly and then hand tightened 3 new screws into door to hold latch.

5) Inserted outside door handle rod into handle end of handle and then inserted the other end into door latch an plastic retainer.

6) Inserted lock knob rod through hole in door and attached other end of lock rod into door latch and plastic retainer.

7) Shut door to try out new latch...The striker was positioned too far inside of door. Removed striker with socket wrench and T50 bit. Changed plastic bushing on striker bolt and reinstalled striker in a position slightly outward...door lined up correctly with body...Hurray!!

8) Fully tightened screws on latch and striker.


Now I have to replace the door lock actuators...I can't decide if I will spend $60 for the 50Resto (LRS-21842K) door lock actuator kit, $35 for the A&M Auto door lock actuator kit or mess around all day fabricating something up using one of the $5 generic Power Door Lock Actuator kits on eBay...