Has anyone ever replaced the door lock actuator on an sc before? I cant seem to get past the first step which is removing these clips that attach the handle to the actuator. My door wont open from the inside and I have a door from the junkyard I'm trying to swap the parts over from. I'm considering dremmeling out some metal from the door on the inside so I have more space would this be a bad idea for any reason?

 

The rod clips pivot at one end. Feel around for the lip at the other end and push against the lip. That'll pop it off the rod, freeing the handle from the actuator. As I recall, there's no way to separate the actuator from the rods without major surgery that almost inevitably breaks stuff.

Here's a random product photo I pulled up that shows the general rod clips:

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/rnb-75450

I've often thought it would be nice to enlarge the cutout in the door panel. As long as you run a bigger moisture barrier and don't cut away anything needed for clipping in wiring or mounting the arm rest pull support to, I can't imagine there would be any real downside.