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Anyone use Miata finger pull door handles?

4K views 11 replies 5 participants last post by  MARTINSR 
#1 ·
I have a '90 Cougar that needs some work.I had thought about grafting in 1st gen Mazda Miata finger pull door handles.My concern is weight.My cougar doors are long and really heavy with all the options and huge thick door glass.I may have to use spring loaded door poppers to take some strain off pulling the doors open.I'm generally just trying to smooth the car out and it has those long lift up style door handles used extensively through out the late 70's and 80's.Anyone have any experiences using the Mazda finger pulls?


Picture shamelessly stolen from ebay for reference only.
 

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#5 ·
Yes,that's it.

shouldn't matter much either since the originals are plastic like most cars today...I wouldn't worry about it,they'll work on all counts.
My door handles are some type of thick pot metal like the old late 70's and early 80's cars with the rectangular bar looking door handles.They are all steel inside,except the plastic rod clips.The Miata handles are chromed plastic or composite and the base models are painted.Mine would be painted body color.

It's hard to see in this old pic,but I think you're probably familiar with these.I think they changed in 93 when the 5.0L V8 Sport model and SC 3.8L came out.I'll have to check into that.

Oh,and that dent behind the wheel well just above the bumper is the only dent or body defect on the car.The underside still has the E coat.This car never left SC except maybe to go on a vacation.It was a teachers car and she took good care of it.Her son drove it hard,blew a head gasket,and kept driving until it spun a rod bearing.She gave it to me because she knows my back ground as a mechanic and with cars in general.

 
#6 ·
I'm very familiar with the car ,the little old lady across the street has a 25th aniversery cougar (92) with 87,000 mi and completely original she bought new. Even though she has a beautiful new Acura she refuses to part with the Cougar...she just loves it. I've been doing all the mechanical work on the car for 10 yrs and just got done rebuilding the whole front suspension because she had a ball joint break. most people would have junked it ,me included, but she paid out the cash and man it was worth it, it rides like new again. after driving it around for a couple days I understand why she wanted it fixed its a really nice car. It needs a paint job it has the original paint (that bluish green that was so hot back in the 90's ...
Even though you can change the handles without to many problems getting them to work ,it takes some skills like welding, and metal shaping and its a good bit of work. If you really have your heart set on doing it I'd suggest going the upullit yard and getting a Cougar door for 50.00 and using it for practice,if it comes out good just hang the door if not ,nothing lost.
 
#8 ·
Cool.I love these cars.To bad they are disappearing in my area.I did these style Honda Del sol handles into a '78 Camaro RS back in the early 90's.They broke but the owner was heavy handed with the car,plus the weight of the door.




Opinion time, honestly, don't change the door handles on that car. Unless you plan on making many changes and making the car a customized version don't change one thing for the sake of changing it. There are few changes that are a bigger mistake than the change just for the sake of change. Let me put it this way if you did this change perfectly 99.9% of the people who saw the car wouldn't even know it was changed and couldn't care less. Why go through all that work for something so small?

Brian

My other plan was to smooth over the door handles and locks.I'm going to be smoothing the car over and removing all the trim, moldings,and emblems.I do car projects to satisfy my desire to make it my own.Even if no one notices my mods,I know it, and I have the satisfaction of knowing it was all me. :thumbup:
 
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