Outer Door latch: Left side, Queen

[365 GT 2+2]

So my wife just said: "If you keep posting things on Tom's site, all the guys are going to think you are either a piker or that you bought a lemon, or both." Now THATs a helluva woman.

The left side door latch is loose. Very loose. To the point where it feels like it is going to fall off. I am talking about the entire outside door latch assembly. I can't open the door from the outside at this point. My wife needed to reach over from the passenger seat to open the left side door, and even then the movement on the inner door latch is sort of snagged up - to the point that I can tell if one were to crank down on it too hard something will break.

So -- any advice on how to attack this problem? If I have to take off the inner door panel, I can also attack the issue I have with the larger driver side window. It rolls up electrically but I have to hand crank it down...

On another note, I stopped by Patrick Ottis' shop yesterday to see what's what at his shop. He was kind enough to take some time with me to discuss the plug change and to show me the wrench he uses. Then he gave me a set of plugs and we talked about the correct spacing. He also thinks I have a blown baffle in one of my mufflers...let's not mention that to my wife. In any case, Patrick has been really cool. I stop by from time to time and watch what they are doing from the outer edges of the garage. I don't want to even try to step into that garage and bug them. They have some COOL stuff in there. Very cool. None of it as cool as Patrick though. He's been really helpful and gracious with his time.

I'll check the restoration diary too - but any help will be much appreciated. Spark plug change tonight - I figure I'll hit the door at the same time, no matter how long it takes.

[TOMKIZER]

Tom, there are three nuts that retain two C-brackets which "pull" the door handle against the outside of the door. It sounds like they've loosened up. They are accessible with the window all the way up and the inner door panel off, if I remember right. Here's a photo of the inside of the door handle, with the nuts but without the C-brackets.

Tom Kizer

[365 GT 2+2]

I have taken the door panels off - and I was able to jostle around the door latch assembly (after some skinned knuckles and a bunch of trial and error). The assembly is now snug and I can shut the door and open it - but I am thinking that it is temporary. Not that I haven't figured out how to secure the assembly and get the geometry right - but the rod that 'pushes' the door lock/opening mechanism from the assembly doesn't seem to push far enough all of the time or seems to not push straight on...None of that sounds like it makes any sense but if someone can decipher I could use some advice.

Now - since the panel is off I am working on the window issue I have. After replacing the fuse the large driver side window goes up electrically, but not down. After taking a look at all of the pulleys and wires (what a shit-show) it looks as if everything is in place. And the fact that I can roll the window down mechanically means something, too. When I hit the window down switch I can hear the motor twanging away - and the ammeter is flickering...I used a pair of pliers on the wire and tugged a bit in the right direction just to see if I could help the motor along...but it is stuck.

Any thoughts? I can hear that cylindrical motor in there - and the sound is of high tension being put on a wire - sort of a sporadic 'twang'.

My attention is also on the speaker - the left side of the car has been my nemesis from the start and the speaker has never worked. But I think I'll save that post for another day...

[tyang]

Hi Tom,

You are delving into one of the craziest areas of Ferraris!

There are four things that cause an electric window to malfunction. The window itself, the pulley mechanism, the electric motor, and the switch. Through the process of elimination, you can determine which one is to focus on.

A test light will determine if you are getting voltage to the motor in both directions. You should be able to reach the plug to the motor, unplugging it to test that you're getting current in both directions when you push the window switch. If one direction does not light up the test light, look for bad connections, or even the switch itself. You can swap switches to see if the window starts to work, pointing to bad switch.

The motor can be hot wired with a hot lead from the battery, but first try to determine which leads get voltage to make the motor move. One is usually for (-)ground, and will spark up if you try to feed it 12 volts of positive (+) power.

To see if the pulley mechanism is binding, look for two clamps on the cable that secure the window to the cable assembly. As the cable moves through the pulleys, it moves the window up and down. Mark the cable with some tape, marker, or paint, and unbolt the window from the clamps. Slide the free window up to its highest position and tape it securely to the door frame. Try operating the window without the glass attached to see if there is any binding. It's a lot easier to assess what's binding with the window detached from the pulleys.

Don't be discouraged. These window mechanism are feared by most of us, so don't feel defeated if you can't figure it out. It's sometimes not an easy, or pleasant repair!

Tom

[365 GT 2+2]

Hi Tom -

OK - and thanks for taking the time to post a response. I have my first set of skinned knuckles...perhaps a rite of passage of sorts.

I also went back and took another look through your previous restoration postings. One thing for those of us who use this site to help with technical questions: Use a variety of key words or phrases when looking for a particular subject. For example, if you are looking for some help with your door latch. use "door", "latch", door assembly, door, "lock" etc..I used a bunch of related terms if I couldn't quite find what I needed. And, while doing so, stopped and read some of the other topics that popped up and stored them in my memory for when I might need them (and, most likely I will...it's an old Ferrari for chrissakes!)

I'll keep you posted on what I find - I think I'll start by rotating the switches to see if that's the source of the issue. Great idea.

In the meantime, I think I'll use the fact that both door panels are off (I took the other one off to see if I could get some clues on the door latch issue from the side that works) to clean and condition the leather on both panels. Now that they are off of the car and sitting in the garage they look a little beat.

Happy Easter all.

[Bryan P]

I have been fortunate to have flawlessly operating main windows since I've had the car, so I'm just guessing here, but from your description I wold say you definitely have a binding track problem. Since you have an early (the earliest!) QM, you will have the four Ducellier switches on the console (instead of the later two-switch arrangement); I think that the history on those switches is that they are pretty hardy. Every couple of years I pull up the console and clean up the terminal connections and that's about it.

Good luck w. the binding/pulley/track issues; from what I've heard, it's a bear. I think it's almost worth having special tomyang.net "I recabled my own windows" t-shirts. Kind of like having a purple heart.