HELP! 64 Door latch

[ilgoldstein]

One of the things keeping our 64 off the road has been the inability to close the driver's door!

Seems the 64 door latch is rather unique. I have found one place that has it, but it also says it fits a 66/67 LeMans/GTO/Temptest, and a lot of places seem to have that one. OPG sells one for a 67 that says it will work with slight modification on a 64, but I could not see how to modify it to work correctly.

Do they interchange? The wind wing also seems out of kilter, are there any reproductions for that?

This car used to be my wife's daily driver, but it has been sitting a few years. Time to get it back on the road, my son has his eyes on it!

Finally, any referals to someone in Burbank. CA/San Fernando Valley who has a working knowledge of these vehicles would be greatly appreciated.

[mdcamaro]

Maybe you have a door hinge problem. See if the door will move up and down when it is open. The door hinge pins and bushings wear then the door will not close properly. Replacement pins and bushings are sold at Pep Boys, Autozone etc. A good body shop has a special tool to replace the pins on the car without removing the door.

[ilgoldstein]

I will double check that, it doesn't seem to be the case, but I haven't given the hinges a real good look.

The spring in the latch broke and I bought a used one off ebay. The mechanism seems to move pretty easily by hand compared to the one on the other side of the car, which is a lot stiffer. If you close the door normally, it will just bounce open. If you do it gently, the first catch will engage, and they you can nudge it to the second catch. Not good for normal use.

I have located a replacement, and on one site it says it fits a 64 Chevelle and 66/67 Lemans/GTO. Another guy who is advertising the Pontiac latch says the part number is different.