Well, after a long, long time I finally got the Grand Prix doorhandles installed in my doors. It took two years of procrastinating and 4 hours of actual work to get them trimmed and welded in.

 

Tacked into place...

 

Here is the backside. I've got a bunch more pictures on my Car Domain page (link in my sig).

The engine bay is painted blue also, so you can see the color that the car is going to be.

 

that looks great!

how hard was it to hook up the handles on the inside?
did you just cut out the door handle at the wrecking yard or buy grand am doors? using power locks?

also, that's a beautiful color (blue), what is it? brand/color/name.

 

I haven't done the insides yet. It's all just a bunch of rods, so I might have to cut and bend and weld to get something that works right, but it shouldn't be brain surgery... I hope. I'm using manual locks and windows.

I bought the driver's side door handle and surrounding metal from a guy on a Grand Prix message board. I cut the passenger side metal out of a car at a local junkyard.

The color is 1994 Corvette Admiral Blue, and the paint is DuPont base/clear.

 

seperate left and right sides? I assumed before you'd have keys made to match the locks, but since they are from different cars, it'd be goofy to have 3 keys (or 4 if seperate for hatch...)
Are you able to use the keyhole/lock assembly from previous doors?

'94 Vette blue, i'll remember that... I always liked '93ish Grand-prix blue (royal probably), similar to that color....

 

I'm going to take the car to a locksmith after it's painted and have the doors/ignition/hatch all re-keyed. At least that's the plan. The GP door handles have double-sided keys while the ignition and hatch are single-sided. Hopefully, they can put a single-sided cylinder in these handles and I'll have them keyed like the hatch. If not, I'll see if I can get a double-sided key-ignition and have the doors keyed the same as the ignition and then have a separate key for the hatch.

 

Ditto...

I dont believe they can double cut the back hatch lock though, so plan on your second option for the colomn double key tumbler matching the doors.

 

that came out really well. like I said before I can't wait to see this thing at thirdgen fest

 

Need some flat square handles to fit the car better.

 

looks nice. has anyone done the square versions of these? the rounded units just don't flow well enough for me but it's a great ide all the same.

 

hmm? looks pretty close to mine

they are in and workin
now they just need paint

 

I think they might fit the 92 bird alot better tho since it has some more curves then the camaro.

 

Lookin' good! That's going to be one beautiful ride. This is the best quote from your cardomain site..

"Sitting in the driveway waiting for the towtruck. I called AAA and told them my car wouldn't start. I didn't tell them it was because the engine was missing."

 

that looks niice

 

Yeah I called a local towing service & it was going to be $165 to tow my car to Jay's house (he is 40 miles from me). I forgot that I had AAA, so I called to find out if they'd tow it for free. They would, but only 5 miles unless I upgraded to AAA Plus- then they'd tow for free up to 100 miles. It cost $13 to upgrade and it saved me a $165 tow bill.

...Actually two $165 tow bills, because I have a feeling it's not going to start again when it's time to leave Jay's shop.

 

it'll start when it leaves jay's shop.....well you just gotta push it. don't worry presently mine won't start either and i'm sure that when it gets to jays it better run by then and leave running, but who knows.

 

hahahahahahahaha.......

 

It would be nice to have a car that runs in my garage(mine include) hint hint. On the plus side get a good workout pushing cars around.lol

 

what jay.....you want your car to run as well....sheesh what a long list of demands. yea i guess i can bring you a trans this weekend and some other stuff.

 

And for the $64 question.. will the window roll up/down w/o hitting the handle ?
I know mine just pass w/o hitting by a hair (and I mean that literally).
If I use front handles (w/ the key cyl.. I have to use the OEM hex screw grinded down.

Certainly staring to look like progress though
I'm starting to go backwards on mine unfortunately...

 

Firebird 383: Nice job.
The mid 90s Impalla SS square handles look to be the right size/shape for the 3rd gen body lines, but I don't like their action. Tahoe handles are a bit too big but they are durable and easy to open.

 

It seems to have a ton of clearance just by looking at it. After reading the above though, I'm bringing the glass to Jay's shop and test-fitting it this weekend. If the next pictures show my car with shaved handles... you'll know the glass hit.

 

OMG!! Please keep updated

 

HAHA!!! Thats brilliant! You think they'd give me trouble if I tow my car to the junk yard after I parted out most of it?

 

Naaa they don't care. They'd rather it be loaded w/ a nice engine to sell but they still crush the car and make money on it though. Don't ask them to give you anything for it though, hehe.

 

I meant the towing company since it's pretty obvious that its not a roadside emergency.

 

My junkyard back at home drove 15mi to pick up a 70's suburban i bought just for the motor/tranny. Thing was a ****hole body was half falling off the frame. Suprised me they did it for free!

(Coarse have you seen the prices of scrap steel lately!!! $$$$)

 

handle wise, i think the 90's C/K series ones look pretty decent for flush. they are not as nice as the vette ones, but these things are a dime a dozen. they may be a bit big, but not quite as annoying as the stock ones. some day.....

 

I think them handhandles From the truck.Would be to big. if they were a little smaller they would look good.And the glass clears the handles with about 1/4 inch so its all good.

 

You beat me to it Jay. Deadbird, your Intrepid handles might be a little thicker than the Grand Prix handles. These clear great. I'm glad you put the idea in my head to check them though. Now I won't worry about them.

Thanks to Denny (LFN AT U) for loaning me a window glass after I drove 40 miles to Jay's house with the passenger side mechanisms and the driver's side glass.

 

Yep- they're down.

 

I was looking at Cadillac Eldorado(90s) door handles. They look like theyd work well. I'm probably going to shave my handles though.

 

since when, around here its $145 / ton!

 

Good to hear they don't interfere with the glass.. that was an oversight I made with mine that just happened to clear by the skin of my teeth.

The handles I used are 1¾" deep + the 1/8" for the hex screw that hold the retainer bracket. While that just barely clears the glass (only at a certain roll down point..)... the 'arm' (lever) that actuates the latch pull was the true problem.

With the glass down and just hooking the latch rod to the stock lever arm (intrepid handle), when the handle was lifted, the arm would hit the glass preventing the handle from lifting it's full range and releasing the latch from the strike (opening the door).

Not sure if that makes much sense but, I can't take pics at the moment to illustrat what I'm saying as my HD crashed and I'm using an ancient 4.3gig HD for temp access right at the moment untill my parts come in to rebuild my computer (again... kind of like my car... lol)

 

Not horrible- but look at what they once were!

 

Is there a way to get your stock lock barrels to fit in place of the GP locks?Thereby keeping you original door keys!

 

Nope. Hole differnt lock set up.U might be able to get a lock out of the truck of the GP and some how make it work on the hatch, Than u would still have 2 keys.