Remove of rear door release knob

[FrankMolleman]

I am doing a respray and new interior on my S2 2+2. It is the first E-type I am working on, but so far everything is pretty straight forward. One thing keeps me busy and that is the removal of the rear door release on the RH rear panel. There must some trick for it, I have searched the forum, but don't find anything helpful.

Thanks, Frank

[vee12eman]

Hi Frank,

Removing the door release can be a little tricky. You have to lift the handle as far as it will go and remove the screws which hold the chrome finishing trim in place. Then the finisher has to be manipulated until it will pass over the lifted handle. This is very awkward and difficult with the vinyl covered board in place. Once the finisher is off you can remove the vinyl covered trim in a similar manner to removing the trim from the doors, although you have to remove all the trim surrounding the rear quarter window to do this properly. Then the mechanism is removed by undoing the screws (3 from memory). You also have to release the cable from the catch and pull the cable through the car as you remove the handle mechanism.

When I got my car, all the vinyl trim was removed and I trial fitted the handle and trim prior to refitting the board and vinyl. That wasn?t too difficult, but when I fitted the new board, complete with the vinyl and padding, I had a really difficult time pushing the trim back far enough to persuade the finisher into the exact position required for it to come off.

My car is a Series 3 but I am fairly sure they are the same.

Hope this helps,

Regards,

Simon

[FrankMolleman]

Hi Simon,

Got it out! I was just too gentile, a little more force and I had enough space to get the finishing ring off.

Thanks!

Frank

[vee12eman]

Hi Frank,

Glad to help, sometimes a bit of brute force is necessary - but needs to be carefully applied!

Regards,

Simon