Elf Mark III door locks -what do they look like and how do they work?

My Elf came to me in bits. Some door locks were included but I am not sure that they are correct for the Elf.

They work from outside the car OK, but I cannot see how to lock the car from the inside (I assume Elfs are lockable from inside??) The new door cards that I have bought only have two holes, one for the window winder and one for the door lock, so I assume that to lock the car from onside, the handle should be pushed in the opposite direction than required to open it. But I cannot see how this action is connected to the locking mechanism on the lock itself. Makes me thin I have the wrong lock.

I have seen a Mini wind iup window door and that has a different style of lock and a little chrome lever to activate the internal lock. There's no provision for this lever in my nice new Elf door cards.

Could somebody please post pictires of the correct door lock mechanism for a mark III Elf please?

When installed correctly, the Elf inside door handle opens the door when pushed one way and locks it when pushed the opposite way. i have an extra set of doors in the garage. If I have a chance later today I'll pull off one of the door cards and take some pictures.

Here's what the whole thingy looks like.


The curved bit is the actual locking pall that serves to block the latch from working from the outside.


This is the open position.


This is the locking position.


Does that help?

Thanks Red Riley. That's how I imagined they would work.

I think I must have the wrong locks. The handle end is the same as mine, and my door looks the same as yours. Mine also has a curved bit that the handle bar attaches to but this doesn't seem to act as a locking pawl. On mine, the locking acion is achieved by a slotted plate that slips into a groove on the inside end of the push button on the lock, preventing the button from being pushed in to unlatch the door.

Could I trouble you again please to take a picture of the lock itself? Also your outside door handle to make sure I have the right one of those (If I could figure out how to post pics to the forum, I would send you a pic of mine, but it's a bit beyond my limited computer skill level at the moment - must have another try.)

I bought by car from a Mini specialist who I suspect cobbled together the (Mini) parts necessary to make a total package - I have found quite a few Mini bits that nearly do the job for the Riley, but not quite - maybe the door locks come into that category?

Thanks again!

Neil Wakeman (email lynneil@spin.net.au) - I do know how to send pictures by email!

Posting photos is easier than it looks. Have a look here to see how when you feel like having another try at it! Back out to the garage.
posting-photos-on-the-forum

Okay, a couple more pics.
Outer latch.


Inner latch.


Handle.

Thanks once again, much appreciated.

I have the same inner latch and door handle as yours, so that's a good start - it narrows down the problem to the plate/sliding locking lever that connects the lock to the push button shaft in the handle. Mine are obviuosly Mini and are designed to work with a different style of inner latch.

Until I can work out the process for posting pics, I can't send you photos of mine. But they are the same as these ones currently for sale on Ebay UK.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MINI-3-PEICE-CHROME-LOCK-SET-2-DOORS-1-BOOT-2-KEYS-NEW-/170758759521?pt=UK_CarsParts_Vehicles_CarParts_SM&hash=item27c203e461

Seems that all I have to do now is to find or make a couple of slider/locking bars to suit an Elf and and fit them to my door handles.

To confirm this theory, would you (or some-one else) have a door handle in your spares box that you could photgraph the back of, to show the little the connector piece please?

Thank you so much for your help!

Back to Photobucket and the mysteries of posting pics to the site!

BTW, some time ago you told me how the boot floor is fitted and I was subsequently able to make up and fit the two metal side panels (which were missing) and the wooden floor. Looks great now! At thet time, you mentioned that yours had a removeable section over the battery but you couldn't figure out why. I wonder whether a previous owner might have installed a battery cut-off switch, and the little hatch in the boot floor is to facilitate access to the switch? It's a pain to have to remove the floor every time access to the battery is required, as I now well know!

Neil

Sorry, I'm not prepared to break the doors down any further just now. Maybe someone else has some further insight.

The removable bit in the boot board wouldn't be of much use as a maintenance hatch, since it's under the carpet. I theorize that it was designed to be a barrier to possible damage to the wooden board from battery fluids. I can't think why it would be necessary with modern sealed batteries, so I didn't include it in my new boot board. And yes, it is a bit of an effort to remove the board whenever you need to retrieve something from under it. Oh, well. Probably why many of them are taken out and lost.

Quite understandable - wouldn't ask that you pull it apart any further, maybe someone has a door handle lying around in a spares box.

I have been doing some more fiddling with mine this morning and have made a little bracket to convert the Mini one to suit the Elf. Not pretty, but I reckon it should work. Thanks for the clues.

With your boot floor, i wasn't thinking so much about battery maintenance, just access to a battery cut off switch, the type that attaches to the battery post. The ones I have seen have a circular knob on top to quickly disconnect the battery without the need to remove the battery clamp.

Thanks again,

Neil

It would be simple enough to build a trapdoor for that purpose. I would trim the carpet around the hole with the same binding as the outside edges, then make a door with carpet on it. Could be done elegantly if you put some effort into it. Or just put a remote mounted cutoff switch somewhere else in the boot.

After half a day messing around with the door locks, I have them working (ie locking and unlocking from inside the car) as they should. The problem was that the handles that came with the car were clearly from a Mini and were designed to connect to a different type of catch. The internal locking was achieved by a separate locking lever, not the interior door handle as in the Elf. I modified the connector in the Mini handle and now it works a treat!

Thanks for your advice and photos - big help, much appreciated!

Now for the next problem, who knows what that will be!

Neil