63 Door Lock Cylinders

[Norm B.]

All the locks on my 63 coupe work off the same key as they should. The driver's door cylinder is installed upside down however so I am assuming that somewhere in the car's past it was replaced with a right side cylinder. In looking at a couple of photos it appears to me that the only difference between the right and left cylinders other than the part number is the orientation of the pawl that the lock rod goes into. That pawl appears to be held on by a spring clip. I am thinking that if I pull the cylinder and turn the orientation of the pawl 180 deg. I should be able to reinstall the cylinder so that the key cuts face down when inserted. Has anyone had any experience with this or know for sure whether or not the cylinders are actually the same and it's just simply a matter of reversing the pawl?

[Dan B.]

Re: 63 Door Lock Cylinders

Yes, you should be able to pull out the lock and re orient the pawl properly.

[Gary B.]

[Norm B.]

Re: 63 Door Lock Cylinders

Thanks guys. The lock was like this when I bought the car in 1983 and has always worked well. I did not want to go to all the trouble of getting into the door cavity and removing the lock cylinder only to find out I could not do it.

Norm