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Sat Jul 22, 2006 5:34 pm

hello samba, i am writing this post because i was confused for a very long time trying to figure out to put door poppers in my 66 with shaved handles. I want to clarify what i did so when people search for this stuff they can go through everything i did to figure out placement of solenoid or they can try my way. Most people put the solenoids in the door but i found this to be too difficult to do since the doors are not thick enough for standard 35 or 40 LB or larger solenoids. what i did was i bolted the poppers in the front trunk and put an " L " shaped bracket about 3 inches away from it (as seen in pictures) then i bought the bolt and nut combo that is used for bicycle brake lines that screws into the lever ($2) and i bought bicycle brake cables and brake cable housing ($10). i threaded the housing through the body (2 small holes) and into the door (MAKE SURE THEY LINE UP PERFECTLY!! so when i open and close the door the housing can freely slide into the door or body) and i drilled a small hole right parallel with the flat bar that connects to the door handle and latch. i connected the side of the brake cable with the bulge to the flat door handle bar (i took off the door handle but dont worry i'll get to that later) the last thing i did was run the brake cable through the housing which pops out right where the solenoid is placed. i connected the cable to the solenoid with an adjustable bolt. (as seen in pictures) everything works great. Now i know the cable will stretch but since it is an adjustable bolt i can tighten it. also the good thing about having the solenoids in the trunk is so that i can always manually pop the doors from the outside by pushing the solenoid together (by disconnecting the inside trunk release cable) now your probably wondering how i can open the doors, well all you need is to drill a small hole anywhere in the dash (uh oh drilling into the dash!!!) or anywhere else in car to place a momentary 2 way switch (cheap one i have now is from radio shack for $4 but i will be getting a better one later on). push it left, magically the drivers door pops open. push it right, the passenger door. and if you are really opposed to cutting the dash i just took out my emergency blinker pull and used that hole. (i never use my emergency blinkers anyway) hope this helps anyone.... here are the pics:

any questions feel free to ask or just comment my idea, i thought it was pretty good myself. good luck samba!

Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:24 am

That really is an interesting idea, we end up still putting them in the doors because we reinforce the door to accomidate the "pull" of the solenoid. If we do a front hood on a solenoid there is always a piece of "safety" cable hidden under the car to pop the hood in the event of the solenoid not working.............but the bike cable is an interesting option.

Mon Jul 24, 2006 8:41 am

Any chance of getting larger pics?

Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:20 pm

here are some more pictures... pretty self explainatory:

Button #1 opens drivers door, #2 opens passenger door... any recomendations for the rest of the buttons, i can put up to 5 more functions on them...

Mon Jul 24, 2006 12:29 pm

[quote="xcaptnfantasticx"]here are some more pictures... pretty self explainatory:

I would look into fixing some of that electrical nightmare before you have a problem :shock:

Mon Jul 24, 2006 1:49 pm

[quote="Matt K."] xcaptnfantasticx wrote: here are some more pictures... pretty self explainatory:

I would look into fixing some of that electrical nightmare before you have a problem :shock:

haha yeah i'm working on that.... i got a lot of crap hooked up

Thu Sep 07, 2006 6:34 am

i had the exact same idea with a 74 bay but my only problem was that i didn't really want to buy 2 solenoids for one door, one to unlock, one to open. in your pictures i saw only one solenoid but 2 cables, is that a system to do both with one solenoid?

Thu Sep 07, 2006 6:56 am

MJ_258 wrote: i had the exact same idea with a 74 bay but my only problem was that i didn't really want to buy 2 solenoids for one door, one to unlock, one to open. in your pictures i saw only one solenoid but 2 cables, is that a system to do both with one solenoid?

If the door handles are shaved then you would really only need the one solenoid to operate the door latch as there would be no need to lock the door as the handle has been removed to open the door.

However if you did need to lock the door Autoloc sells remote auto door locks that you can install to run the door locks..............it works off the same principal just a smaller solenoid to actuate the door locks

Thu Sep 07, 2006 10:44 am

is that a cigarette lighter dangling next to the left of the solenoid?

