Keyless Front Door Handles

[outonthetiles]

I saw a write up on one of the GP boards a while back about using rear door handles on the front, as they were keyless. Some modification had to be done, as the arm that pulls the rod for the latch mechanism needed to be moved from the from the front to the back. I think I may have found an easier solution.

I was at the junk yard a while back, and I needed a rear driver's side door handle for my 02 Impala. I found a 4dr GP in the yard with the same paint code as my 02, and the door handles looked to be the same shape and size. I noticed that a lot of GM cars from the era used door handles that looked exactly the same, but for some reason on the back of the GP handle it said "Pont Only". So I bought the handle, hoping to replace the broken one on my Impala. I got the broken one out, and on the back, the arm was on the wrong side. I was unable to use the GP handle on my Impala, but I immediately thought of the GP guys trying to put rear door handles on the front of their cars for the keyless look. If you guys use Impala, Regal, Century, etc rear door handles, they will work in the front without modification.

Here's a comparison of the two handles:

Rear driver's side door, Impala on left, GP on right.

Impala on bottom, GP on top.

Note that the handles are identical aside from the placement of the arm.

 

[ShadowSwept]

Has anyone actually done this to test the fit?

 

[outonthetiles]

I tried the GP handle in my Impala, it fits. I would assume the Impala handle would fit in the GP.

 

[z3r0]

I did the write up and to modify it you just put the front brackets on the rear handles. No problems and I've had it done for almost a year.

 

[jteske88]

its easy did this on last prix after some bastard knocked out my locks and took a flip out that i put in the night before. None the less easy

 

[outonthetiles]

Just thought I'd throw it out there that if you don't want to modify anything, Impala handles would bolt right in without modification.

 

[Scottydoggs]

only thing id be scared of is if your battery went dead, then you need to get in threw trunk or worse.

 

[Swiggles]

And if your trunk is shaved like mine you'd really be screwed. I was thinking of doing this on my passenger side though.

 

[outonthetiles]

I'm going to do the passenger door on my Impala. Just waiting for the right color one to come up in the junkyard..