With the power seat and windows installed it was time to turn my attention to the last of the power options; the Power Locks. There are only two visible clues to a Torino being power lock equipped...
The first is the lock button head which reads POWER LOCK, and second are the two rivets in the trailing edge of each door that hold the solenoid bracket in the door. The factory system didn’t use a switch to lock and unlock the doors but rather the lock plunger served as the switch. I was unsuccessful in locating an OEM set-up so I started surfing the web and eBay looking for a system that functioned in the same fashion. I discovered this system on eBay for two door cars...
It operates in the same manner that the factory system does. The kit included two solenoids, harness, control module and various links and hardware to install the system along with the wiring diagram and instructions.
The first order of business was to install the solenoids. As a starting point, I drilled out the two pilot dimples in each door for the factory mounting brackets....
then I determined how far into the door the solenoid had to be to push-pull directly on the lock plunger rod. With the dimensions in hand, I designed my bracket and cut a pattern out of heavy cardboard to confirm my design. Once I had it like I wanted, I loaded the design into AutoCAD, mirrored it for the opposite side of the car and converted it so I could have them laser cut at work. I used 11 ga stainless steel for rigidity, strength and durability. The finished brackets are EXTREMELY strong and I won’t ever have to worry about them rusting or being too flimsy to operate years from now.
With the solenoid brackets out of the way, it was time to decide where to locate the control module. Since both solenoids had to wire to it, I knew it should be somewhere in the middle of the dash. I had my dash pad out of the car, so I could see behind the dash clearly and I noticed the dash reinforcement above the glove box with the red seat belt/key buzzer mounted to it. I removed it and designed another stainless steel bracket to mount to the reinforcement that would allow the control module to be mounted close the buzzer and easily accessible thru the glove box opening once the liner was removed.
With the brackets all in place it was time to get busy and start mounting everything. I inserted the solenoid link into the top hole of the solenoid plunger and temporarily mounted the solenoids to the door brackets with a few wire ties so I could readily mount or remove the solenoids without much effort. The solenoid link must be formed to run parallel to the lock plunger rod so it can be attached to the rod via a block with slotted openings for the plunger rod and solenoid link. The shafts are locked in place with set screws.
With the solenoids in place, the control module mounted to it’s bracket and the reinforcement reinstalled between the dash and cowl, it was time to prepare the wiring harness.
The first order of business was to identify and separate the two individual circuits, then wrap them with vinyl loom wrap to simulate a factory wiring harness. Once wrapped, I plugged the harness into the lock control module and ran the two circuits to their destination. One thing I discovered once the circuits were run was the supplied harnesses weren't long enough to reach the solenoids (I guess the kit was designed for the smaller cars of today and not vintage American vehicles with doors that are over three feet long!). To remedy the problem and to give me a connection for the power locks at the door harness kick panel connection, I got a multi-conductor (5 wire) cable to connect between the lock solenoid and the cross cabin wiring harness at the kick panel.
I ran the cable along the same route the OEM lock harness ran across the outside of the door then into the door and through the rubber cable boot between the door and the hinge panel. The kit harness used bullet connectors for plugging everything together, so I made a trip to Radio Shack to pick up the appropriate size connectors. I installed the new female connectors on my new door harness and plugged the wires into the lock solenoid harness. At the kick panel connection, I had to shorten the cross dash harness to eliminate some of the excess kit harness length and installed the necessary bullet connectors and plugged all those connections together.
The final two wires to connect were the hot and ground leads. I used the ground connection for the blower motor behind the dash on the passenger side as the ground point for the lock circuit and picked up my hot signal from the hot connection for the glove box light and power trunk release.
The moment of truth arrived and the locks functioned beautifully once I fine turned the connecting link between the solenoid and the lock plunger to eliminate a slight binding between the two. A nice feature I hadn't though about was that since the solenoid operates off the lock plunger, when you unlock/lock one door with the key it does the same to the opposite side. With everything installed and operational, it was time to pull it all back out for detailing and lubrication.
I located some original style rivets to use for the final assembly and the crowning jewel for the installation was a set of NOS Power Lock buttons.....
Once everything is installed for the final time, unless you pull the door apart and look at the components, you won't know it's an aftermarket power lock kit... Very covert system!
Until next time........
ZEBRA 3 OUT
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