Donn144

Hi..

The door striker has a band of plastic around the metal pin where the door lock grabs. My piece broke off and I am wondering if anyone has a good idea for a replacement.

Thx

Bobs 84 300ZX

Hi Don144, I took the drivers side door striker plate off mine to get a good look at it. I used a hand impact wrench, so that I didn't strip the phillips head slots. The pin, appears to have been placed through the hole in the bottom part of the plate, then up through the plastic piece then driven into place. It wouldn't surprise me, if there were serrations around the botton of the pin by the head, so when it was driven in, it would grip the sides of the hole in the plate. The top appears to have a metal cap, that also was driven in after the pin was in place, which gripped the top of the pin and the side of the hole. Therefore, it would be difficult to get the pin out to put on a new piece of hard plastic. I made some measurements of the striker plate and it is symmetrical. The one you have, without the plastic, could be taken off and replaced with the good one from the other door, to get you by (I am assuming it is the drivers side door that is missing the plastic piece, being the door getting the most use).
After taking measurements of the plastic piece, on my drivers side striker plate, I got an average diameter of 0.528" (which was after taking 5 diameter measurements of the plastic piece from the bottom to the top).
I also found a hard plastic piece of sprinkler water pipe that was 0.687" In diameter, that I had in my parts bin to check out the wall thickness. It's wall thickness seemed to be very close to being the same (at 0.049" or 3/64". After probing both pieces of plastic with an awl, the hardness of this piece was very close to the hardness of the plastic piece on the pin of the striker plate. I would suggest going to a Home Depot, Lowes or hardware store and seeing if they have a piece of hard plastic water pipe that is approximately 1/2" in diameter with a 1/16" to 3/64" wall thickness. With a razor knife cut a lengthwise slit along the new piece and then open it up and slide it into place and use some type of adhesive to hold it in place. Another option is to call a few auto junk yards and see if they have a good used replacement. Good luck on your project. Thanks, Bob

Donn144

Hey Bob:

Thx so much for an EXCELLENT post! Wow! Great work. Great idea on the plastic piping,. Everywhere I have been going I have scanning junk in garbage bins, recycling bins anything to meet the spec. I went to a hardware store to see if they had any washers or the like..but of course no luck. I will check out the Home Depo in the next few days and check the piping.

I have been seeing the piece on the web for around $35 which seems a little rediculous..on the high side for such a piece.

Thx again!

Donn

Bobs 84 300ZX

Donn, you are welcome. Let us know what you were able to find out and if you are successful in a repair. Thanks, Bob

Bobs 84 300ZX

How To: Door Latch Fix - Nissan Forum | Nissan Forums
Donn, Here is another method I found and I think this is a better option for a more permanent fix. Thanks, Bob

Bobs 84 300ZX

How To: Door Latch Fix - Nissan Forum | Nissan Forums

Donn144

Excellent! Ace better be the place!

I did go in to one and they could not find anything..Nylon sleeve it is!

Again my thx!

Donn144

Bob That was a GREAT solution! So good in fact, Nissan should have used this material at the outset. It took a bit of coaxing to get the plastic sleeve to split wide enough to slip over the pin. I warmed it up a little and actually used the end of the tire wrench to split the opening and slip it over the pin. Works PERFECTLY! Love it!

Thx again!

Donn

Donn144

Well, there is a little adjustment that is going to have to be made. It seems after the window is lowered and then raised, the door gets jammed and you cannot open it. I may have to lower the striker ever so slightly because the plastic is a a hair's breadth taller than the OEM piece. So to accommodate, I may have to lower the striker. I do not look forward to this...it is a VERY tight screw and messing with these things is no fun!

Bobs 84 300ZX

Hi Donn, use the hand impact tool. You can get one of these at Sears, or possibly Harbor Freight. I got mine may years ago at Sears. They work very well. I showed the one I have in the reply I made above. I show it aqain here, for easy reference. You place the correct bit into the tool, insert the tip into the head of the screw and then push in on the tool and twist the handle in the direction you want to turn the screw, then hit it HARD, with a hammer. It shocks the screw and turns it ever so slightly, like an impact wrench, of which it is. You may have to strike it more than once with the hammer. Works great. Bob

Donn144

Brilliant! They are tight suckers!