One of my original ideas for the wagon was to install power door locks on all four doors much like the set up I had put into our 1939 Ford. Sometime ago I had bought a power door lock kit that was on sale at Goodguys, so I decided to install all of the door handle/lock mechanisms and window lifts to see what would be involved to mount the power locks.

Before I could go to far I had to polish the stainless outside door handles, normally a messy job, but this time it seemed to go pretty easy. All four handles polished up nicely! After installing the all the lock/handle pieces I decided that I didn’t have enough room to properly mount the solenoids in either the front or rear doors, unless I spent a lot of time re-engineering the lock mechanisms and making a number of modifications to make everything work. All in all I didn’t think it would be worth the effort at this time.

Next up I installed the gear selector sensor for the Dakota Digital dash display. Of course everything in the kit was designed for the ever popular GM automatic transmissions and a few of the odd Ford models. I was able to pull together a mount and some linkage to hook the digital sender up to my Dodge RFE545 transmission. So we now have a digital readout for what gear the shift lever is in!

I had mentioned the LED third brake lights in a previous post but some how missed including photos of them. I have to say I was really happy with the way they turned out!

Door Handles and Hardware

Since I had all the exterior trim on and all of the door hardware installed on the passenger side I decided to insulate the doors and rear quarter panels before I got too far down the road. It is way easier to work with the insulation and 3M Spray Adhesive without all the hardware and glass installed in the doors and body. Prior to finishing the rear quarter panel insulation I used some SEM 2 part foam insulation to fill the gap between the rear floor and the quarter panel skin. All that remains to be added to the rear area prior to wiring are the rear speakers which will be mounted in the stock Dodge location. I was kinda amazed that in 1956 they even had an option for rear speakers!

Insulating the Doors and Rear Quarter Panels