[Healeys] BT7stuck door latch

[Charlie Baldwin]

Continuation of response:
As you say, keeping the old parts from a restoration is a good idea.  
First I pulled out the old assembly that came from my Healey which had 
all of the die cast zinc parts broken and a plunger that was worn pretty 
badly.  Then I looked in my MG TD box which uses virtually the same 
mechanism and found a very nice original plunger.  Usually on the 
originals the die cast stuff would break necessitating replacement of 
the assembly.
I've still got to get the thing back in the car, but I am happy to come 
up with a solution.
I did get the door open by jacking under the frame where it meets the 
outrigger.  Thanks to those who suggested that.  That does point to some 
flex existing, but there wasn't enough to see.  All of the metal is new, 
so there is no weakness other than designed into the car.  The plunger 
apparently was not engaged in the strike by a large amount and when I 
pulled hard on the door it flew open even though the handles would not 
move the plunger.
Now I guess I have to look forward to the same on the passenger side.
Charlie
PS I have also copied Kelvin Dodd of Moss Motors on this.  I don't know 
if Moss has these made or if they get them from someone else in the LBC 
community, but it is a problem that should be fixed by changing the 
material used for this part.  To look at the new assembly, it appears to 
be of very high quality.  It is a shame that this one thing makes the go 
bad.  Mine was in service for approximately 14 months before this 
happened.  Not a very long time for a car driven less than 2,000 miles.  
Hopefully Kelvin can look into this and get the specification changed of 
the plunger material.

Charles Ulrich wrote:
> I just went through this with my BT7.  Problem was the aftermarket latch
> mechanism.  The striker has a tang on the inboard end which broke off, leaving
> the striker engaged while all the rest of the mechanism seems to work.  We had
> to completely remove the latch mechanism, which isn't easy with the striker
> engaged.  Then we replaced the aftermarket striker with an old one.
> Hopefully, you didn't throw away your original!  Good luck!  Charlie Ulrich
> _________________________________________________________________

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