Author Topic: best door popper kit?  (Read 13911 times)

Offline mikeith

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best door popper kit?
« on: August 06, 2007, 12:54:52 pm »
who makes the best one for the 73-87? fixing to replace a door skin and im gonna go ahead and shave the handles so im tryin to find the best popper kit i can find!

Offline Captkaos

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #1 on: August 06, 2007, 01:16:56 pm »
are you talking about kit form?  or something you build yourself?
AutoLoc is good.

Offline mikeith

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #2 on: August 06, 2007, 03:07:22 pm »
probably just a kit... do they have a model specific one... i just noticed that some companies have model specific ones and i figured that would be better than a universal kit wouldn't it?

Offline Captkaos

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #3 on: August 06, 2007, 05:31:36 pm »
I would get the 40lb version.  Pretty much isn't a 73-87 version that I know of.

Offline Mr79C10

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #4 on: August 19, 2007, 07:56:15 am »
Thats on of my projects that Im doing aswell. I have the kit and I have an alarm.  The problem Im having is ,, do I have the door locks or leave them. I also have the Emergency kit too.
*79 C10 Short Box  ST8 6 bang'r
*Lowered w/ 3" Control arms, 2" Lower Coils  and 4" shackles and hangers W/ FLIP KIT  
*House of Friends

Offline low3+3

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #5 on: August 22, 2007, 12:10:04 am »
i shave door handles all the time and i always remove the lock button and if its power locks i disconect the solinoid , if their not i use a zip tie on the latch assembly so they cant accidently become locked

Offline Nickg124

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #6 on: September 06, 2007, 08:46:49 pm »
I suggest using the bear claw door latches from auto loc in lieu of the door popper kit. They are spring loaded to kick your door open off the striker pin when the latch is activated. I don't like poppers for a couple of reasons, 1. Drilling a hole in your door sill sucks, and 2. The spring in the popper constantly puts pressure on the door so it may tweak the door when it is closed esp. if it is mounted far from the latch (the most common mounting position is in the bottom rear corner) and has a heavy spring.

The bear claws require a little welding, but if your skinning a door that should be no problem. I can post pics of the install I did on my suicided 95 Sonoma if you want to see them...

Offline mikeith

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #7 on: September 07, 2007, 08:33:04 am »
yes please do! i've heard that about poppers as well... something about em pushing out the bottom corner of the door over time or something? ive never heard of an alternatives though so if you would post some pics that would be great!!

Offline Nickg124

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #8 on: September 07, 2007, 01:26:31 pm »
The box as it comes from Auto Loc...


The contents of the kit, you may not have to use the striker pin mounting plate, or the pin, if your factory setup works. The hinge is spring loaded to pop when pressure is put on the tab, so you just have to hook your linkage and solenoid up to that tab and your good to go. If you are having problems making your exsisting linkage work, I suggest using some cables and cable ferrules to make a new direct link from your inner door handle to the latch (for mechanical linkage).

Also, I STRONGLY suggest mounting remote battery terminals somewhere that is accessible without having to get in the vehicle and pop the hood. Because when your battery dies, and your solenoids won't open your doors, instead of breaking a window to get in, you can jump the battery from say, under the front bumper, or (if you want to run cables back there) under the rear bumper... You can pick up the remote terminals from a race shop (race cars use them all of the time) or summit, jegs, etc...


The hole I had to patch from my door popper...


The latch straight on... You can orientate the latch different ways to work with your linkage... Notice the small notch I had to cut out for the linkage to stick out, this can be mounted to be inside of the door...



The latch again with the solenoid mounted above it... You want the solenoid as close and straight on as possible for ease of building linkage, and binding...


Side view of the latch...


Striker pin relocated to the front of the door sill... Notice the patched hole where the factory wiring was routed through...


The door closing...


Let me know if you have anymore questions... Remember this install is on a 95 Sonoma, so your install will be different, but hopefully this will give you enough information to get started!

Offline Nickg124

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #9 on: September 07, 2007, 01:41:24 pm »
in realtime...

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Offline ajlaskowski

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #10 on: September 15, 2007, 10:28:45 am »
In your picture you show a box that says bear claw installation kit. Does that mean that the installation kit and the bear claws are sold seperately or do they all come togther in a kit? Also where did you get yours?

Offline Nickg124

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Re: best door popper kit?
« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2007, 11:40:37 am »
That is the only box you need, everything is in there. I don't know why it says installation kit. I think I got mine from stylin' concepts, but I wouldn't reccomend them...