Ideas on adjusting outer door handle?

[subzali]

When I first got my 40 the passenger side door handle was broken. I got a new one from SOR and about two weeks later it broke again. As I was installing it I found there was a lot of resistance to movement in the handle but didn't really think much of it and didn't feel like fixing it. Well now I'm going through the door in more detail (after 4 years of a broken handle - has it really been that long?) and am finding what the problem is. It seems that the outer door skin is bowed inward enough (about 1/8" or so) so that the lever that goes up from the handle and bolts to the door linkage rubs the inside of the outer door skin.

So I'm trying to think of how to fix this - there really isn't a way to move the door linkage inward further, as it is located with countersunk bolts. Does anybody have any good ideas on how to support the door while I try to push on the outer door skin and yield it enough so that it stays away from the door linkage? I guess put some 2x4s around the edge of the door and try to push as hard as I can against it? Any other tricks anybody may have used?

 

[64 Yoda Pilot]

there is a tool called a slide hammer that will pull the outter skin back out. drill a hole and screw the slide hammer into the outter body then "slide the hammer" away from the damage - pulling the outter metal away. maybe you can rent one or see if you can borrow one from a body shop. you will have to fill the hole and touch up the paint. - Good luck.