MCI door air lock

[artvonne]

  One thing ive noticed on this MC5, is that there is a ton of empty space between the left side stair well side panel and the bulkhead. If not for the door air lock mechanism, I could gain almost 4 inches of stair case width.

  My question is, has anyone relocated the air lock mechanism to the door? I had a senior moment looking at it when some brain cells imploded, I imagined rotating the mechanism 180 degrees, and mounting the air lock cylinder and hand within the door, and relocating the grabber handle (or whatever its called) to the bulkhead. Basically reversing the current arrangement where the door would pull against the grabber, rather than as it is now.

  Seems a waste to have a door thats 4 inches wider than the stair well, and see all that useless space back there.

[artvonne]

  Bump

[NJT5047]

IMHO, relocating the air lock cylinder would be pretty complex, and create a large "bump" on a rather narrow door. 
The cylinder linkage would require considerable modification since it doesn't sit flat against the compartment.
You would gain a few inches in the body, but give it back by adding 6 or so inches to the interior dimension of the door. 
The cylinder would seem to require mounting on top of whatever door stringers and longitudes are inside.   Don't see how it would fit inside (partially?) the door unless the door is redesigned for for some sort of cylinder. 
No doubt it could be done, but doesn't seem worth the effort.   
FWIW, I'd definitely keep some sort of air lock on the door.  That's part of the RH corner crush equation.   

JR 

[artvonne]

  The entire lock does not take up more than four inches in depth now, it couldnt possibly take up any more if rotated around 90 degrees. And as my thought was to recess it into the door so it just clears the outer skin, there should only be 2 inches or so of a "bump" on the inner edge of the door.

  Running an air line through the door shouldnt be any more difficult than running a water line to a refrigerator, so thats almost a non issue.

  Maybe I'll pull the lock out and lay it out to see what would need to be done. I was just curious if anyones ever done it before.

[Dave5Cs]

I think that is what RJ was telling me they call the CLAW.

Dave

[artvonne]

I think that is what RJ was telling me they call the CLAW.

Dave

  There was a wrestler years back that went by that name, lol.