Paint and Body Unshave Door Handles

No.11

10 Year Member
Oct 13, 2009
614
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Los Angeles
Hey guys, I just purchased a 91 LX Hatchback with GT40 heads and intake, E303 cam, BBK longtubes, BBK offroad h-pipe, and mac catback, BBK CAI, most everything else is stock.

Anyway, it came with shaved door handles and door poppers. While it was cool the first couple times, I'm finding that it is not at all convenient, and I really don't mind door handles at all. I hate that I have go through the driver side to open the passenger door (my setup only pops driver door).

Is it really as simple as drilling the holes back on in the exact correct place and reinstalling all the necessary parts and hardware? Thanks in advance.
 
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Not so much, post a picture of the door handle area for me please.

I'll advise as best as I can bass on that.

Literally just completely smooth as if there was never a door handle...
 

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Literally just completely smooth as if there was never a door handle...
Without a doubt, finding two nice condition unmolested doors will be by far the easiest route.

Now, something to check, take off the inner panel and look where the original handle was. You probably will see the concave recess where the handle was originally. If this is the case, then you'll need to remove the plate they welded over the recess to "smooth" the outer door panel. This can be done without too much damage to the door, but you'll need to be careful cutting out the patch. Be sure to grind all of the paint off the area of the patch so you can see what needs to be done.

If the PO cut the original recess out and welded in a flat spot patch. I wouldn't even try to fix it myself. You can get replacement doors relatively cheap. Take your time searching for a set that is in nice condition.

I bet that was done quite some time ago.
 
Conversely you could just install a second popper kit for the passenger. When I shaved my handles I left the locks in place and redid the mechanism so that when you turn the key the door pops open....
 
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