When I first saw a 1994 Impala I wondered how they could make such a beautiful car out of such an ugly one, the Caprice. The answer was that they essentially striped off most all of the molding and emblems and generally cleaned it up. I figured since I did not have enough money to buy a new Impala I would get a caprice and take it to the next extreme where the Impala and GM would not dare to go. Major mods were in order and on the top of the list for me was shaved door handles.
I looked in Street Rod magazines and found a couple of companies that sell solenoids to open doors on street rods. I finally decided on Unkl Al's. They sold a nice kit that came with a lot of hardware for mounting the solenoids. I also had to order Door Go's, or spring loaded door pushers. When the solenoid activates the door latch there needs to be something that pushes the door out beyond the latch so the door just doesn't sit there and re-latch when the solenoid kicks off.
Common questions I get are:
How do you open your doors? . . . I hooked up relays to my alarm so when I disarm my alarm it pops open my door. From the inside you can use either the regular handle or if you hit the stock unlock switch in the front doors it opens that door, if you hit the lock button it opens the back door on that side of the car. And I have a switch in my door that opens either passenger side door for people getting in on that side. Also none of the solenoids work when the car is in drive or reverse as the ground for he relays goes through the neutral safety switch on the steering column.
What if your battery goes dead? . . . Dual batteries, with a switch for the battery relay in the trunk. I may wire it so that when my alarm module sends the unlock pulse it also sends a pulse to the battery relay so both batteries will be connected when ever I unlock my door with the alarm. That might be hard on the battery relay kicking on and off so much, I'll see. Also I have dual Optima Batteries so I don't think I will have a problem for a few years.
What if you loose your keys and alarm transmitter? . . . Plastic key in my wallet, to get into the trunk, and new transmitter inside the car (hidden)
What if both batteries go dead at the same time? . . . Could happen, In running my power wire for my audio system I have ran a 4 gage wire from each battery into my trunk for my amps. If both batteries are dead I could quick charge them just enough to get the doors open and then open the hood to change out the batteries.
What if your solenoid fails? . . . I have control over all of the doors from the trunk. Not so funny story; I originally just sent wires back to the trunk for the 2 drivers side doors thinking that if the drivers door solenoid went bad I would have the rear passenger door on the drivers side to use. Well I did not count on someone slamming into my drivers side rear quarter panel and pushing the rear door into the front one. When I went out and pressed my alarm remote the solenoid tripped the latch but the door did not move. I had to use a crow bar to separate the doors then press my alarm to unlatch it. Not a good day.
What if all of your precautions fail? . . . Well I've got an extra drivers side rear passenger window at home I could use if I have to do the old baseball bat to the window to get in. And no, I can not use a slim Jim as I put in plates over the door latch assemblies for security reasons.
Overall I think I have thought of and planned for every possible situation. If you can think of any others feel free to inquire you may save me some frustration in the future.
Here Are some E-mail Conversations I have had with people about Shaving Door Handles:
> I don't know the first thing I need to do to get
> that remote door action happen.
Well first I would say determine if this is something you can tackle on
your own or do you want a professional to handle it. since there are
not many shops in the world centered around shaving door handles chances
are you will able to do just as good if not better job doing it your
self. This assumes you have had some experience with electrical work.
As far as the body work, I leave that up to the professionals.
> I don't know what I need, I have an alarm
You are half way there, If you are confident in the reliability of your
alarm you can use it to activate your solenoids, it will work through
the door unlock feature of your alarm (it does have that right)
First step though is to plan out your install:
open up your door see how much room you have in there and look at your
latch, see where the rods attach and where you would mount a solenoid to
get the most leverage.
Next you will need to get some door solenoids
(these mount in your door and do the actual unlatching)
I recommend Unk Al's - see below
Although Check out Summit Racing as well
Next you will need Door Poppers - Summit racing again
Then you will probably need the following electrical components:
10 GA. wire
Standard Accessory relays (bosch - german made - no Taiwanese crap) 1
per door
circuit breakers 40 amp - not fuses
I am going to include below a few conversations i have had with people
concerning the solenoids. Read through it and write a list of
questions for me and i would be glad to explain in further detail.
> The inside of the door looks a little tight around the latch area.
It is with the window channel and all but once you get all of the door
lock/unlock rods and outside door handle latches out of the way it kind
of opens up. I found a couple of places to mount my solenoid in the
door, but the one i came up with i liked for a few reasons:
1. it is pretty high in the door so i have no risk of water damage.
