Driver Door Latch Modification - Anyone Done This?

[PurpleBeeper]

I've got a 70 Road Runner and the driver's door latch is old/worn. The star wheel has worn teeth and the pin it rides on is sloppy. The plastic striker is very worn too. I got another on Ebay, but it's not exactly the same. The star wheel and striker look really good on the Ebay latch. However, on the Ebay latch, the arm of the latch that connects to the interior door lock "pull handle" rod is different...that's it...otherwise the latches are the same. It looks like maybe I could press out the "pivot pin" these arms ride on, swap my original arm onto the Ebay latch and press it back together. Has anyone here ever done this? Any ideas?

Otherwise, anyone have an extra 69/70 driver's door latch?

I can see how they work differently. With my original 70 latch (greasy one on left), if the driver's door is locked, and you pull on the inside "pull handle", the door unlocks and opens. With the Ebay latch (clean one), if the driver's door is locked, and you pull on the inside "pull handle", the door does NOT unlock and open. You have to lift up on the inside/top lock/un-lock pull knob near the window to unlock the door latch & then pull on the inside "pull handle" to open the door.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

I'm going to try this instead of pressing the "pivot pin" in & out to swap over the lever, I realized that I could make "one lever" out of two on the Ebay one. I cut off the extra arms & welded what was left together, making 1 arm out of 2. I measured this makes my arm 3mm shorter & 3mm towards the outer door skin, but the rod it connects to is 2 ft long... I'll never notice. I think this will work. It now operates exactly like my original '70 door latch.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

For anyone else that runs into this....it worked PERFECTLY! I noticed my old latch had some issues.
1. The star wheel that hits the door striker (the one you can see when fully installed) had its teeth pretty worn & the axle it rides on was sloppy.
2. The white plastic striker, that's part of the latch and above the star wheel mentioned in 1 was pretty warn. My replacement has a lot more meat left on that white plastic piece.
3. I lubed up every moving part and axle point on the new latch with red grease