Packard Forum Index » Pre-War (1899-1942)

Hi all,

I hope you are all keeping well, my lack of posts is more of a testament to the reliabiltiy of my Packard than to any lazeness on my part and yes, I know its Paddies Day but no, I'm not pissed!

I need door lock springs, called Max Merritt but they say they have none. Seems like they are too expensive to make!

So the question is where do I go now, I urgently need 2, they seem to snap at any opportunity, dont want to lose any passengers....

Pat.
Galway.
Rep. of Ireland..now declared snake free.

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Good to hear from you again! Doesn't do you much good in Ireland, but there is no need here to have those springs reproduced here, they're quite common at flea markets where some vendors seem to have assortments of dozens, even hundreds of this type of door latch spring. I'll be attending a flea market in May and another in August, I'll try to pick up a couple but expect it may not be soon enough for you. They are usually about $3 each.

The 1934 locks, Eight, Super Eight & Twelve, are made by English & Mersick and here's a picture of the spring from my 1934 Eight. I finally had my first one break last year though as I speak to other Packard owners their breakage is uncommon, fatique more common.

You could consider just forwarding the enclosed image to Restoration Specialties.

Edited 3/18.

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Restoration specialties of Winber PA (814-467-9842, 814-467-9282) has a blue million of those, that's the good news. The bad news is that you can't call them up and say "Do you have a door handle spring for a 1934 Packard"? they have lots and lots of them, no idea at all what they fit. Take yours apart, clean it up pretty good then put it in a copy machine with a ruler, like Owen Dyneto did here, take a dial caliper or micrometer and measure the width of the spring and the thickness (section) and write that on the photocopy of the spring, and fax it (814-467-5323) to restoration specialties, they have hundreds of what you need, and they are cheap.
These are essential for cars of that era, they all get a bad case of the droopy door handles, get these new springs from restoration specialties and they will be snappy, like new.

DO NOT CALL THEM AND ASK FOR THEM BY MAKE/MODEL/YEAR.



http://www.restorationspecialties.com/

Hmm. Was starring at daves pic and was thinking a guy could take some small gauge cold rolled steel, some needlenose pliers, and a pencil torch and make a few in a couple minutes yeah?

Thank you all for your replies.

I will attempt to fax the details/photo of the spring to the resto company but at this distance its usually not easy to deal with these companies.

If you could pick up some springs at a fle market I would be most greatfull, obviously I will pay postage etc....

Making one would most likly result in a trip to Accident and Emergency!

I do have an old intact spring somewhere that has lost its 'springiness', is it possible to temper it in some way to 're-energizie' it?

Pat.

Pat, Once you get past the payment details (they are set up to accept the usual charge cards) for an overseas customer, the guys at Restoration Specialties are easy to deal with, they got me the exact springs I needed in a short period of time (less than one week), they were identical to the tired ones I removed and restored the function of the door latch assembly perfectly.
I would really think twice before re-inventing the wheel when such an inexpensive and simple solution is there to get you exactly what you need.

Hi,

I contacted Resto Services, very helpfull indeed. I will be emailing them an image of the spring.

In the meantime......would anyone have one sitting in a toolbox somewhere, am out every week on duty and really need one pronto!

Pat.