Series II with a 1000 Door Lock?

[CrazyPropGeek]

Hey guys,

Strange first post, but I am having issues when trying to locate parts for my Series II (2 door, 1955). I bought the car without a functioning door lock on the passenger side, and now I am finding it rather tough to find parts to repair it.

Has anyon before/ is it possible to, fit a 1000 door lock mechanism to the Series II door? Or has anyone got any parts to get the original lock to work?

Thanks in advance for any help people post.

I’ll do an introductory post later this week,
Luke

[ianmack]

Hello and welcome. I’m a little puzzled by your post as the passenger door wasn’t fitted with a key lock until 1962 so perhaps your car has a later door fitted, in which case 1000 parts will be what you need. Before 62 an internal latch was used and parts for this might be harder to find, it depends what you need. Moss list some.

[CrazyPropGeek]

That's exactly what I'm talking about. Sorry if I was unclear. The door latch is missing entirely. I can see the channel inside the door it should be fitted in, but there's no latch. I tried fitting a later door latch but when pushed right in it just span in the hole so I'd assume a larger sized barrel was on the early latch.

I want to lock my door, is the main thing, and I was wondering if a later lock/latch internal mech would be easy to fit to a series II.... Or if anyone on here has a spare series II latch? As long as it locks I'm happy

Thank you,
Luke

[ianmack]

Can’t help you with parts I’m afraid. I haven’t looked inside an early door for a good few years but if I remember correctly the latch is held in with a clip or pin.

[ManyMinors]

The early type internal latch (I assume that is what you're looking for?) is different to the later type. They are difficult to obtain. You'll have to ring around some of the specialists until you find one. Somebody will be able to help you no doubt. There is no shortage of Minor specialists is there.

[CrazyPropGeek]

Thanks for the messages everyone. Unfortunately I have called around and messaged every specialist in the UK today I could find online (around 6-7), and no luck. They all say that it's a very rare part and not made any more, with even second hand ones being hard to come by.

Can I please leave this post open and if anyone comes across a spare one message me?

Thanks again,
Luke

[ManyMinors]

You found 6 or 7 specialists....... There must be more than 20 who advertise in the club magazine alone and a quick google search will reveal many more. If you want something rare, you sometimes have to try a little harder. I have never found any part very difficult to obtain for my Minors.

[CrazyPropGeek]

Where else is recommended? I've tried:

Bull Motif
ESM
Charles Wares
Tom Roy
DMG
Richard Plant

P.S:
Moss as well now

Charles Wares have recommended that I swap the inners for a 1000 door lock.

[CrazyPropGeek]

Further hunting unfortunately found the same outcome, and none are on ebay at the moment. The Series II nib/lock handle is no longer one which appears to be in circulation. Everyone I've spoken to hasn't had one in a very long time and advised modification... such a shame they are no longer made.

BUT FEAR NOT, Charles Wares are currently on the case to gain an early 1000 lock without key barrel. I'll just need to swap part of the mech and handle to use this apparently.

Also, whilst In my internal door travel I've also now lubricated the window winders, and they actually move. I also found questionable piece of red rubber from what seems to be some sort of early 2000's toy, and had a vacuum out. So not all bad.

P.S Thank you everybody for your assistance. I now have a-lot longer list of suppliers to search for future parts.

[ManyMinors]

You seem to be over complicating this. If all you require is the internal locking catch, what do you hope to gain by changing the entire handle assembly? I have an early Minor 1000 and have also owned Series11 Minors in the past. The internal locking catch is held in exactly the same way as far as I can see - with a spring clip. On the later Minor 1000 the catch is different and it is secured differently but this type will not fit your car anyway due to the exterior key. Have you actually explained what you want clearly to all the suppliers you mention because your explanations here do not seem crystal clear to me? I cannot believe that no Minor specialists can supply the part you seem to require.

[CrazyPropGeek]

According to Charles Wares the Series II and early 1000 door locks have different size parts so aren't compatible, otherwise I'd just use an early 1000 door nib on my current Series II lock barrel. They don't have any nibs for a Series II, and very rarely gain them apparently, but they can supply me with the entire assembly, with the nib, for an early 1000.

One supplier sent me the below image to clarify what part I am missing so I said part 90. After that I've been referencing this diagram to the suppliers (sorry I should have posted it here too). All I've managed to be told so far (apart from swapping to a 1000 lock) is to look on ebay for a whole door to strip down, or post on this forum to see if anyone has a spare:


Originally I bought a "late type" nib, which I was hoping to modify to fit my door, but the "nib barrel"(hole on 89 for 90) is too long when compared to the later one. So the later nib basically doesn't reach all the way down the bottom of the "nib barrel".

If the early 1000 lock doesn't work I'll just have to machine a new "nib" myself..... what a faff.

Sorry I have been unclear. I haven't been (and still am not 100%) sure what to call the parts on the lock mech. I'm sure my poor naming has caused some mad sounding translations to anyone who has worked on these cars for years.

At the moment I am still awaiting Charles Wares to get back to me about supplying an early type 1000 door lock. So I'll see how that goes for now. At least if I do swap it for an early 1000 door lock it would make a replacement nib easier to find if I was to loose it again.... as I'd have two types of lock which I could use haha.