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Ive been thinkin of doing this but im still scetchy on if its worth doing because of the manual button prob. there isnt a place that you can put it where no one else can find. now on the other hand the vett door handle looks sick on a Fbody i dont know. is there anyone else with some pics of shaved doors? or even the fender with no antenna?
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i used to have an 81 silverado that i shaved everything off of .. and i would never do it again. although it does look pretty trick i can guarantee that scrambling around your car trying to figure out how to get in when you have an electrical problem (drain) or your solenoids suddenly stop working.. does not look very trick! i bought a manual release that i was going to put in the fenderwell and by the time i got around to installing it i had so many problems with the setup i didn't even care anymore. anyway.. my two cents.. not worth it! i did, however, by a lower end kit because of finances.. maybe the pricier ones are better??
ha i hope i'd never have to climb in through the back hatch but i think it'd be worth it for the effect.
i'd love to have someone go to open the passenger door and just stop all "wtf wheres the handle" just to have it automaticly pop open.....
i shaved everything, and i do mean everything, cept the gas cap, emblems back bumper handles front bumper....blinkers everything....i like it...cept the noids freeze up like we most know...then you gotta crawl through the hatch....and standing at 6'4'' it aint the easiest thing to do...
i also had heard that people have used an alarm system to roll their windows down from the outside, so even if their solenoids freeze up they can just roll down the window and let themselves in. how would you do that?
Ok, I'm probably gonna jinx myself here, but what kind of solenoids are you guys using that are freezing up? I put mine in last winter, daily drove the car from May till now with no issues. I had 1 problem with them last week. The driver's side solenoid wouldn't pop and it was a simple fix. I just had to replace the little E-clip that keeps the moving part from flying out the top. Just to be on the safe side, while I had it apart, I put some chassis grease on the moving part to keep it from sticking. I plan on taking the passenger's side solenoid out and taking it apart and greasing it as well since I have to take the door apart anyhow. I figure while I'm in there, I might as well.
The window rolldown is pretty easy to hook up if your alarm/door control module has extra outputs/channels. Take one of those outputs and connect the wire to a relay so that the window motor gets power to roll the window down. Something I considered doing with mine, but figured it wasn't worth it. I may do it someday, but I have other things I want to do to the car first.
AFAIK, all alarms come with a remote. It's how you arm/disarm the alarm. You would just have to make sure you have one that has extra buttons, not just arm/disarm. The only alarms that may not use a remote are the newer higher-end models using RFID. Even those technically have a "remote" even if there aren't any buttons on them.
I'm painting my '91 vert right now, this post has been giving me ideas .. haha
just sanded down one door today ..
was thinking, why dont I just shave the handles and get a viper alarm system (or similar brand, just an example) that will roll my windows down .. that way I just roll down the window and get in .. dont need poppers
if the battery dies, I just open up the trunk (remember its a vert) and crawl through to the inside (top is up, so storage space is empty)
then when my top is down, I just reach in and open the doors ..
hmmm .. and the antenna can go
and the emblem on the front bumper
dont know about the side markers .. might have to play around with photoshop on that one
here .. this is what I want my vert to look like eventually .. right now im painting it black ..
I am allready going to leave my side mouldings / trim things off (strip down the middle of the doors) .. so I cut that out of the picture along with the door handles ..
I was thinking, why dont I just shave the handles and get a viper alarm system (or similar brand, just an example) that will roll my windows down .. that way I just roll down the window and get in .. dont need poppers
Now picture this....
You come outside.Top is up....the rain is pouring down....Do you really wanna roll your widows down in the ran, to get inside? How fast are your windows? Remember...Rain is pouring in while the window (typical 3rd gen motors) SLOWLY goes down far enough to reach in & open the door. Now your in & shut the door....The window still has to be rolled back up, while the rain is pouring in.
You really want your door panels soaked? Electric switches on the door...Wet seat before you sit down...Just things to consider.
which is why i'd like to have both, i'd like to just be able to pop the door and get in. but if the solenoids freeze up i'd rather not clamber in the back hatch, which is where the alarm window roll down would come into play. or i'd just put the buttons inside my trunk so i'd open the trunk push the button and open the doors if my battery died on the remote without having to climb all the way in.
Yeah, a backup plan is a great idea. I will wire up a switch in the trunk this winter for a backup. My secondary backup is a little more extreme, but will work if absolutely necessary - I have a passenger window in my collection of spare parts.
