924Board.org

[Rattlinbone]

Okay. Bad news first. A couple of weeks ago, somebody backed into my Driver's side door and rear panel, leaving a nasty dent in the rear panel, a divot in my door and breaking my door handle. The door can probably be tapped back into shape without too much difficulty, but the dent in the panel is going to take some real skilled metal work to get set back to right. Luckily, I guess, the door still closes and seals ok, so for the time being all I need is to replace the door handle. I went to the pick-a-part yard and found one on a car that had been sent to the back of the lot and will probably be crushed in a matter of weeks. It's sad, but it really is a rough specimen. So I got the handle, but I got it from the other side of the car, the passenger side. Honestly, I don't see the difference between passenger and driver's side door handles. The lock mechanism swaps out very easily. So here's my question, and it might be a dumb question, but I'm just checking for a second opinion. Is there any reason you can think of that this Passenger-side door handle with my original driver's side lock mechanism wouldn't work just as well on the driver's side?

By the way, I got the handle for 6 bucks. They appear to sell for something like 80 bucks on E-bay! Ouch!
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Fred- 1979 924

[Jakkq]

I believe they are different. I had ordered I new set of door handles directly from Porsche last year. Two sets of keys were included. One key for each door, and a back-up set.

Sorry to hear about the damage. My only mishap was with an SUV that almost backed up onto my hood. I naturally reacted, and backed up super fast and cut some paint on the end of the rear.

Ever since then and the fact that the car has been keyed, and door banged a few times, I never park it anywhere besides the garage anymore. Even if I park it off in the corner of a parking lot where no one else is, guess what object is next to it when I come back to my car.
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1979 Porsche 924- Snailshell
http://porsche924workblog.blogspot.com/

[gohim]

Up to 1980/2 the doorhandles for the left and right sides are the same, and they are interchangable from side to side.

After 1980/2, the door internals were changed, the doorhandles were changed, and there are different handles for the left and right sides and they are not interchangable.

[Rattlinbone]

Thanks for the info. That's a relief. I celaned out and reoiled the lockset last night, and man was it dirty! Anyway, it's certainly LOOKS interchangable, so I'm gonna put it on there and see how it fits.

Yeah, bummer about the door. I sure don't like it. It's not a disaster, because I need to have some body work and new paint anyway, but I sure don't want to ADD any dents or dings before I get around to it.
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Fred- 1979 924