Swapping door latches

[buddythedog]

Looking to potentially swap out doors on a ‘64 Beetle for those from a ‘57 Beetle. I have read the actual swap is easy enough, but the door latch mechanisms are a bit of a puzzle.
Anyone have any thoughts on the how-to approach this?

[buddythedog]

Another question…has anyone ever taken a shot at creating some kind of chop and bolt adapter for the front end so that you can swap the link pin out for a ball joint?

[EVfun]

There was a change in the door latch and handle parts in the middle of 1964. Those with a VIN up to 5888184 use the older parts and should interchange with the early stuff easily. I have no idea about the later stuff, but the latch and handle both changed so likely they don't mix with older parts.

The striker on the body is listed as a '56-'66 part. I know some of the oval windows actually had different latches and strikers and the parts are not interchangeable. I'm not talking about the old ribbed oval door stuff -- that is entirely different and NOT interchangeable at all. The older non-ribbed oval doors had a different latch and striker that looks just like the '57-'66 stuff but the parts do not mix and match.

If you have an older '64 with the early style door latches the easiest way is to just swap on the older ice-pick door handles if that is the style you are after. The doors will need the holes for the front handle mounting point welded up, but the latch is the same. I did that on a '63 Bug many years ago.

The '64 Bug is a rather unique 1-year car, with a series of changes through the year. It was the start of 4 years with unique features before settling into the more stable '68 up body design. I would recommend preserving it in stock body form and celebrating what makes it special.
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[buddythedog]

EVfun…thank you for the information. Sincerely appreciated. I would have liked to preserve the ‘64, but when I bought it changes had already been made and there is really no going back at this point.
Please correct me if I am misunderstanding you. If the striker on the body is the same (and I am not 100% sure it is yet), then wouldn’t I be able to just swap out the ‘64 doors entirely for the ‘57 doors?
Swapping out handles and welding holes seems like more work than just unbolting the current doors and bolting in the “new” ones.
What am I missing?

[Zorba2.0]

Do you mean making the striker plates work? Chris Vallone made a video on this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLucYS_Xojg

[EVfun]

I've never tried modifying strikers, just using the right ones for the latch at hand. If you have the older type '64 doors you should be able to just swap the latch into the oval door if it has with the older style latch. I know you can just swap the handles on to early '64 doors.

If you have the later type '64 doors (1 hint to this is having an outside lock on both sides of the car, VIN number is another) I just don't quite know what is interchangeable. The latest Bug I've owned is a '64 built in August of '63. Those are pretty much a '63 except if you have a sunroof it is a sliding steel one. (oh, and 1 Super Beetle for my wife, which is a very different animal)

The front suspension is a different mess. The tube spacing is different between the king pin and ball joint front ends. Some of the off-road people have swapped frame heads to go the other way, putting a king pin front end on a later Bug. There is no easy hack to switch between styles. There have been some adapters, but they move the front tires forward and the only ones I'm aware of are again to go the other way (from ball joint to king pin.) Cutting the beam saddle in the frame is a bad idea, the 4 bolts pass through quite a bit of free air. They can hold the beam in against the saddle, but without the saddles have little ability to prevent up and down motion of the beam. Plus, the bolt spacing is different between king pin and ball joint front beams too.

It isn't cheap to put together a Bug anymore. Due to decades of VW's "progressive refinements" there are a lot of little gotcha issues as you swap parts around between different years. If you don't have a good engine with tight crankshaft end play the price of that startles many new owners too.
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