One other thing to consider(I did this earlier in the summer) is how you will get in if you shut the door while the keys/remote are inside the car and the windows are up and the T-tops are on? In my case, my driver's window was misaligned at the time, and I was able to force it down enough that my wife could reach in and open the door. After she was done laughing at me that is
How about an battery isolater, with the dual batteries & the doors hooked up to the 2nd battery?
That way, the doors would always work, despite a dead battery...The isolater would ensure that #2 stay fully charged...And if your main battery died, you could always give yourself a jump start!
Or just make battery #2 a SMALL 12v one, that had just enough power to pop the doors open. You know...Something like a motorcycle battery.
good point on the rain .. I think im not going to shave my door handles
as for the mouldings .. THERE GONE .. haha .. its a show / collectors car not a grocery getter .. we dont need door bumpers
I agree with removing the mouldings - 100% better looking IMO. I shaved the antenna and ran a marine antenna up the trim piece of the A-pillar. I've never had better reception. I also shaved the door lock cylinders. The side of the car looks so much better with no mouldings, no antenna, and no lock cylinders. I have a remote start system with lock/unlock, so getting in is no problem. If the battery dies, there's always the hatch; not the coolest thing, but the car is only driven 4 months out of the year. I love the way my car looks with those things removed.
I couldn't agree more about the mouldings. The very first thing I did to the car after it was in my garage was yank the mouldings off. They were mostly missing anyhow, but that didn't factor into my decision. It just made it easier to do.
As far as a backup, what about running a long cable from the latch inside the driver's door to the trunk lock box so you can pull on that and the door opens? Similiar to a hood release cable, but for the driver's door. No crawling through the hatch to get in if the the door won't open for some reason.
One other issue I think everyone is overthinking/being paranoid about concerning the battery dying - if the battery is dead, it doesn't matter how you get into the car because you can't start it to go anywhere anyhow.
As for the "embarassment" of crawling in through the hatch, how much is that REALLY going to matter as you and your date/wife/etc are sitting there waiting for a tow truck or AAA to come give you a jump??
Adrian, if you can crawl thru the hole in the trunk of your vert. You must be a very small person. I'm small and cant even do that.
haha .. havent tried it yet, but got into the trunk one time through the inside of the car
opened the trunk and when I closed it ... I trapped my keys in the trunk (they were on a lanyard) .. so I had to crawl into the trunk and unclip my keys off the lanyard so I could open the trunk back up (dang verts dont have that button for the trunk release )
I wouldnt say im "small" at 6' 1" .. but im not fat
i'm not sure why everyone is so concerned about a dead battery, do the poppers drain your battery? cause if not why would the battery aimlessly die? i've been using the same battery for 2 years and it hasn't died once.
Because a dead battery in your remote, or on your car is part of life. It happens, no questions about it. Its not the selnoids draining the battery, its everything on the car. Starting, radio, upgraded ignition, weak electronic system from the factory plus 17+ years of age. It all takes a toll.
always had problems .. solenoids froze, viper alarm system acting up, etc
when they DO work, its awsome and pretty trick .. but not when they stop working
Ive installed them in several cars, and always had problems with them (may just be the cheap kits I used .. idk) ..but one I put a cable to the outside underneath the car .. works really good if you battery goes dead, cable breaks in the door, wires come loose, fuse blow, remote goes dead, .. anything can happen
but that cable .. anyone can use if they find it
IF I ever did it again to another one of my cars .. I'd get the good name brand kits, wire it by soldering ALL the joints and shrink wrapping them, and make sure every connection and cable is fail proof
and always have a back up if you dont have a manual cable routed somewhere (that toyota truck had a small rear sliding window that didnt lock) .. used to have a stick in the bed for when the poppers messed up
had a guy with a nissan maxima that I installed a kit in, the passenger side solenoin froze up completely .. so he had to tear his door panel out without opening the door and cut the cable (cant open door since the solenoid jammed the latch)
The solenoids do not drain the battery, even if they stick or freeze in the "open" position. They are basically electromagnets that only operate when they get power from a relay controlled by the control module. If the relay sticks in the "on" position, then yeah that could drain the battery. More likely you would get a dead battery for the reasons Dale mentioned. Basically stuff that falls under the categorys of age/lack of maintenance, improper battery sizing, Murphy's Law, and/ or stuff happens. The problem is the last two on that list and that you don't always know when or where they will happen to you. Only that they will do so at the worst possible time. Having a backup method to enter the car is just a common sense thing to do.
how would you unfreeze a solenoidif they freeze up so often?
and i get that batteries may die i was just hopeing the setup didn't make them die signifigantly faster
If set up properly, ie wired correctly, good connections, no pinched wires, etc, then it should not drain your battery any faster than normal. Not noticeably so at least. The control module does get wired to a constant +12V source so it can "watch" for the signal from the remote, but we are talking less current draw than your radio probably. If left to sit for months, like if you park it over the winter, it may drain the battery completely then. Normal use of the car should prevent that then.
