Wonky Door New Metal Handle

[Shuttleman]

Metal handles do not fit like the original ones. They leave a gap at the seal and can have a lot of friction because it is forced back on the handle. In short the back of the handle does not fit the door shape. Another “improved” part from the Delorean world that I will have to throw in the garbage to not offense the seller.

[Helirich]

Metal handles do not fit like the original ones. They leave a gap at the seal and can have a lot of friction because it is forced back on the handle. In short the back of the handle does not fit the door shape. Another “improved” part from the Delorean world that I will have to throw in the garbage to not offense the seller.

Hate to hyjack this thread, but I noticed the pic on your avatar. Can you explain what I'm seeing? (The black out on the rear fender and maybe vents in front of the tire.

[Josh]

Hate to hyjack this thread, but I noticed the pic on your avatar. Can you explain what I'm seeing? (The black out on the rear fender and maybe vents in front of the tire.

The previous owner of Olivier's car cut several holes in the body work for reasons unknown. All four fenders including the front left :O . It has been a mountain of work but he has welded the missing metal back in, smoothed it out, regrained, and has a stock looking panel once again. Olivier is an incredibly skilled fabricator.

[DMCH James]

Metal handles do not fit like the original ones. They leave a gap at the seal and can have a lot of friction because it is forced back on the handle. In short the back of the handle does not fit the door shape. Another “improved” part from the Delorean world that I will have to throw in the garbage to not offense the seller.

Metal handles do not fit like the original ones. They leave a gap at the seal and can have a lot of friction because it is forced back on the handle. In short the back of the handle does not fit the door shape. Another “improved” part from the Delorean world that I will have to throw in the garbage to not offense the seller.

The complete history of aftermarket DeLorean door handles is as follows...

Original door handles began to fail early on in cold weather environments when the doors would freeze shut in the winter when left outside in snow, ice, etc. People would yank and yank on the handles and they would snap off. Nowadays that fail mostly from fatigue after 40 years of exposure to UV and general use. I'm not sure what the availability of door handles was after the factory closed, but the earliest ad I saw for a metal replacement - handle only, not the entire assembly - was around 1985 or so. These were sand cast in aluminum and really were a pain to install as you had to disassemble the existing handle and re-use all but the handle.

In 2000 or so, DMCH had the first reproductions made - they are identifiable by the "www.delorean.com" on the backside of the finder guard on the handle assembly. We had a total of about 2500 made across 2-3 orders from 2000 through 2013.

Around that time, Ed Uding also had some reproductions made. As a copy of a copy, they had their own set of issues. We bought around 300 or so from Ed between 2016 and 2020 and eventually got unhappy enough with them that we went back to our old supplier, which had gone out of business and the tooling was lost. We re-tooled earlier this year with a new supplier and DMCH units are available now.

Not sure when you bought yours or which version you might have, but as you may know, the first 1000 or so cars had doors made from softer, kirksite dies and not the production tooling. VIN 1472 would likely fall into that category. I agree that NONE of the door handle versions mentioned fit as good as an original - few reproduction parts few DeLoreans or any cars ever do - but these are certainly improved over the originals in terms of durability and cost.

[Josh]

The complete history of aftermarket DeLorean door handles is as follows...

Original door handles began to fail early on in cold weather environments when the doors would freeze shut in the winter when left outside in snow, ice, etc. People would yank and yank on the handles and they would snap off. Nowadays that fail mostly from fatigue after 40 years of exposure to UV and general use. I'm not sure what the availability of door handles was after the factory closed, but the earliest ad I saw for a metal replacement - handle only, not the entire assembly - was around 1985 or so. These were sand cast in aluminum and really were a pain to install as you had to disassemble the existing handle and re-use all but the handle.

In 2000 or so, DMCH had the first reproductions made - they are identifiable by the "www.delorean.com" on the backside of the finder guard on the handle assembly. We had a total of about 2500 made across 2-3 orders from 2000 through 2013.

Around that time, Ed Uding also had some reproductions made. As a copy of a copy, they had their own set of issues. We bought around 300 or so from Ed between 2016 and 2020 and eventually got unhappy enough with them that we went back to our old supplier, which had gone out of business and the tooling was lost. We re-tooled earlier this year with a new supplier and DMCH units are available now.

Not sure when you bought yours or which version you might have, but as you may know, the first 1000 or so cars had doors made from softer, kirksite dies and not the production tooling. VIN 1472 would likely fall into that category. I agree that NONE of the door handle versions mentioned fit as good as an original - few reproduction parts few DeLoreans or any cars ever do - but these are certainly improved over the originals in terms of durability and cost.

Interesting read. I purchased a set of Eds handles in 2018 and they had their own set of issues. Poor fit and alot of friction so much so i had to entirely remove them and lubricate the pivot points as they were unusable as installed on the car out of the box. He has several other cheap copies of parts but blames the customers or denies selling anything when there is any issue.

[FABombjoy]

the earliest ad I saw for a metal replacement - handle only, not the entire assembly - was around 1985 or so. These were sand cast in aluminum and really were a pain to install as you had to disassemble the existing handle and re-use all but the handle.

I have an unused set of these and they look like a high school metals class project. I'm shocked they were sold for money and I can't imagine installing them without completely refinishing the exterior to match the car. The instructions are written in machinist's shorthand and include no diagrams or anything that would have been helpful to a DIYer. Truly from the wild west era of aftermarket parts.

[dmcerik]

I have an unused set of these and they look like a high school metals class project. I'm shocked they were sold for money and I can't imagine installing them without completely refinishing the exterior to match the car. The instructions are written in machinist's shorthand and include no diagrams or anything that would have been helpful to a DIYer. Truly from the wild west era of aftermarket parts.

Can confirm on look of those early metal handles. My drivers side had that early version on it from the time I got the car in 1999 until I replaced them last year with a repo pair I got from DeloreanGo. I've been very happy with the fit and function of the pair I got from DeloreanGo.

[Josh]

Ive come across those handles before as well. I just assumed they were some backyard fix! Wow

[Drive Stainless]

Did anyone ever make a set that matched the profile of the rub strips?

[MrChocky]

I have a metal one still in its bag with instructions that came with parts for 1005. I need to check what the situation is with what's fitted. Certainly the passenger side door is a very poor fit right now, so some yanking is needed to open the door.