Constant clicking under coach area while off

i have to say thanks again for those pics. I will be revisiting these alot, its pretty helpful. Probably going to try removing some rust from those floor panels in the back of mine this weekend. My rear door leaks too so the panels are all rusted out
 
Tried to get the lock out over the weekend. I did get in and almost got it out with the help of those videos, but the bar attaching to the lock mechanism seemed stuck. Could not get it out no matter how hard I tried. A few pictures

The door panel was already warped due to water damage so I was able to swivel it around the handle without worrying about bending it.

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Before removing the clip:

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After removing the clip:

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On the bright side it was warm enough yesterday that I was able to peel off all the tacky skull stickers, so now the body is clean of stickers and decals at last. Now its 28 degree again though...
 
You would need to rotate the cylinder to get it to release from the locking shaft. Since you have it out this far, just look for a number on the side of the barrel, and take that number to the locksmith to have a new key cut by the code number.
The reason that the inside door panel is warped, is because the bodybuilder never sealed the large access hole with waterproof paper or plastic sheeting. They saved money anyplace that it couldn't be seen. These cars were never intended to be in service beyond 10 years, and then off to the junkyard mortuary. That is why we rarely ever see many clean rust free cars from the 1930's, 1940's, & 1950's. Only in the 1960's, did some of these cars start to be saved for posterity.
 
that one has the keeper on the tap of the lock. it is latched on the lock with a tab in a hole. from the inside you need to put a small flat blade under it and lift the end up. then slide it off the lock. that keeper is made to assemble not to remove. they are a pain in the butt. once you do a few thousand of them you get the trick down.

not a lot of room to get you hands in there. but they are a snap to assemble.

here are a a couple pictures of the rod fasteners and how they go on and off. I don't have a lock like that one in the junk box but here is how it sets and were you need to lift it out of the hole and the direction you need to slid to get it off the rod
 

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You would need to rotate the cylinder to get it to release from the locking shaft. Since you have it out this far, just look for a number on the side of the barrel, and take that number to the locksmith to have a new key cut by the code number.
The reason that the inside door panel is warped, is because the body builder never sealed the large access hole with waterproof paper or plastic sheeting. They saved money anyplace that it couldn't be seen. These cars were never intended to be in service beyond 10 years, and then off to the junkyard mortuary. That is why we rarely ever see many clean rust free cars from the 1930's, 1940's, & 1950's. Only in the 1960's, did some of these cars start to be saved for posterity.

Thanks I will clean the outside of the cylinder a bit and see if I can find a number and do that. Good info about the waterproofing.

that one has the keeper on the tap of the lock. it is latched on the lock with a tab in a hole. from the inside you need to put a small flat blade under it and lift the end up. then slide it off the lock. that keeper is made to assemble not to remove. they are a pain in the butt. once you do a few thousand of them you get the trick down.

not a lot of room to get you hands in there. but they are a snap to assemble.

here are a a couple pictures of the rod fasteners and how they go on and off. I don't have a lock like that one in the junk box but here is how it sets and were you need to lift it out of the hole and the direction you need to slid to get it off the rod

Handy pictures. I will keep that in mind. Going to try copying down that code first and see if that gets me taken care of. I did see something that I think may have been one of those keepers. It was hard to get a visual but I pulled on it a bit, but was taking care not to bend anything.

All things considered this was easier to get to than I had anticipated
 
Good news! it was warm one day last week so I drove the hearse to work. During lunch I decided to find a nearby locksmith that I hadnt tried yet and drove over to see if he could help with the rear lock since I hadnt had luck getting it out.

Since I already had the panel off and got the clip off for him he didnt charge an exorbitant fee to work on it. He struggled a bit but eventually got it disconnected from the pawl. He had me a key in less than an hour, he had to take a buffer to the cylinder before the code appeared.

At first I noticed that the key only worked in the rear door, so I asked if this was just because I needed to lube the locks given they havent moved in so long.

He told me maybe, they do need lubricant but he took a closer look at the key and told me he needed to modify it.

Most of you probably know this already but it was news to me so i'm going to share it on the offchance:

Apparently the OLD GM keys had a little groove on them that a notch in the lock would slide down. Well the new GM key blanks dont have this groove anymore, so the flat edge where that groove should be gets stuck where the notch hits it.

He had to take a small file and sanded that flat edge so it was more of a slope, then after some lube the lock started working perfect.

Like I said im sure no doubt most of you are aware but if anyone wants it I can take a picture of the modified key next to an original GM key from the 70s I have (that key is a different story)
 
Have a bunch of keys made by this locksmith, and then put the original one that he made away for safe keeping. Consider the one that he just made to be a 1st generation key, and every key that is cut using that key as a pattern, is a 2nd generation key. If you use a 2nd generation key to make additional keys, those keys are 3rd generation keys, and will not work as well as the original or the 2nd generation key. The further out you get, the more error is introduced in the replacement keys. A copy of a copy, of a copy never works as well as the original key. Also, I hope that he gave you the key number so if you should ever need another original key, it can be made from that number.
 
Have a bunch of keys made by this locksmith, and then put the original one that he made away for safe keeping. Consider the one that he just made to be a 1st generation key, and every key that is cut using that key as a pattern, is a 2nd generation key. If you use a 2nd generation key to make additional keys, those keys are 3rd generation keys, and will not work as well as the original or the 2nd generation key. The further out you get, the more error is introduced in the replacement keys. A copy of a copy, of a copy never works as well as the original key. Also, I hope that he gave you the key number so if you should ever need another original key, it can be made from that number.

Yes he did give me that key number. Wrote it down for safekeeping
 
Just for posterity I will put a pic in here comparing the new key to an original key for a different 70s hearse
 

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You can find the proper blanks on line. Like i said its a switch key blank. Someone has changed the switch which now gives you two keys for the car instead of one. To keep them apart i always ground the corners of the door key. You could have him pull the tumblers of the ignition and re key it to the door locks to go back to a single key. But its not nessary. Just make sure you mark the door key or as I have done get one of the none stock key cut for the switch key so that it is different. You risk finding your selfe twisting the switch key off in the door lock one day as they both go in.
 
I tested this key on another door this morning and noticed it worked but I had some difficulty as I could only unlock if I pushed inwards with some force as a turned.

After comparing them again I suddenly noticed another key difference between the OLD GM keys and the new GM blanks. While the keys themselves are the same length, the actual functional part of the key is shorter, so that may be a contributing factor. I'm going to do as John said and find some old GM blanks online and have those cut.
 

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Your pushing the door key in to far. Original parts group , rubber the right way. Are two sources that come to mindfor the proper blank there afe a lot of differences in those two blanks.
 
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