The seventeenth modification, 8 Ball Door Lock Pins

Following on from the recent 8 Ball Gear Knob modification, this one seemed only natural.

I found a fantastic firm based in Colorado called Classic Car Goodies. The company is run by family duo Roger and Betsy and they sell everything you could possible want for your classic car or hot rod, including of course, these 8 Ball Door Lock Pins:



I contacted Roger last week and he was quite happy to ship these over to the UK and sure enough, they arrived safely just a week later (thanks again Roger!).

When I ordered these door lock pins from Classic Car Goodies, I knew they wouldn't be a direct fit for the PT Cruiser due to these pins being machine threaded and the Cruisers not. I could have forced them on, but it wouldn't have been ideal.

So, on with the modification!

The Cruiser door pins are made of nylon, coated with rubber to give them their look:





These things must have been put on by a machine going by the hexagonal shape on the bottom and the fact that they were just so bloody tight! To remove the existing door pins, make sure the door is unlocked (with the pin up) otherwise you could lose the thread down inside the door card (nightmare). Unscrew the existing pins counter clockwise, you might want a pair of pliers at this point. With the pin removed, you're left with a tiny amount of thread on view (again, be careful not to lose this thread down inside the door!):



I test fitted the new 8 Ball pins, but as mentioned previously, the threads are wrong and there was also a rather large gap around the shaft of the pin (as the new ones are thinner) that would have meant the pins rattling around a bit:



This convinced me something had to be done. Luckily, the head unscrews from the new 8 Ball pins (again, machine threaded), so we now have the head of the new pin, the shaft of the new pin and the old pin:



So, to make the 8 Ball heads fit the existing plastic door pins, I took a sharp blade and first chopped the head off the old pin completely, being sure to leave a bit to play with (click any photo here to enlarge it):



The next stage was to (very) carefully start trimming the head of the old pin into a tapered point that would then fit inside the head of the new 8 Ball:



Once suitably tapered, it was simply a matter of screwing the new 8 Ball head onto the old pin. The machined thread inside the 8 Ball head nicely cut itself a thread onto the tapered plastic of the old pin:





If the 8 Ball heads do ever detach themselves, I'll simply put some epoxy resin on the top of the old pins and screw the heads back on, try coming off then!

So, the end result is an 8 Ball pin which fits perfectly and doesn't look out of place at all:



(Thanks once again to Roger at Classic Car Goodies for shipping these to the UK!)


Modifications to date: Parrot CK3100 Bluetooth Hands Free Phone Kit, Debadged Tailgate, 'Semi-Stealth TomTom' Satellite Navigation, Chrome Wheels, Chrome Belt Line, Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Front), Chrome Fuel Door, Clear Side Repeaters, Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Sides), Altezza Rear Lights, Chrome Indicator Bulbs (Rear), Chrome Door Handle Recess Trims, Stealth iPod FM Transmitter, Mopar Front Fog Lights, 8 Ball Gear Knob, Port Holes.