I just got done rebuilding my 1971 Cutlass Conv. driver's door. Everything works and in the process, I put in new door handle and lock gaskets.

I ran into a problem, though. The button on the outside of the door now has to be pushed WAAAYYYY in to get the door to open. It works fine once you push it all the way in, but nothing happens otherwise. I am thinking the thickness of the gasket caused the pin to move farther away from the latch mechanism. There were no gaskets in there at all when I took it apart.

Is there any adjustment or something else that I am missing on these handles? Can I lengthen the "pin" on the back of the button somehow? Or is there a way to adjust the latch mechanism itself? The gaskets are specifically for Cutlasses (and other A-Bodies)...

 

Take the handel off, and bend the rod, till it opens correctly.

 

Man, thanks! I have no idea why I didn't think of doing that. Oh brother, I must be getting old or something.

 

When you installed the new door handle, did you need to cut the rod to the proper length? If you did, did you determine that length from the old rod? If so, your handle rod may be too short. The aftermarket handles are a little different than the factory ones and the rod lengths will not be the same. I believe the instructions call for an 1/8" gap bettwen the rod and the latch. See how much gap you have. Don't ask me how I know this. Fortunately for me, I have a mig welder and was able to use some of the rod that was removed to make the rod longer.

 

The regular 1/16" gaskets will cause no issue in operation. I added them to mine with no differences.

 

Hmm... These are the same handles that I got the car with (though I don't know if they are "original" to the car). Regardless, bending the rod seems to have fixed the problem. I really just flexed it into place - I didn't even take the handle off to do so. Works much better now...