How do you shave your door handles and antenna and still be able to open up your door and still listen to the radio? It looks awesome and I want to do it to my 84 Z28 but i've been trying to figure it out and man Im coming up clueless? Is there anyone out there with shaved handles or antenna? Thanks

Anyone with pics of cars shaved would help out alot Thanks again

 

Window trace antenna possibly? They look lie the rear defroster strips except they go around the windo instead of all the way across it.

AS for the shaved handles, they usualy have opening solenoids, you use a rmote and hit the button, the door pops openfor you. Most have swtiches as well incase the remote quits.

 

you put silinoids in the door.... so when you hit a button on the remote, the door pops open.


you can buy hidden antennas to get radio reception.

im going to shave my handles and antenna (and gas cap) but im waiting until im about to paint the car before i do it... i dont want to drive it around for a year with primer on where i shaved stuff....

 

Antenna and Door Handles are gone on my car, never like either of those things....

Do a search for shaved door handles.....

You will get numerous threads with alot of information

 

if anyone is thinking about doing it.. i have a whole kit i NEED to get rid of!! PM me please.

 

you have a pm

 

We (Redraif and I) have done both (on two different 3rd gens), as well as shaving the gas filler door. For details on the process, check here:

http://www.cardomain.com/member_page...191601&page=37


Worst case, if you shave the handles and the battery dies, and you have no other way to get in (you can hide a cable release somewhere, but a thief could use it, too), you can unlock the hatch and go through there. If you have a rearmounted battery, you could add jumping terminals under the car (thats what I'm doing on my shaved TA).

Her car uses the factory antenna, which is now under the dash. Its cheaper than the electronic antennas, works better, and is completely invisible to anyone in the car.

 

you didn't get that idea from me did you...?

i shaved my antenna 4 years ago and had a hell of a time finding something that would work half way decent. using the stock antenna and hiding it up under the dash is definately the best way to go as well as cheap since you have all the hardware.

 

so you put the whole antenna assembly behind the dash and it has a good reception? Well I think I might steal your idea too if you dont mind!

 

justed welded up my antenna a week ago! (actualy, a friend did it).

I hate the look of the antenna.

 

This is LT1guy on Shannon/Redraif's logon...I'm not sure where she got the idea, but quite possibly. It was shaved for over a year before she did that (no antenna at all), and really it hasn't been much of an issue since she rarely listens to the radio anyway, since she carries lots of CDs.

 

oh it doesn't matter who thought of what so long as it works which it does.

i had to actually cut the bracket off of the antenna and just stuck the antenna itself up there.....i drove around with it hidden under the center console but it doesn't work quite as well.

 

hmm you should just try to find a kit that includes everything you need and go get you some bondo or something for the door handles. bagh.. lol woulnt you need to repaint your doors? and fender? If I were you , I would pm redraif, she seem to be a person who would know a load on this.

 

I wouldn't use bondo, slamming the door that much would probably crack it. just find someone to weld it up.

 

This is the best way to go.....

And it's incredibly cheap to have done at a respectable shop....

 

Shaved handles have been gone over on this board a billion times, but I have two questions still.....

1. What kits is everyone using to do this? Autoloc? I know Shannon got hers from Summit....

2. How messed up would this be, if your doors were sagging already? Would you still be able to install door poppers and all that properly, or do you need to take care of the stock hinges first? I'm not ready to do this mod right away, but I'm thinking down the road, and I just keep thinking that these doors almost always sag over time. Does Andy's upper hinge kit prevent sagging permanently?

Mathius

 

1. i really like the dakota digital 9 channel setup... the remotes look nice, and it has everything im looking for.

2. it depends on the drag the doors have and the strength of the door popper. a strong popper will still open it, a cheap weak one wont even if the door hinge is great.

 

I dont see why you would go to the trouble of shaving the handles for appearance reasons when the door sags and looks like crap. Get your car 100% then worry about modding it.

 

I don't think it matters too much since the shaving the handles doesn't directly effect the door sagging. It's not gonna make it worse, so it's really what you'd rather have first... shaved handles or your door not to sag.