Not sure about the freezing/unfreezing of the solenoids though as I have never had it happen to me.
Agreed, but you could say that about almost any mod. For example:
"You put a ramjet 502 in?? SWEET, fire her up!!!"
"Ok, check this out!"
Cranking...........Cranking.........Cranking........Cranking.......WTF!!!!
As far as the solenoids freezing up, the only way I can see that happening is if the plunger gets dirty/corroded and is unable to slide down into the body of the solenoid, or gets stuck once it's in there. More likely it would get stuck once it's down I would think. The electromagnets that pull it down are pretty strong(at least on mine), but it just uses a small spring to push it back out. As long as you aren't getting a lot of water in your doors it shouldnt be a problem. Of course, if you are getting a lot of water in your doors, you've got bigger issues to deal with anyhow. I think it could be easily avoided by putting a smear of grease on the plunger to keep it from corroding and keep dirt out of the hole it slides into. I have regular old chassis lube on mine.
Has anybody thought about putting the button in the license plate area or in between the hatch and the body at the top? Inside the gas door? I'm in the process of suiciding mine and have taken all access points into consideration! Just my opinion!
yeah iu've thought of the first two
i never thought of the gas door though.
the thing is though no matter where you put the buttons, all someone has to do is watch once where you put it, and they'll always have access to your car, theres no way to lock the buttons that i know of
I also took into consideration into making a flat mount button that would blend into the car..... something that would be inconspicuous! Just like any other car if the thief wants it he'll get it! The button is for emergency use only, most of the time you will use the remote to activate the poppers.
I have had shaved door locks, antenna, gas door and even side marker lights for about 5000 miles and 1.5 seasons with the car set up how it is now.
I still have door handles on the outside. But on the inside I don't. I mounted buttons on custom panels that I made out of plexi and fabric. The button pops the doors open. I have keyless entry that unlocks and locks my car.
So when it is time to get in. I unlock with a button, and grab the handle and get in. When I walk away, I wired the car to lock itself.
If battery dies, I can still crawl though the trunk to get in.
I painted my door handles the color of the car to help blend them in. I have no gas door cuz I run a fuel cell in the back. No antenna cuz i can't hear the radio anyways, (litterally). 386 with a "not for daily use" sized cam and a 4" cat-back and long tubes is REALLY loud.
I have no problems with my setup exept that if someone pushes the button in the interior to pop the doors open and holds it for a bit, the fuse burns that is protecting that solenoid.
But I would rather have that, then an electrical fire someplace.
Check out my CD site for a few pics on this. I have no fully updated in a while though. But you can see my popers.
Has anybody thought about putting the button in the license plate area or in between the hatch and the body at the top? Inside the gas door? I'm in the process of suiciding mine and have taken all access points into consideration! Just my opinion!
I like the idea of the license plate area but I would not suggest putting ELECTRICAL buttons/lights/etc around gas fumes. I have seen a car with LEDs in the fuel door to light up the cap and filler neck, but it would seem dangerous to me.
BAM! would work great. but it would have to be mounted to the very bottom and the farthest forward by the sideview mirror of the glass when the window is all the way up. This would keep any kid from accidentely swiping his grimy little palm on your window and having your door pop open.
That is ****ING SWEET!!! I gotta look into that. I already have the door kit, maybe I can just get the sensors and wire them in to the control module. Somebody's gotta tell Neil about this. It would be the perfect compliment to his recessed door handles.
Hell yeah!!!!! Now that is what I've been looking for! I know exactly where to put that.... thanks 88camaroluvr! This will work well with suicide doors!
I shaved the doors and kept the door guards off, i did not put the button under my car for a back up did not want anybody to get into the car! so i took the power hatch out an welded it so u can use your key and have a back up way to get into if i loose power. also most people dont even relize their are no door handles. here is a pic
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