Can any one give me some details on what is involved in shaving the door handles on my 72 skylark? I want to shave the trunk latch as well. How do you open the doors from the inside? Are the inside door handles left functional? How do you open the doors from the outside if the battery dies? How do you open the trunk if the battery dies or there is a problem with the mechanism that opens the trunk? Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
Inside will still work like always, a solenoid is used to pull the door latch open and a "popper" is installed in the door jam to push the door open when the solenoid is activated..(same deal for the trunk).....most times a key fob is used to program and work the solenoids and you can get 2,3,4 and 5 bottom key fobs ...as for the deal with battery, I always install lower post that can be reached without opening the hood to boost the battery if need be, always there are buttons hidden in the chassie under the car (or were ever you like) to work the doors if something happens to your key fob.....shaved doors are a neat deal but you have to KNOW thats what you want before you go down that road....The 63 LeSabre I have has the doors shaved :grin: P.S. you can use a release cable for the trunk lid.
Thanks James: I know I want the shaved door handles and trunk lid. I'm looking at a kit from summit (costs about $150) that has the parts and wires to do the doors but not the trunk. The kit comes with 15# solenoids. Do you think that a skylark needs the 45# solenoids to work correctly? Do you know of any other kits that I might look at? The one from summit is a VPA Kit. Thanks
I think all the kits are about the same really...the only ones I've installed are from Summit or Jegs...I would go with the 45, (pound) your looking at a heavy door and I'd rather have to much alittle to much as not enough....don't they have a 3 pull kit?? that way you only have to carry around one key fob, or do the cable deal, find a Honda Accord in a junk yard and you can get the cable and pull setup right out of one. :TU:
Jason, I don't think you can run a car with shaved door handles at a drag strip. Seems I've heard that from some avid race fans. Just thought you ought to know.
How about using a Power Trunk Release? Mr. Gasket has a "universal" kit for Chevelle/Skylark for about $20. :bglasses:
Len are you sure about the rules at the drag strips? One thing that I don't want to do is keep my self from racing. I may not have the fastest car out there but no one has more fun than I do.
you know, i never thought about the strip rules.. but i suppose it makes sense because they couldn't get in to the car quickly if something really bad happened. that really sucks, because i am planning on shaving my handles on the 72 skylark, too. and it's really weird this thread happened to pop up today - i was looking through the most recent car craft yesterday and saw in the reader's rides one 70 skylark with a strong 350, and he has the handles shaved. i was gonna PM him (keith conway maybe?) if he is on the boards...
I shaved my 55 Chevy handles a few years back. Used a kit from Dakota Digital. They had remote systems and good solenoids. I also ordered door poppers to pop them open when releasing the latch. They have a nice set of connections to go in the doors to replace wiring hanging in mid air too. I installed a push botton starter switch to get them open in the event of my remote going dead.
Door Handles Sky, I am almost 100% sure that your need to have door handles. If you are running in a street bracket! The safety crew will demand that you have them for safety. They will need away to gety you out in a hurry in case of fire or other incidents. So don't be surprised if they :blast: shoot you down. If you are running a higher class then no but look at all the pro stockers...they call them door slammers because they must maintain a stock body....door handles are consider a stock item. Unless you run a expermental classo No: then I think you are stuck with the handles Don
Well I'm glad that we hashed this one out. I called my local track (Rocky Mountain Raceway) and they confirmed that door handles are a must unless you have the mechanical buttom on the out side of the door so they can be opened from either side of the car. The owner said there are stainless buttons that can actuate the locking mechanism to open the door that still lets you have an almost shaved look. No street car will be allowed on the track with out door handles. This means no shaved doors for me. Thanks every one for your input.
The green car in "alan"s avatar has shaved door handles and has been frowned upon only at the bigger tracks like Atlanta Dragway. But they are still not legal. For my car I went to the junk yard and got some handles off a late model car that are flush mounted and painted body color. If I had them installed yet I would take a picture. Just another option.
get a sponsor, paint their advertisment on a set of "racing" doors (with handles) and install them for use at the track and put your cool doors back on for shows and everyday. for my old lesabre vert, i swiped some rear door handles from a 4 door car. they are more rounded and lower profile. they fit the holes the same as regular handles. had to slightly modify the way they push on the latch, but it was easy to do. i dont know if A bodies could use the same method.
they do look great but are a pain in the arse to install. you would think with such a big door there would be plenty of room to put the selenoids but there isn't. the window tracks are in the way. my customer had me do it to his car when I built it for him:
Jason, yes, you must have door handles to race, I thought I may be right, now I know. Heck, and I'm very seldom right. While I've seen a few cars get away with it in the past, just makes good racing sense to have them on a strip car. Hope to see you in Vegas again.
