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I solved this years ago using 3/8" plastic tube. I'm a Journeyman Plumber, so this is stuff I have lying around practically everywhere - you civilians can get it at any Home Depot, Lowes, Ace Hardware, or any hardware store. Used to be Poly but now it's probably PEX - it's cheap, plentiful, easy to get, the correct thickness, and easy to cut and install. It's pretty tough too, but adds a little cushion to the latching mechanism. Just grab a piece of 3/8" tubing, cut about 1/4" off the end (whatever is the width of the oblong lobe), and make a slice down the side. Spread it out at the slit and you'll have exactly what the OP did in metal above. Don't take the latch out, just roll it around until you can see the oblong lobe on top (hold it with a screwdriver if you need to) and install the "C" shaped piece of plastic tube on the lobe. Lift the door handle to get the latch back into proper position. Close your door without slamming. I did mine years ago and haven't had a problem. If it breaks or falls off, I'll just get out the utility knife, cut another little piece of tube, and replace it. If you buy a foot of 3/8" tube at the store, you'll have enough replacements for the rest of your life... I keep a piece of tube in the car. I've fixed dozens of doors for the other Datsun guys in town. When they show up to a meet and are slamming their door, I just cut off another little piece or two.

inspired by jim (s30driver) i picked up a set of nos early wiper blade assemblies for $35, buffed 'em up and popped 'em on - happy. slowly swapping all the blacked-out accents on my 78 to shiny bits...

Riiiiiiigggggghhhhhttttttt. ::

mark maras kindly provided a donor balance tube for me to strip down and clean up. i decided to re-locate the brake booster to the firewall end of the log and save one vacuum tap at the front top and keep the pcv at the center horizontal position. started off with a sawzall and hacked off the big lumps, then angle grinder with cutoff wheel to bring it down to rough shape, then a flap wheel to smooth it out, hand file to blend contours, 100 grit up to 320 hand sanding, scotchbrite then a bit of buffing. next i'll weld in the deleted holes, grind those down to match and she should be done. not show-quality work, but i'm happy with the improvement. starting point: cut, ground, filed: buffed:

While trying to adjust my passenger door, which wouldn't shut without slamming, I can across this thread. It seems to indicate the latch is missing a piece of rubber on one of the lobes (the larger one). The suggested fix was to cut a piece of rubber tubing and glue it onto that lobe. The other fix was to carefully remove some material from the catch so the locking lobe (the smaller one) doesn't hit before coming down into locking position. When the rubber is there I assume it worked great since the first lobe starts to rotate sooner to drop the second lobe into postion quicker. I'm thinking, why in the heck did they decide to use rubber in this area! No wonder they are missing! I thought of making one out of plastic (Delrin) but I think it would eventually fail also. So, here's what I came up with. I fabricated a metal "C" shaped clip that I could pinch onto the lobe to replace the missing rubber. It's made of 16 gauge (.062") steel, about 17/32" wide. Easier to tightly install when latch is off the car, in a vice, and tapping the piece around the other side of the lobe. But probably doable while on the car with a good size set of channel locks. After a little adjusting of the latch and catch, a little spray of lithium grease, door closes perfect! Hopefully this will last for awhile. Ken

No, they are weird things. It's just the current finding an alternate path to ground. It just takes a path you weren't expecting.

Not interested in the wheels themselves--I just cleaned up my own slotted mags and my tires are new, but I do need centercaps... I'd imagine you'd want to sell them as a set, though. Good plans! Thumbs up. Side question: Is that the factory color (medium gray) for the rear light surround?

That came out great! Can I drop off my dash this weekend?