So, you want to fit central locking do you?? Well this FAQ should give you some clues on how best to install it. It only covers the 2 doors mind.
For a FAQ on the hatch - check elsewhere in the FAQs section.
THE KIT
Here is the kit I used. It's a 2-door kit which cost around £15 on eBay. Click here to search ebay, or here for the same product on the company's website.
Alternatively, Maplin sell a similarly priced alternative.
FITTING THE ACTUATORS
Before you even think of fitting your new central locking kit - READ THE INSTRUCTIONS!!! {322}
I will be telling you to ignore most of them - but for god's sake - don't get two thirds of the way through the installation only to find that the window won't open anymore - NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Possibly the stupidest thing I've ever done on my car, maybe even in life. I sat there in shock for a good five minutes once I realised!! {3}
Anyway - the first thing to do is to remove your door cards - as per Haynes manual instructions. Then, carefully peel back the plastic door liner. Alternatively, peel it back recklessly and follow my other FAQ on replacing the shitty door liner - which keeps the rain out by the way - or rather it doesn't after 10-15 years!!
With the door card and liner removed - you should aim to install the actuator about here...
As you can see, the top screw for the actuator comes very close to where the trim clip for the door panel goes - but that can be trimmed down easily enough to fit back in if needs be.
With the location determined, you need to make up some linkages to operate the lock pin. Now, included with the kit are some rods and little screw on couplings to connect the rods straight to the door pins, but bear in mind this is a universal kit - and we can in fact do a much neater installation.
If you look up inside the door - you may, if sufficiently contorted, see a little white lever. If you feel it, you will find there is a small hole through it. This is where I hooked my linkage up to...
Bending the supplied rods is difficult unless you have a bench vice - so seek out some suitably stiff, yet more flexible wire to make the linkages with. An old wire coathanger fit the bill for me, and I even used some of its curves to gain the right effect.
Making the linkages this way involves a bit of trial and error, but the result is worth it. Just be sure they won't flex or disengage over time.
As it says in the instructions, make sure the actuator and lock are both in the down position. This is tricky on the driver's side, as you have to trick the door into thinking it's closed to get the lock pin to go down.
Oh, one more thing - if you have GT or G40 seats - don't sit on your bolsters whilst you do the work!! {322}
WIRING
Getting wires into your door from the cabin is a bit of a mission, or a stroke of genius depending on how you do it.
My method was to take the doors off, drill through the doors and drill through the A-pillar.
If that sends you screaming in terror - then there is an alternative...
What Steve of the Concept-e brothers (cheers for pic steve!!
) has done here is to run some wires through a length of plastic braiding and up behind the doorcard. I think it looks quite neat - and in retrospect I almost wish I'd done it that way to save the hassle of taking the doors off!!
Nevertheless - if you're going for an arguably more factory look - you could go for the harder option...
What we've got here are the wires passing through some heatshrink tubing from a hole in the A-pillar to a hole in the door. The tubing is protected from the raw metal by a gromet each end, cut to fit around the tubing and then into the hole.
The camera really makes it look shit - but it goes pretty much unnoticed in real life. The small amount of rust visible on the hole in the door shows how important it is to treat the raw metal with a touch of paint. This pic was taken a day after the hole was drilled!!
Anyway - with the hardest two bits done - the rest of the wiring is a cynch!! Just find a power source, in my case the stereo wiring made good sense, as would the cigarette lighter as these probably come under a single fuse for ancillaries.
HINTS AND TIPS:
If you're after remote central locking, there is an option to buy a remote from the company that supplied the kit, or alternatively, use the two trigger wires to connect to a compatible alarm system.
To make one of the actuators passive, connect only the green and blue wires. If done on the passengers side, this means that if a passenger pushes down the lock-pin as they get out, it won't cause your door to lock. Remember the driver's side lock-pin is not meant to go down whilst the door is open, so you'd do best to wire it this way.
To get the wires and connectors through a small hole (10mm), you will need to tape the wires together in a staggered configuration, and remove the bindings further up the wiring loom.
THAT'S ALL FOLKS!!
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