In theory that could happen. I didn't realise the handle part actually came out of frame until I had cam etc out and handle fell out. Poses another dilemma though. The stub on the aluminium handle that slides in the cam also starts to wear and become more conical. Even with all the repairs, which get it back close to showroom, you can never get it perfect unless you can find a spare handle with a, as designed, cylindrical stub.

Sloth wrote:

Or, when the wear is so bad, the handle comes off in your hand...

Good spot Sloth.
I must admit, being "Mr H&S" and working alone all the time, I have a CO2 and a powder extinguisher very close to hand when doing anything fuelly and testy.
Have an old pressurised water type for when I'm doing anything weldy as well!
It's the GEMS that seems to be in the press at the moment for crunchy fuel lines. You don't expect to find it on a Thor. As I said- good spot.

Not returning is the first sign of the wear. They then get stiffer as the wear increases. Ultimately the roll pin which acts as a spindle for the cam lever can fall out.
Funnily enough, as the drivers we don't tend to notice. It's usually when someone else drives the car they mention the stiff door handle.
EDIT- or, of course, when you suddenly can't pull the handle to open the door.

By now we're all familiar with the use of the STC3064 cam kit and cutting off the extraneous bit of metal and we know these work well, BUT...
Getting the spring onto the plastic cam AND into it's correct locations can be a long process and hard on the fingertips and patience.
Here's the (well, an) answer- cable ties.
First the easy one. Use the first cable tie, with key in lock, to hold lock tab out of the way, like this:

Now for the spring. The problem is holding it under tension and connecting all the components at the same time, traditionally requiring 3 hands. The solution is to pre-tension the spring and use a cable tie to hold it under tension.
To do this (and I apologise that I don't have better photos, but again that would require 3 hands) put the spring onto a handy sized bar, screwdriver, whatever and prepare a small cable tie in a loop. put one end of loop under small arm of spring and press spring/ bar/ cable tie combo on table top.
Bring long arm of spring over into its tensioned position and tighten cable tie to hold that tension. Note you don't need as much tension as pictured.
Spring is now compressed and held compressed by cable tie.
Remove from bar and assemble handle/ cam components. They just drop into place easily without battling the spring.
Gently move handle to ensure everything assembled correctly, insert new roll pin, cut cable ties, spring releases.
Take other cable tie off lock arm
Test
Job done!
Pics of in progress solution:

Changing bonnet release cables is a tedious job! Getting the grommet in the firewall back in place needs the eyesight of a hawk, the flexibility of a teenager and the patience of a saint, none of which I have!
Adjusting the bonnet pins correctly took a while. I started with the pins loose (ish) on mounting plates and slathered in Engineers Blue to get them centred (they weren't!). Went to undo locknuts to deal with depth of penetration (quiet at the back you!) and found the locknut on the stuck side wasn't locked and had allowed the pin, over time, to screw itself back in, making that side a tighter and tighter fit, until ultimately it wouldn't unlatch.
Ah well, nice to know what caused it!
Have once again brought original door handle/ lock home and am definitely going to fit the cam kit tonight. Cut the extraneous metal tag off while at workshop so only have the cleanish fiddly cam to replace. I know how to have fun on a Friday night!

Mine will end up with whatever I can get in a hose size to fit heater matrix stubs and has suitable bends in it! At moment, it's parallel. Ideally will be series, but let's see.
Didn't do much LPG work today- just checked switch cable continuity as I had panels out to change bonnet release cable. Sidetracked by the usual broken top fasteners on binnacle cover. Another aluminium strip/ JB Weld masterpiece. Damn I'm getting good with that stuff!

Blue box ones did too. I guess even they would find it hard to screw up a filter?
Mind you, I've just fitted Blue Box bonnet release cables (all I could get on a "need it yesterday" basis). Given the amount of faffing around it took to get the rubber grommet in the firewall in place, I hope they last a VERY long time.

" Gilbertd wrote:

...and OEM ones actually click into place.

Blue box on mine- slid straight into the housing all the way with no probs (about the only thing I've done so far without side issues!).
Silly question, but I have to ask- you are putting them in the correct orientation are you?

