last update. this took a while to get around to.
the latch was not working every time and also was particularly not working after the car had been locked and unlocked. sometimes the cargo door would not unlock and this was totally unacceptable.
I had to do a few things and I don't really know which one fixed the issue entirely. I am happy to report however, that my fix for the broken clip holder (jb weld and plastic welding) held up for over 10 mounting and dismounting of the cargo door card.
after a lot of troubleshooting, I realized that there were several potential issues. first was the handle throw was too short. I found this by comparing the throw of the factory handle and then checking the throw of the dorman handle. the dorman had about 75% of the throw of the oem handle.
second, the zip tie spacers on the cable, to create pretension because the handle throw wasn't long enough, were possibly causing issues with the cable not returning to resting position.
the insufficient throw caused a need for pretension on the cable (zip ties). the pretension on the cable caused the latch to get stuck in the locked condition.
the way I had the cable set on the dorman handle was also suboptimal. because the end of the cable was not captured, it only pulled and would not "push" the cable back toward the resting position.
another problem was the aftermarket cable was migrating after several pulls. the two zip ties I used to secure it to the factory cable were not producing enough tension to prevent it from moving in relation to the oem cable which was clipped into the latch housing.
first step was to adjust the throttle cable bracket. this would allow me remove all the little zip ties that I used to pretension the cable.
I drilled out the middle position hole and moved the bracket one adjustment point away from the cable yoke, this took up a lot of the excess cable existed (when I was shopping for cables, I thought more cable outside the sheath might be a good thing and it turned out not to be so).
at the same time I realized I had stripped out the 1/4 x 28 stud. it was too short with the bracket sandwiched and there was not solid thread engagement, a little over tightening stripped the threads near the end of the stud where the threads were still conical. I drove it out and replaced it with a bolt. turns out this SAE size is interchangeable with 10mm bolts from jdm oem bolts?
next, I extended the throw of the dorman handle.
I drilled a hole to indicate approximately where I wanted to add extra clearance and then used a dremel with carbide burr bits to grind out the channel. I highly recommend keeping burr bits around, they're awesome for hogging out bolt holes in aftermarket parts that don't fit perfectly. they can be chucked in dremel or a drill and cut much faster than a drill bit with lateral pressure.
next I lashed the aftermarket cable to the factory cable with a more rigorous zip tie lashing.
this prevents the tip of the sheath from migrating away from the other sheath.
last touch was to make a cavity for the ball end of the cable to sit in so that the yoke would pull and push the cable for a full throw and reset. I used the carbide burr in the shape of a ball for this.
after all these modifications, the latch works every time. it works after locking, outside, inside and every variation. locking the doors still prevents the inside handle from working the latch just as it prevents the outside handle from working the latch.
