door lock actuator in sliding door

has anyone ever added a door lock actuator in a sliding door of a van? well I want to put one in my 94 chevy astro, and the only way I can think of running current to the 'sliding' door is to have contacts touching when the door is closed. Has any of you ever ran an actual wire in the sliding door? Or is the contact thing my only way of doing this. Thanks, Russell

I think contacts would be your best bet. We've done some vans here and there and if needed we order the factory contacts if none are in there or if they are there is usually some empty slots..

Same here---we just get the factory contacts at the dealer. Or get them at the junkyard. We also got Chrysler contacts to work on an Astro once, because that was all we had around.

Accelle sells some aftermarket brass contacts.... springloaded for a good contact and they worked very well for me.  And they are simply called sliding door contacts.