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Lighted Keyhole Mod

giganto

CEG'er
Joined
Sep 28, 2007
Messages
78
Since the death of my '95 Mystique, I have slowly been recontenting its features to my fleet of CDW-27s. One thing that has bothered me for ten years is that one of the first problems I had to fix was the front driver door mechanism. It wouldn't open, so I got replacement parts from the junkyard and promptly broke the rusted bolts of the door handle brow piece. The closest matching color I could find was that dark cherry color, but now I have touchup paint and a reason to take it apart. Since the '96 Mystique has courtesy lamps in the doors, and the switches to activate them in the handles, then adding illumination to the keyhole is straightforward.
Remove the doorcard and the foam covering the lock and courtesy lamp. Remove the two screws holding the latch cover and remove the lock cylinder through the outside of the door. You don't need to remove the latch mechanism at all. The black tops of the lock cylinders can be removed with pliers and screwdrivers. The bodies are different but the cylinders are interchangeable after removing the spring. Replace the lock assembly through the outside face of the door, then screw in properly-colored door faceplate. Tap into the wires to the courtesy light in the bottom corner of the door, and route the wire up to the keyhole. Don't do what I did and forget to check the handle electric switch. Normally the courtesy lights turn on when the door sill plungers pop out as the door opens, so test the switch before sealing the door. Now the keyhole illuminates without opening the door.
 

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