Here is a pic of the break in my door handle, i assume most, if not all break here. I can't see JB weld or another epoxy based substance holding this together. I don't have a welder (yet) who has fixed these, and what did you do to get them to hold for good?

I really don't want to replce it do to the custom color of my car, and trying to color match the dorr handle will be a bitch .. plus I hate waiting on parts

sugestions appreciated.


-Robert

 

Has anyone tried like a bracer bar/bracket with small holes drilled to hold it in place:

look at this pic I just doctered up, what do you think?

 

I've done it, it's been working great but it feels kinda wierd

 

OH, yeah, I did it about 6 months ago so it'll last a while.

 

how did you do it? bracket? or JB, or what?

 

Yeah, I dread the day when one of my handles breaks. I don't let passengers open the door...they think I'm being polite.

Anyway, my personal choice would be to have it welded, but it is difficult to weld "pot metal" properly. A small steel strip bolted or rivited in might be the best bet.

 

Ya, this is my Driver side so it's even worse big pain in the ***. It's been like this since I bought the car... just now getting around to fixing it while I wait on my turbo to get out of surgery.

I think i am going to try JB wled in the seam, and a braket on the out side for insurrance, I will take pic's and keep you posted on how it turns out.

If anyone has better sugestions, by all means post them, I don't think i will get to working on this till later int he week, or the weekend.
-Robert

 

Why not JB weld and drill a hole on either side of the crack and poprivit a piece of metal across it. Mabey it will last longer and not "feel as weird."

 

Its only like $90- $100 for a brand new one already painted the factory color.

Why wouldn't you just buy a new one?

And even if you have some custom far out color... you are only painting the handle... its not like its the whole door.

I mean come on Rpeck you have all this:
and you ae too cheap to just buy a new handle and paint it??? It'll probably cost less than that fuel pump did.

 

I got 2 brand new door handles last year...they were like 75 each painted and took like an hour to install from start to finish - can't beat that. I also ordered new door window trim (that strip that runs along the bottom of the window that is always rusty). The new trim is plastic not metal and is coated with a clear plastic to maintain protection and shine...$30 each. I also got brand new JDM FTP's when I had the nose resprayed and mazdaspeed lip put on...all these little things make it look and feel almost like new

 

Where did you get this things from?

That is where the handle in my old 91 broke. I just bought a used one.

I agree with Icemark, get a new one, get it painted. Your car sounds like it deserves it.

steve

 

just buy it from mazda, they should come with some sort of warranty. I got them from mazda and it was 1 year. i might go back this winter and take my broken one in and get a spare.

 

It's not the money fellas, trust me. I have enough $ into this car I could have bankrolled a Run Burger Run franchise by now. My mods list is mostly JUST what I have done under the hood

The problem is I painted the car myself. I have left over paint, but it is a 4 part mix paint... and it will be very dificult to match the exact mixture of paint that the whole rest of the car is painted. Mixing a small qaunity of paint and getting it to match dead on will be very tricky. Plus getting out all the equipment, and putting a booth back up, cleaning the gun etc etc .. is alot of work for one damn door handle.

I am thinking right now, I might just put a keyless system in instead. Do away with the need for handles all together.

jon88se, where did you order those window strips from .. i could really use a couple of those though.

-Robert

 

I said *** it, i went out and did a fix, It feels stronger than original, i got a heavy duty piece of metal linking it .. i don't think it will ver give me problems again. If it does I will go to plan B, remote entry, or a new handle .. here is the pic;

-Robert

 

looks like hell, but if it gets the job done then it is a ok

 

Ya, it looks shitty... that JB weld is messy crap I mostly just used it on the screw threads and heads to stop the screws from ever backing out.

 

I just ordered everything (cept for the FTP's) from my local mazda dealer...it all arrived in about 5 business days to our shop (we have an acct. w/ them so the prices may be a little lower than ususal since we get a jobber price. no more than 15%). order those window strips now!! they didn't have many left!!

 

hey man how dows it feel now? perfect?

 

dude, you should paint that handle anyways. all those nasty scratches.

 

I broke BOTH of mine about a month apart right before winter last year. Had to climb in through the hatch for awhile. I just ordered two new handles, about $90 a piece, and they come in the right color. If you fix them yourself, you don't have to worry about paint matchup, plus who cares what the fix looks like, noboby's going to see it. Just as long as it clears evrything inside.

 

Thats not the paint chipping or anything off that handle, Thats wax that was in the seams. It will all wipe out when I get around to cleaning it up more, always looks worse with the flash from the camera relfecting off it.

As far as "how does it feel" It feels just fine .. infact it feels like normal. There is a spring on the other side of where I drilled, and if you drill to close to that spring the screw you add will hit it, I think that's why others have said it "feels funny"

I decided to go with this fix cause the door handle serves one purpose, openeing the door... I don't scimp on my car, but I do not see the need to spend $100 and 4 Hrs labor painting a new handle when I can fix it as good, if not better with no ill effects what so ever. It was a perfomance part, efeected handling, or appearance i would not have rigged a fix, I would have bought the part. But seems to how it now opens my door perfectly, I am happy.


-Robert

 

Yeah i put alot of thought into this when i ordered my new door handle. I have a yamaha f1 blue paint job and it's a bitch to A: find the paint and the b: find someone to do it. SO i two toned my car, All the accents are silver, and so are my door handles. Creative way to deal with a pain the *** 14 year old car.

-Mike

 

ehh, buy a pint of paint and get the handles sprayed, ay body shop can do it - 2 tone, gross

 

Well it's not 2-tone in the sense of like a "water line" (vaughnc's car) but it's accented with silver.

 

Hey now! Hijackers we are commenting on my pure genius of thought, and marveling at my innovation