Electric Locks

[drclarkra]

Well for my T-Birds 48th birthday which was yesterday, (31H) I bought a kit to install electric locks with remote controls. How cool. It doesn't look tough and I have taken the door panels off and have an idea how to hook up the solenoids. Has anyone done this or have any pictures. I will wait and see and then forge ahead and post my pics when I do it if not. Any one have this done??

[Petrolhead]

Hi

I went the whole hog on my '62 and shaved the door handles. I used an Autoloc kit, that has all the solenoids/relays/remote etc.

Wasn't difficult, took a weekend. Mounted solenoids so that the cable had a direct downward pull on the door latch mechanism. there wa sno place to drill and thread the cable through, so I welded a lever to the latch mechanism and ran the cable to that.

Mounted the receiver for the remote up in the passenger's side kick panel area.

Fitted concealed push buttom switches directly wired to the solenoids, so that the doors can still be opened if the remote fails.

I'll post some pics shortly

And specific questions please ask, but the '62's door latches are different to your car's.

[Petrolhead]

Here are some pics:

1. The solenoid and cable
2. The solenoid in the door
3. the modified latch with a lever so the that the solenoid's downwards pull activates the door latch mechanism
4. The back-up button that is fitted to the splash panel under the front guard.

[Petrolhead]

Here's a pick of the door handle holes welded shut and all the trim shaved.

[drclarkra]

Electric locks

Thanks Petrol Head. I'll wait to see if there is anyone from the squarebirds too. Is the cable from the solenoids on your install a stiff wire or flexible?

[Petrolhead]

It's flexible woven wire cable, and you can adjust the amount of pull by the amount of slack that you leave in the cable.

[drclarkra]

I thought that was what it looked like. I have a fairly heavy stiff wire and need to mount the solenoid up under the wing window where there is a lot going on. Thanks for your reply and great pictures.

[Petrolhead]

I have a fairly heavy stiff wire and need to mount the solenoid up under the wing window where there is a lot going on.

If you use a long, flexible wire you can pretty well mount the solenoid where you like, and have the cable 'turn corners', as long as you fabricate a 'guide' where the cable turns, so that it pulls cleanly and doesn't bind

I made a remote trunk release opened by an electric solenoid out of a Nissan. I used a 1.9 metre heavy duty mountain bike cable and mounted the solenoid under the rear parcel shelf.

Mountain bike cable is very flexile, and as it has an outer sheath you run it how you like without binding, and no need to fabricate a guide or runner where it turns corners.

The Autoloc shaved door handle kit was an eight channel, which means there were six channels left to operate other stuff in addition the shaved door handles. I used one of these to open the trunk open.

Using a long cable will enable you to mount the solenoid in the most uncluttered, easily accessible part of your door.

Here are a few pics

The mountain bike cable

The modified trunk lock, I welded a bracket to the release lever to accept to end of the cable

The Nissan solenoid operated trunk release, with a bracket I welded to it to accept the other end of the cable

The cable runs inside the trunk lid, the solenoid will be mounted under the parcel tray.

[drclarkra]

Well done. that is very cool and like you say it lets you mount the solenoid just about anywhere. I think that I have a spot where my set up will work, but if not, I will definitely go for the flex cable. I love mechanical aptitude.

[drclarkra]

Electric Lock solenoid installed

Okay, I installed the solenoid for the drivers door and it went in great. I took some pictures. the harness should be a piece of cake . The control module fit up by the heater and I ran the power wire out through the firewall and attached the power lead to the yellow wire that comes right off the starter solenoid. I taped the antenna to the bottom of the glove box. I can't believe this was just a six hour job.

[drclarkra]

2 yrs later/still working great

Well for my T-Birds 48th birthday which was yesterday, (31H) I bought a kit to install electric locks with remote controls. How cool. It doesn't look tough and I have taken the door panels off and have an idea how to hook up the solenoids. Has anyone done this or have any pictures. I will wait and see and then forge ahead and post my pics when I do it if not. Any one have this done??

After 2 years, this install is still working great and it always gets approval when I pull out the remote to unlock it. I really need to do it for the trunk too.

[Joe Johnston]

Nice instal and its always good to hear when a mod continues to work over the long haul.

I like the dechromed and lowered look. If the car has been painted, could you post a couple of pictures?? Thanks. JJ

[YellowRose]

Electric Lock

I will attach a picture of what Alistair - Petrolhead's Bulletbird looked like after he finished it. It was featured as the car for the month of January in the 2010 Squarebirds Calendar. I am also going to grab this thread and add it to the Technical Resource Library web page for those who might want to go the electric locks route in the future. If either Dr. Clark or Petrolhead have more pix and comments on a step to step basis they want to add to converting a Squarebird or Bulletbird to electric locks, I would love to have them.

Speaking of the Squarebirds Calendar, I am about to start the final selection process for the 2011 Squarebirds Calendar and I STILL lack some good pictures of a Flairbird. If any of you Flairbird, Bulletbird or Squarebird owners are reading this, and you want your Tbird to be considered, but have not submitted pictures yet.... the deadline for submission to me is 1 November!

The picture from the calendar is a bit grainy, perhaps because of the paper. Below it is a clearer picture of it.