Door mechanism: Who can explain how it's supposed to work

[Arved]

So I am looking at the little rod that has two plastic ends with ball joints. The function of this rod seems to be to lock the door from the inside by moving the inner door handle down. Is that correct or does it have a different function?

Thanks

Arved

[Arved]

So I have looked at this further and the function of the rod must be to hold the lock in the shut position as it otherwise opens by gravity. The problem is that the counterpart ball at the bottom moves against some sort of spring but very little. Something seems stuck.

[ORFORD2004]

Latch have to be close to be able to move.

[Arved]

Latch have to be close to be able to move.

Thanks for your help. Now that it's fixed I would like to leave a couple of clues for anyone reading up on this with info that I would have found helpful:

What the mechanism is supposed to do: When the inner door handle is pulled up the door opens. If it is pushed down, the door
locks from the inside, similar to the door know found on other cars of the period. This can only be done with the door closed, or at least the latch turned down. If the door is locked form the outside the movement of the key moves a plate in front of the outer door pusher that locks the movement of the handle. The movement of the key also pushes a push rod with plastic ball joints either side down to click the main door mechanism into place. This can only be done with the door closed.

The mechanism blocks the door latch itself through a thick bent wire that rotates into a groove. It can only engage with the door closed as ORFORD2004 said. When you move the little ball joint up and down you should hear a distinctive click. It is possible for the wire to be pushed out of this grove if the mechanism is pushed down too far. Then you need to dissasemble the door and get it back into place using a hammer and a chisel. See disassemble below.

There is a metal push rod that connects the outer door handle's lock mechanism's ball joint to the latch ball joint. The plastic ball joint receptacle was broken and I had to 3D print a new part. If you want the model, PM me.

I was unnecessarily reluctant to take the door latch mechanism out because of the window guide bar that is in the way. When I finally did, it all became much easier and I learned that I was unnecessarily intimidated. With the window at the top position open a screw that accesible through a round bottom hole on the inside of the door and slide the window bar down. Very easy to do and put back together and an eye opener for everything that was going on inside the door.

Hope that is of help for future use

Thanks for all the support thus far.

[ORFORD2004]

The plastic ball joint receptacle was broken and I had to 3D print a new part. If you want the model, PM me.

https://autoricambi.us/products/door-lo ... c-rod-ends $3.99

[Arved]

The plastic ball joint receptacle was broken and I had to 3D print a new part. If you want the model, PM me.

https://autoricambi.us/products/door-lo ... c-rod-ends $3.99

Thanks, I saw those. This is a restoration project with my son, so I thought the repair and recycle approach was more educational.

Arved