:) Tony
Ever the optimist, I've ordered up the vapour filter as recommended many pages ago, some gas pipe and cobra clips so that I can move things around for a more orderly, and accessible, installation.
I suspect water plumbing won't be too far behind. What I have seems to work and not leak and I dislike doing anything to do with the bulkhead heater pipes because of the potential effect on the O rings inside of pulling/ pushing on the pipes, but I like things tidy and set up so nothing will rub against anything else and it's not that yet!

That's the path I'm following Gilbertd. In my mind a failing or broken sensor link (pressure, temp etc) might shut down the gas side but not the petrol and certainly not the switch/ lights.
I now know the grounds are all good. Next comes the power. As I've got the kick panel off to do the bonnet cables I may as well pull the underpanel and binnacle cover and check continuity of switch cables back to ECU as well. It's marginally warmer with my head in the footwell too, which is nice.

That's what I was thinking, or rather, what you prompted me to think about! Belt and braces can't hurt- as long as it's the right one that gets grounded.
Unless error detection in the ECU is very refined though, I can see a sluggish solenoid valve causing running (on lpg) problems, but not shutting down the whole ECU and selector switch.

Similar combination of actions as yours in the end. Visibility of conical section was severely impaired by, well many things, I deeply regretted not wearing my safety specs (I normally live in them) when I filled both eyes up with cr@p the first time I tried.
Only got myself to blame for the cable destruction as I had the largest pair of Moles I own clamped on the cable inner for pulling purposes and broke several wires doing them up too tight.
The "bonnet open" switch will not be re-connected as microswitch was already iffy. If I'm too stupid to notice the bonnet isn't latched I deserve to be hit in the face with it. Had exactly that with an RS1600 Mk1 Escort once. Didn't do up the 2 very visible safety pins on the front of the bonnet and was very surprised to see it fly up, off, over the roof and embed itself in the verge!

Today, after finally getting the bonnet open, I've replaced/ repaired all the engine compartment LPG grounds, adding in a direct ground to the LPG ECU case, all back to -ve battery terminal. No difference- still comes on if it feels like it. Can't road test cos no bonnet catches or cables until tomorrow if new cables arrive.
While I'm waiting for those I'll go right through the permanent +ve feed, replacing everything as close to LPG ECU connector as I can.
If time I'll pick up +ve ignition switched from a new location- again replace as close to ECU as I can get.
Cold and clocking off for the day.
EDIT- is it worth grounding the ground connection on the tank solenoid to the chassis?

2 hours to open bonnet. 3.4 degrees in workshop. Now need new cable. Not a good day so far.

Oh hooray- not
Today gave her a run to get some petrol, petrol light on lpg switch even came on occasionally! Runs well.
Todays problem- bloody RH (Drivers side) bonnet catch is jammed so I can't open it. Cable's not broken (yet).
Car's not been named Patience for nothing.

I would pay some very close attention to your transmission oil cooler and lines before you run the recon box. There's a chance they've got metal shavings and all sorts of cr@p in them that you don't want anywhere near your new one. You could also have a crushed pipe or blocked cooler.
Give them a damn good flush out and check that you've got full flow through them.

It's a piece of cake. I'm assuming you used my technique and did it from the front, thus avoiding having to squeeze down the back of the battery?

The "Unread Items" flag in Oily Bits on the forum page no longer goes away even when you've read the items as well. To clear it, you have to go into Oily Bits and click on the Mark as Read check box at top. George's Interior has definitely had some strange effects on the forum!

That's kind of what I thought. The feed pipe is a pressure vessel when both valves close at the same time.
I'm going to explore Simon's suggestion of lpg chassis grounds and alternative power feeds tomorrow. Want to give the car a bit of an extended road test so might venture out to fill the LPG tank as only have 1 contents light on and it'll make testing pretty difficult if I run out of gas.
So used to having my 135L tanks which only need the occasional garage visit that I have to remember that the capacity of this one is only 88L. Take away the ullage and that's probably more like 65-70L. One light is not a lot, even though the lights are as reliable as, well, something not reliable!

Thanks Tony- not far yet, but moving!
One thing that's occurred to me re the leak I found, as I reflect on the day, was that it was at the input pipe to the reducer solenoid and I was running on and switched to petrol at the time. Surely if the lpg is switched out there should be no pressure in that line as the tank solenoid valve and reducer solenoid valve should be closed?
OK, it was only a few bubbles in the gas detector spray and easily solved by 1/8 turn on the fitting. Residual pressure in the line or do I now have to add checking the tank valve to my list?