Sat Sep 09, 2006 3:13 pm

crowe66 wrote: is that a cigarette lighter dangling next to the left of the solenoid?

hazard pull switch

Sat Jan 13, 2007 5:44 pm

my car has shaved outside handles but the stock handles are on the door panels on the inside. Car is a vert' with no glass. It's now set up that you reach inside and pop it open. I'd like to put poppers on it but, the door handle holes have been cut into the custom interior door panels.
Can it be rigged so that the interior pulls are still functional?

Fri Sep 02, 2016 8:42 pm

Back from the dead on this one. Next week we are installing the poppers. The wizard wants to do them in the door but for safety, I think I want them under the hood. My car is a glass front clip so I can reach up under the fender up pull cable if needed.

Fri Sep 02, 2016 11:51 pm

Tbirdusa wrote: Back from the dead on this one. Next week we are installing the poppers. The wizard wants to do them in the door but for safety, I think I want them under the hood. My car is a glass front clip so I can reach up under the fender up pull cable if needed.

Can't believe I'm replying to this. Haven't been on Samba in almost 10 years... Since my last "senior in high school auto class" days I've gone on to earn a college degree and mature into a career in commercial business underwriting!

I digress. I would strongly suggest you mount in trunk. I remember CONSTANTLY using the "quick manual pop" method. Let's be real, these are old cars and my battery died constantly. The bike cable method worked without flaw for 2 years. You'll thank me later on this one. If the door doesn't "pop" all you need is some low $$ new door weather stripping that is a bit too large and you're problems will be solved. I could not for the life of me mount in-door. This solution ended up being better than I originally expected, plus popping your doors walking up to your bug is priceless. It pretty much cements badass status indefinitely.

Now if only I could buy back that cherry 66' my life would be complete...

Fri Sep 02, 2016 11:54 pm

Btw surprised no one mentioned the 911SC in the background. Still have that baby. Worst transmission in history! Lol

Thu Feb 08, 2018 10:19 pm

Captain,

Can you update links or repost pics or can someone elaborate further? I have a 69 and I am running into a tension problem as I can not run a straight line (parallel) cable as described. I have to run cable from bottom of door lock mechanism to a pulley on bracket of window track then then route cable angled slightly up to, above door switch and into trunk.

Help please, I am confused as to how the L bracket is placed and which direction the solenoid it pointing and how there is not a tension problem or door opening all the way-problem.

Thanks in advance.

Fri Feb 23, 2018 8:14 am

Hey folks,

So I have been at this door popper kit for a few weeks. thru all the frustration I have installed the 85lb kit in my 69 using the hole space for the speakers and some of what Captain has described.

My new issue is; I installed the back up button and when pressed it blows a fuse, every time. The kit came with 25 amp inside the inline fuse holders. The directions show 20a fuse in diagram. I have tried both-no luck. I have checked my grounds and is wired as shown in direction. Any ideas on what the problem is.

Thanks in advance.

Sun Mar 04, 2018 9:18 pm

adspec wrote: ... installed the 85lb kit ...I installed the back up button and when pressed it blows a fuse, every time. The kit came with 25 amp inside the inline fuse holders. The directions show 20a fuse in diagram...

Does the remote work correctly?

Fri Mar 09, 2018 9:28 am

scrivyscriv-

well I haven't got that far, this was/is test phase of units. Why do you ask? Whatcha thinking? Should I install the receiver unit all before testing with the back up button?

Fri Mar 09, 2018 3:39 pm

It sounds to me like you have a direct short to ground when you push the button. The other possibility is the solenoid is stuck or binding.
If the remote works.. you eliminate the solenoid as a problem, and are left with simple wiring errors to look for.
Guarantee this is an easy and quick mistake to fix! :)

Mon Mar 12, 2018 10:20 am

scrivyscriv wrote: It sounds to me like you have a direct short to ground when you push the button. The other possibility is the solenoid is stuck or binding.
If the remote works.. you eliminate the solenoid as a problem, and are left with simple wiring errors to look for.
Guarantee this is an easy and quick mistake to fix! :)

This is good to know and will dive back in and correct it by looking into my wiring. I'll let ya know what I find.

Thanks