2. When the window is all the way up it still sort of shields the
solenoid, so getting a slim jim in there to pull on it would be pretty
hard.
3. the window is able to operate fully functional like stock. I have
seen a few installs where they have had to limit the window travel as
not to hit the solenoid in the door.
> Where should I purchase the system?
Well you have a few options here. You can buy complete systems that
include key chain transmitters, actuators, relays and door pushers. The
only problem is that i have yet to see a complete system that i like and
would recommend. They always seem to come with these cheapo actuators
(do not look like they would pull more than 5 lb..) and I wonder very
much as to the quality and security of the transmitters. Or you can
take the route i did - if you already have an alarm you can just buy the
heavy duty actuators and get some Bosch high quality relays and do a
custom wiring job with the relays and alarm. If you do not already have
an alarm and are considering getting one I would suggest finding one
that has many programmable convenience features for the following
reasons:
I have an alarm that has a trunk unlock feature the first press on my
transmitter unlatches my door and the second press unlatches my trunk,
if i did not have a trunk (like a van ) then I would wire the second
press
to unlock the passengers side door for when i have passengers.
Back to your question of where:
Autoloc.com is another source for stuff, I have not recommended them
before just because of there inferior merchandise that they sell but
looking just now they seem to be improving take a look at the solenoids
in their kit VK 2500 PRO3 it looks like the exact same ones you can
get from unkl al's but once again i do not know about the installation
hardware, that is what really makes or breaks a kit.
http://www.autoloc.com/pages/main/products.html
Dakota digital sells some kits and different actuators they also sell
some door pushers that i did not care for and also a magnetic entry
system (popular with the hot rods)- 800-852-3228 says 2.00 on catalog
but i think i got mine for free..
Balls rod and custom sells something called the RPM 3:7 Remote power
module - its a transmitter and module package ($170) sound pretty good
but i have never seen it in person - Balls rod and custom New Jersey
219-457-2880 free catalog!
Summit racing sells some kits and the exact door pushers i got for 15.00
less DAMN!!! 330-630-3030 They will definitely send you a catalog
(probably send you one already I think they send one to everyone with a
car!!!)
Unkl Al's - my personal faviorite the "Supersolenoids" also the
"door
gos" get the door gos from summit and save 15 bucks they are the same
thing unkl al's is selling. he also sells a remote entry system for 160
unknown quality. 928-704-8655 Arizona
Street Works - They sell something called the hole shot solenoid,
exactly the same solenoid unkl al's is selling the only difference is
the
mounting bracket and the mounting hardware that comes in the kit - 30
less that unkl al's and they charge for their catalog - 860-859-0513 I
will copy the catalog if you are interested it has some other neat stuff
in there also so it might be worth the money you get a refund with your
first purchase.
There ae a few more companies out there even some on the internet, i ran
across them once but i was not to impressed with there offerings. Also
look in street rod magazines for companies offering kits, Street rodder
is a good place to start
> And should I install it my self?
That is a question you will have to answer for yourself, I do not know
your skill level with mechanics or electrical work but it must be pretty
high if you are even considering doing the work yourself. A little back
ground on me: I worked in a auto electrical shop in high school and
learned alot about relays and alarms and am pretty good with my hands,
The only thing I did not do on my caprice was the body work and welding,
i never did learn any of that stuff.
Installing the actuators takes alot of mechanical ability: finding a
location for the actuators, rigging the connecting cable, testing it on
the latch to make sure you placement will give it enough leverage to
pull the latch. Wiring up the actuators is pretty easy it is the wiring
of the relays, transmitter module(or alarm module) that is the hard
part. You will also want to wire the relays through the neutral safety
switch so as you are driving the actuators will not work (the inside
door openers still will but the actuators will not accidentally go off
and open the door.
> I understand the best location for
> the solenoids is directly below the latch in the bottom of the door.
That could very well be in most cases, the best place really is the
place that will give you the most leverage on the latch. Sometimes and
on some latches placing the solenoid above the latch sort of substitutes
for the pulling action that the handle use to do. This is the main
reason I think you are not going to find much information on how to do
this mod as every car is going to be a little different and no two
people will agree on the best location to mount a solenoid to get the
best and most reliable pull. This is where your creativity comes in to
play.
> I have a solenoid and remote entry kit for my car.
What Kind? I only ask as i like to get an idea of what other people are
using.
> Did you use cables or rods?
