My 65's door latch is very tough to get closed. I've already tried hours worth of oiling and adjustment on the striker bolt with little improvement. Someone said there's a spring inside that could be broken. It appears that the assembly is rivited together?

Your best bet is to replace it as a unit. Even if you could get it apart without destroying it it is unlikely there would be anything inside you could repair.

Yeah I know Rich, but I'm cheap!

Check your email Jimmy

Jimmy P,

I just did this to my latch for my 65 El Camino. I too am cheap didn't want to spend $120 on a repro latch. I bought a $25.00 used one only to find it had a broken spring. I ended up using this one for parts. My latch and this one each had a broken spring, only a different one in each. I took both apart and used the good springs from each to make one good latch. I ground off the rivet heads and carefully pryed the two halves apart. To reassemble them, I center punched the ground down pins, drilled and tapped them for screws. The latch now operates like a new one.

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Brian TC#1092, ACES#4374
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1965 El Camino (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/65elcamino1b.jpg) Before Restoration (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/65elcamino1a.jpg) (My Hotrod)
1981 Corvette (http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/65elcamino81.jpg) (Daily Driver)


[This message has been edited by 65elcamino (edited 04-12-2002).]