 

It all depends on your point of view, but mostly I was worried about down the road, i.e. you install the kit, and then your doors are going to sag anyways, right? And one big reason, is double the price. I think Andy's kit is $75 per door or something, I'd have to look. That's expensive (not saying it isn't worth it). If your exhisting hinges are already ****, they're expensive as hell from the dealer too.

Anyways, if I were doing it, I'd do the whole chassis first, at which point the doors might not even be on the car, so then I'd naturally want to go and shave the handles and finish the door off before putting it on the car, so I wouldn't find out until they're on the car if we have sagging issues.

I don't understand all the people here who want to mod their engine first, and then body. I mean they say that makes you **** to work on your bodywork first, but ideally, I'd build the engine outside the car, sandblast the whole chassis and paint it with nothing in it at all, then fit up the suspension, then the engine.

But then I guess most of these guys are driving their cars. <shrug> If I was gonna go all out, I'd want to do it right.

Mathius

 

Thanks Alot guys I really appreciate all then information. Keep it coming I have learned alot and have searched other threads Thanks again I only have one more question and that is which kit should I get(best bang for the money and will hold up the longest), where can I get it, and how much should it costs (just for the kit) Thanks again I really appreciate it again I can't say how happy I am Thanks again :lala: :lala: :lala: :lala:

 

Strength of the poppers isn't much of an issue...they don't have to be very strong to pop open the door, and you only want it to open enough so you can get your hand in. If it pops too far, it could smack into another car. Redraif and I both have the VPA kits sold by Summit (hers is a few years old, and the remote only operates the poppers...Summit PN# VIA-80158DP, $119.69. Mine is the deluxe kit with the 10 function remote, VIA-81160, $149.95 plus the poppers themselves, VIA-80358, $25.99). The only failure she has had is the battery for the remote, which makes the remote lose its signal and it has to be reset. No big deal. Autoloc and Dakota Digital are both reputable brands. We just don't have any experience with them.

The doors should be welded up, not bondoed...there is a pretty deep indention in the door, way too much to fill. I doubt you could filll the lock cylinder that way at all, even temporarily. There are epoxy adhesives now used by bodyshops to bond steel to steel without welding (Duramix, etc), and they may work fine for something like this, but I have never tried it. I think you may need the patch panels to overlap to use this method, since I doubt you could butt the metal together and hold it while it dried. A shop shouldn't charge more than a couple hundred bucks, esp if you do the preliminary work for them (install the popper kit, cut the patterns, cut out the sheetmetal patches, and remove the inside door panel and all handle.lock cylinder hardware).

I would fix a hinge problem first, since you are going to be (at least) repainting the door and if its misaligned you could chip the new paint. Redraif's car has over 150k miles and the hinges are untouched, and her doors don't sag at all. Her car did come with manual windows and locks (she put in aftermarket power, which is much lighter weight than factory), and shes owned it for all but two years of its existance, so its likely no one ever leaned on the open door. My TA, on the other hand, had worn out hinges well before 100k (power everything).

 

hey lt1guy does the $119 kit from summit come with the poppers? thanx

 

Definately weld em usually you cut a pice tha t basically fits the indentation and weld around it if its ground and filled real good it will look good. Bondo over it real thin to fill whater spots are left over. The mexican kid across the street had an accord and wanted to know if i could weld the doors handles and smooth everything out i told him it would take awhile and be about 300 bucks to totally get everything welded and smooth. He didnt like that so took a 55 gallon drum of bondo and got to work but didnt rough it up at all before he started slapping the bondo in. Needles to say this slab of hard bondo is now slid totaqlly off the door.

 

I have seen a lot of discussion about the 80158DP so I picked up one the other day at a yard sale. It is version 81158DP. Got the door hardware installed and then realized the instrutions for the electrical hookup were missing. I guess it is an early model since it doesnt appear to be programmable, i.e. no light or buttons on plug.

If any of you have the older model like mine, maybe you have the instructions for the electrical hookup or know where I can find them. Would be a great help.

Thanks for any assistance.