My solenoid kit came with some cable hardware. The important thing I
used and the thing that made it easy to install in my opinion was that
the kit included a cable sheath (like the cable sheath used for a
bicycles hand breaks). This sheath allowed me to mount the solenoid
anywhere i wanted as long as the cable exiting the sheath by the latch
was in the right position to give full pull on the latch arm. I have
also hear of people using a roller system to redirect the cable so it is
in the prime position for pulling. The only thing i do not like about
the rollers is that if the cable comes off the roller, you are dead in
the water as your cable has just lost all of its tension. This is not
the case with the sheath, the only thing that can go wrong with the
sheath is if the cable eats it's way through the metal and plastic wall
and looses its tension in the process. It can happen but i think would
take many years and can be prevented with maintenance (filling the
sheath up with grease every few years. i think the cable would be more
likely to snap before the sheath giving way.
> Did you mount the solenoids with bolts going through the
> sheetmetal directly behind the door panel.
In my car if i did this i would not have had room for the window to go
down, you may not have this problem as older cars tend to have WAY more
room in the doors, those were the days! I had to mount all of my
solenoids on the doors jambs (inside the door of course). Luckily the
bold head were flat enough so they did not rub the door frame when the
door was closed. As you can see the bolts as you open the door I plan to
put some flat stainless torx head bolts in there some day.
Some other helpful hints:
If you do shave your handles you will really have no use for the door
locks any more. so find out how the door locks work with your latch and
make it so they are locked into the unlock position. I used tie wraps
to secure mine in the unlock position. You do not want these falling or
being jolted into the lock position and effectively locking you out of
your car.
Run a good ground (10ga) from you solenoid to the cars body for each
door. do not count on the hinges to pass a good enough ground energy
from the body.
Double secure any loops you make to attach the cable to the latch arm.
Use crimp on type securing hardware, not that screw into a block of
metal to pinch the cable together type, that can come undone.
Have a backup system for getting in, always make one entry point into
your car accessible via a key (hood or trunk)
If you have a remote to enter the car hide another remote in the area of
the car accessible by a key (see above)
Hide a key on the car, better yet those plastic kind that go in your
wallet (you can get one from AAA if you are a member), but both would be even
better.
Remember, many tow truck drivers and locksmiths can get into a car by
unlocking it but not many can get in by unlatching it at the latch, they
just do not get that much practice at it ;-)
Source for Solenoids and Door Go's: Unkl Al's 928-704-8655 Prices as of January 1996 Solenoid Kit (2 doors) $165.00 Door Go's (2 doors) $45.00
Other Sources:
Dakota digital sells some kits and different actuators they
also sell
some door pushers that i did not care for and also a magnetic
entry
system (popular with the hot rods)- 800-852-3228 says 2.00 on
catalog
but i think i got mine for free..
Balls rod and custom sells something called the RPM 3:7 Remote
power
module - its a transmitter and module package ($170)sound pretty
good
but i have never seen it in person - Balls rod and custom New
Jersey
219-457-2880 free catalog!
Summit racing sells some kits and the exact door pushers i got
for 15.00
less DAMN!!! 330-630-3030 They will definitely send you a catalog
(probably send you one already I think they send one to everyone
with a
car!!!)
Unkl Al's - my personal favorite the "Super solenoids"
also the "door
gos" get the door gos from summit and save 15 bucks they are
the same
thing unkl als is selling. he also sells a remote entry system
for 160
unknown quality. 928-704-8655
Street Works - They sell something called the hole shot
solenoid,
exactly the same solenoid unkl als is selling the only difference
is the
mounting bracket and the mounting hardware that comes in the kit
-
$30.00 less that unkl als and they charge for their catalog - 860-859-0513
I
will copy the catalog if you are interested it has some other
neat stuff
in there also so it might be worth the money you get a refund
with your
first purchase.
Since it was not in my budget to have the car
go into the body shop for about a year (the accident described
above moved up my time table) I settled on taking off the stock
door handles and grinding off the ridge on the handle part and
painting them to match the car. Below is what I finally had and
it looked very clean on the car.
I think many Impala/Caprice owners who are going for that clean look by removing moldings and emblems should not overlook this minor mod as it will make people say "there's something different about your car but I can not put my finger on it". I basically just used a bench grinder to grind down the ridge then followed up with files to shape and smooth. The material of the handle is pot metal and it takes a little work to get them just right. I also painted my key barrel to match the car.