shaved door solenoid for '71

[T-man]

Greetings,
I shaved the doors on my '71 and have yet to install electric solenoids.
What should I use and how?

Thanks,

Tristen
'71 C-10

[Cyco Path]

You can't get there from here.


Just Kidding...

Don't forget to include a manual release under hood or something, in case your battery dies on you.

[XXL]

I have done a number of solenoids in these trucks over the years... my "standard" method has been to use the generic door lock solenoids that come in aftermarket alarm kits and run them horizontally just below the window regulator track. But... I always ran into clearance issues with the window and they didn't seem to have enough pull.

So, the next time around I went with the bigger solenoids like these...




And since there wasn't enough room in the usual mounting location for this big solenoid, I bent a piece of brake line into a nice round 90 degree radius and mounted the motor down in the bottom of the door next to the brace. So, the cable still pulled horizontally and curved down to the motor. But... I've since yanked that out too.

Now I'm using a stock GM late model F-body hatch release motor. They don't have much throw on them but they pull like crazy. So, I built a pivot arm to get the leverage I needed to throw the door release far enough. The end result is that it works really well and doesn't have any clearance problems. I don't have any pics of the new config but the design looks like this--



I hope this helps,

Kenneth

[REPO1]

Hey XXL do you have a p/n for these solenoids? Also what are they roughly going for?


Thanks!


p.s. are they just a 2 wire hookup as well?

[XXL]

Part number for the GM hatch releases I'm using now? Why yes, yes... I happen to have one right in front of me. It reads--

16625144

I don't know what the dealer wants for them but you should be able to pick them up pretty cheap at the boneyard. I picked mine up on ebay from a guy I've done business with before... redlinear

Kenneth