hey everyone im not gonna do this mod but i was just gonna put it out there for some of you that are considering it. i think i found a set that would look nice on a third gen its off of a 97' grand am my parents have they are rectangular with a curved corners imo i think theyd flow really well into the body lines of our cars, im not sure how the fit would be though idk what the circle is there for its just a pic of ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1998-...ayphotohosting hahaahahahahahha that made me laugh

 

just to let you and everyone else know...i just bought a set of those rear door handles and will be fabbing them into my doors before my new paint goes on

they are long enough barely and all that should need to be done is some metal cut out and them laid in...they are nice and flush mounted...i will be mounting them with the lock cylinders shaved and using remote entry for the car

they should look really nice with the cars lines and easy to paint...i was wondering how long someone would take to find these too good looking out

 

heres a set i did

 

Those do not look to bad.. I myself am going to shave out the handles almost completely.. do an inset so the hand is completely flush with the door and only the lines will be seen in where the handle is... although with a dark car it make appear not to have any handles at all at night or if i am driving lol

 

i am trying to do that too...mold the handles lines flush with the door so it just looks like the handle and nothing else but still flush with the car so basically 4th gens setup

 

Since the handles are plastic and the door skin metal... the end result will probably be similar to trying to mold the plastic (though urethane) bumpers/ground effects to the body.

If you want the 4thgen handle look thing ... for whatever reason, box an opening on the door and just use the 4thgen handle.
It's really not going to be that much more work. .. probably less really... and last longer.

Just my opinon though.... looking at it from the standpoint of ever having to take the handle out/off for whatever reason...

 

I'm sick of people posting my ideas that I keep secret before I'm able to make them a reality Oh well, If someone does it first at least I get to see how well it turns out and if I really want it

 

from the feel of these handles as well as the way the paint is on them and the weight im not sure if these are simply plastic...i get your point though and its a good point but theres also no reason you cant mount the handle like it would normally be mounted and sand it down then use a light amount of filler to even out the surface and remove the lines...i think it would be MUCH harder to try to properly deepen the depressed door handle space to fit a flush mounted 4th gen or 3rd gen handle...

just IMO well find out tho

 

Just a question, but exactly why use a 3rd or 4th gen handle? When i do mine the will be custum fabricated handles (Finally have the last bit to the garage). Really i think it all depends on how well thought out the design of the handle is in relation to how it will actually look and how ard or easy it will be to remove.

 

Probably made from pot metal then. I never looked at them real closely when I was handle 'shopping'. The square design didn't seem very apealing on a 'bird. Probably fit a camaros lines pretty good though.

I'm just basing what I mentioned from when I did mine a few moons ago. It is a little more involved than just poking a hole in the door and calling it done. Making a little metal box, getting the door contour and spotting it in place... I bet would come close to the same amount of time to fit the donor skin to the door and weld it up for flush handles. That's skill level dependent as well.

I'm just throwing the thought in the air. I'd personally hate to go through all the trouble only to have a crack show up on/in a new paint job. Or, if the handle breaks for some odd reason (pot metal is good for that in cold weather sometimes), it's "bondo'd" to the door and can not be taken out without ruining the paint.

Quite interested in seeing how it turns out.

 

I'm almost certain that the rectangular door handles and the surrounding piece are not metal. They're either a plastic or composite material. I also didn't want the border with the rubber gasket showing and I'm worried that using a filler would lead to cracking (especially since I would be applying force to the area every time I open the door). I'm going to look into Deadbird's idea of reshaping the indentation using steel to accept a 4th gen handle.