Stupid cab door handle hits stupid cargo door when open!

[Major Woody]

Alright WTF am I doing wrong?

67 westy with pushbutton door locks. New door bumpers. The right cargo door when fully open and resting on the door bumpers contacts the cab door pushbutton and actually depresses it by about 1/8". In other words the recess on the cargo doors (intended to clear the door handle on the cab door) is not deep enough.

All the doors are aligned perfectly, the door handles are rebuilt and the door stop bumper thingies are brand new from WW and are the exact same size as the original ones removed from the bus before paint.

Is this just something VW did not think about when they went from the icepick cab door handles to the pushbutton ones?

On a Westy you really need to have the cargo door checkstrap off in order to use both of the flip-up tables.

Is this just something I am going to have to live with?

[Kombi]

[Major Woody]

Hi DaveM,
When we first noticed that the handle was contacting the door, we immediately thought of the wiper motor, and then the flexible brake lines. But we had just done the wiper conversion so we knew it could not be that. Then we pulled the engine to check the brake lines and found that the brake lines were covered with a sort of a "non-lubricating puddy" making it necessary to yell in order to be heard. So we packed the RGB's with tar to seal the grease in and so far no leaks! Good idea to fill the headlight switch with white lithium grease at the same time, just in case. Did you know we are totally shaved?

We think that the door may have been touching the handle before, but the old paint was so effed up that we paid no mind to it. In order for the door button not to contact the cargo door, each bumper would need to be nearly 3/4" longer. You have to hold them about an inch and a half apart in order for the parts not to contact one another.

You know how it is with shiny new paint. I am just hoping we don't have to leave the checkstrap on all the time.

[DaveM]

Cound you be missing a second bumper... such that the two bumpers touch each other? That would make up the 3/4 inch. Maybe a hole got filled?
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[EverettB]

I looked at my '67 Kombi and it does the same thing.
The paint is chipped there.
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[busdaddy]

Is it a late cargo door with the recess for the handle or could it have been replaced with an early one?
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[Kombi]

[EverettB]

[transportertalkman]

I have a customers 67 that does the same thing. I have been round and round with the problem, thinking that I could spacer the front passenger door lock so that it didn't allow the button to come out so far. It is a mystery to me as everything is original on the car.
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1951 Belgium Standard
1957 Ghia coupe
1960 Double Cab
1963 Ghia convertible
1964 Westfalia SO34
1967 Riviera Camper

[Jerry J]

I'll have to check mine and get back to you. So you are totally shaved?
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Jerry

'58 Bug
'63 KGhia
'67 Squareback
'67 Standard Bus
'60 Single cab

[EverettB]

I doubt this will help at all but I measured 4 push button handles I have here, 2 '64s and 2 '67s, a left and a right of each and all of the buttons come out approx. 13.5 mm from the handle.
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[arthurnugen]

I just went out and checked mine on my '65. The rubber bump on the passenger door and the right cargo door hit before the handle can touch. Are the stops hitting squarely?

I won't say it, but I bet there is something you can put there to keep it from rubbing!
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[beetleboy58]

[Jerry J]

Man the door does hit on mine. Right there in the indention for the handle. For me it's further justification to keep my old OG paint.

I can just hear those German engineers now....Scheiße Ernst! ze button es bumping ze door. Maybe if we put za strapen on zere nobody vill notice..
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Jerry

'58 Bug
'63 KGhia
'67 Squareback
'67 Standard Bus
'60 Single cab

[///Mink]

[3 type2's]

When I dis-assembled my '67 door handles to clean and lubricate them years ago, there was an old very deteriorated o-ring that surrounded the lock cylinder,and prevented it from extending out so far. It met the inside of the pot-metal and also seemed to seal out water. I replaced it with a generic one and within months it had crumbled -- handle works fine, but it now contacts the cargo door before the bumpers hit. Good Luck, Jeff

[Craig]

The bumpers, which appear to be original, prevent mine from hitting the door indentation. However, there is a chip in the paint there where the pushbutton must have hit because of a forceful swing forward.

Craig

[campingbox]

I agree, the door handle has a tar/felt o-ring to prevent dirt and water from getting inside the tumbler. If yours is missing the button will push out further. Isn't the cab door adjustable as well? Maybe the WW cab door handle seals are too thick? Maybe the cab door is tweaked from someone pulling on a locked door? The really nice '67 I had last year didn't touch, and didn't have a chip there either.

[Clara]

[Major Woody]

I care, Clara. When you see the paint and bodywork that I have invested three years and more $ than I care to think about, I hope you will understand. If you are uninterested, I invite you to skip the thread. It's a good thing that not everyone finds humor in the same things, isn't it. Life would be pretty boring if that were not the case.

Thanks to the others of you who took the time to post. My door handles do have the internal o-rings; I just rebuilt them. The doors are aligned perfectly yet they still hit.

It appears this was a design thing; I will live with it.