Cobra 148’s Guide to fitting Vectra chrome Handles

If your reading this, you have bought the chrome handles ready to fit, or are thinking of buying a pair. The handles can be bought from your local Vauxhall dealer, quote the part number 9134967 for the left hand side, and 9134968 for the right hand side. The current price is under £20 for the pair and makes an effective and cheap modification to your interior, especially along with painted handles.



Firstly, I’m assuming you know how to remove the door trim. If not, then this is a quick guide from my own car. Mine has electric windows, if yours are manual, you will need to remove the wider by first removing the circlip that holds it in place.

Here is a brief description on removing the door trim. Firstly, remove the rubber trim from along the top of the door card, lever up one end with the blade of a screwdriver, and continue lifting up along its length until it is completely removed. Now the door handle, this is held in place with one screw at the base of handle and further screws located behind the tweeter cover, this cover just snaps out of position. Now remove the door pocket, undo the seven screws indicated in the picture, with the screws removed, the pocket lifts up and out of position.

Now remove the two screws on the outer edge of the door and your door card will lift up and off.

Now you have access to the inside of the door, its time to remove the original handle assembly. Peel back the plastic protective sheeting to gain access to the handle and the control rod behind it. Feel behind the original handle, you will see there is a control rod that runs from the handle to the lock mechanism. Follow this rod from the handle to the opposite end and release it from the mechanism. Just pull it directly outwards, it only snaps into place so will pop out with a bit of force.

Now you should have a loose rod still fixed to the original door handle plate.

To remove the handle backing plate, push the complete plate toward the front of the car, it will just slide forward and pop out.

Now you can unhook the other end of the control rod and place it to one side.

The Vectra handle is the same as the Corsa one, although the backing plates are different. You will need to remove the hinge pin from the original handle. I used a nail with a smaller diameter than the pin as a drift, and gently tapped it out with a hammer, you should end up with something like this….



Now do the same for the chrome handle.

Now simply put the chrome handle onto the Corsa backing plate and replace the pin by tapping it back into place gently with a hammer. Use the hinge pin that was originally on the Corsa handle to hold the chrome one on. I found by using the Vectra pin on the Corsa plate it allowed a little “free play” which I didn’t want.

Now that you have swapped the handles and refitted the hinge pins, you will have something looking like this….



All you need to do now is hook the door control rod back on, and refit the plate by holding it in place and sliding toward the rear of the car, the plate will lock into place. Simply pop the other end of the rod back into the mechanism (this can be a bit fiddly as there is limited room) and now you are ready to reassemble everything.

Ensure you stick the plastic sheet back into place. Like they say in the manuals, re assembly is just the reverse of removal.

You should now be able to sit back and admire your handiwork and have something looking a little like this…



As an afterthought, while you have the door card removed, why not take the opportunity to replace the door pins too with something a little more sexy?

There are numerous types and colours available. I have the Irmscher ones on mine..



I hope this guide has been of some help. I am going by memory as I actually changed my handles some time ago. If you come across anything I may have left out, please let me know and I’ll update this note.



Good Luck.


[Edited on 11-07-2003 by Ian]