'68 Charger project - Lock and Unlocking Kindig Door Handles?

Hello All,
In keeping with a long running theme of "things-I-wish-I'd-thought-about-beforehand" - I have worked myself into a corner that I'm wondering if anyone knows how to get out of. Here it is: I installed a set of Kindig door handles on my '68 Dodge Charger. They look great, all credit to the paint and body guy I had do the work. They actuate the locking mechanism and pull open appropriately. They look, kind of, like Tesla doorhandles and have a shaved-but-not-fully-shaved appearance.

The problem is that, without a key, there is now no way to actually lock and/or unlock the door using the stock mechanism. I can put door poppers and fit them in - but those will only 'pop' the doors open, they will not lock and/or unlock the doors. Further, there is almost no room in the door to install something that would activate the locking mechanism. It appears I have rowed myself up the proverbial creek....and the paddle is gone.

Anyone encountered this before / have a solution? For electronics, I'm using the Infinity box set up, I have more than enough power and signal wire spaces to run power and signal to something that would do this - and the Infinity Box has a key fob that will activate it...just don't know what that would be.

Any / all advice would be appreciated (except "You should have left the damn door handles on."...this is true...but there's no going back now).

-Aron (a guy with a great car that may not have locking doors)

Find a remote solenoid that pulls a cable. You could at least unlock them and lock them from the inside button.

pnora said:

Find a remote solenoid that pulls a cable. You could at least unlock them and lock them from the inside button.

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That's interesting - locate the solenoid somewhere else where there is space in the door and see if I can route a cable up to the locking mechanism...I like this. Thanks Pnora.

You can always lock & unlock with a Slim Jim.

pnora said:

Find a remote solenoid that pulls a cable. You could at least unlock them and lock them from the inside button.

Click to expand...

Some cars won't let you do that. You have to use the key to lock the door once it's closed.

Edit: Got curious and looked it up, 1970 and down you can only lock the door from the outside with the key. 1971 and up you can push the lock button down and hold the outside handle in while closing.

OKDart said:

Some cars won't let you do that. You have to use the key to lock the door once it's closed.

Edit: Got curious and looked it up, 1970 and down you can only lock the door from the outside with the key. 1971 and up you can push the lock button down and hold the outside handle in while closing.

Click to expand...

You could be right on that. Another thought is to locate a push pull solenoid on the inside locking mechanics in such a way that it can lock and unlock. Some of them are very compact.

Are you installing power window regulators? They could be set up to operate remotely

RJ Squirrel said:

Are you installing power window regulators? They could be set up to operate remotely

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No power window regulators are planned at this point. Dakota Digital makes a power door lock actuator - it would not fit in the immediate area of the door locking mechanism - the window is too closely fit into this space - - but would this work if a small cable was routed to the actual locking mechanism? Or does the fact that the door needs to be locked from the outside prevent this workaround?

Dakota Digital PDR-1 Dakota Digital Power Door Lock Actuators | Summit Racing

Another reason that I personally, have never cared for his door handles. Kindig would put them on everything that leaves his shop if he could.

On my 40' Ford Pickup I needed to add a way to lock the doors. The stock handles operate aftermarket latches with no lock mechanism. I cannot remember the brand but the pics will give you an idea of the quality of the pieces. The solenoids are mounted to a beefy aluminum block. The install requires some fabrication of course. I added a steel cable to one solenoid routed to an area I could reach should the battery die.






A corresponding hole in the door jamb is necessary. I added an aftermarket electronic door lock fob to activate them. Works nice.