slayer9008

good day everyone,

i just recently purchased my 2006 fairlady z, wonderful car!
joined the forum to find solutions for a few small issues that i've found. it seems that there are a few common issues associated with these cars.

i just discovered my outer door handle mechanism was broken, apparently a common issue. parts are difficult to find locally so i attempted a quick diy fix.

the rotating mechanism in the door handle that pushes down the rod to open the door seems to be the common point of failure as a result of a very stiff spring applying force to a flimsy plastic piece that holds the rotating mechanism (difficult to explain, im sure there are pics of this online)

what i've done is put the pieces (that i could find)back together and reinforce the entire piece with jb weld. i also removed the stiff spring and replaced with a soft retaining spring which really just prevents the entire mechanism from rattling

ive posted pics of the repaired and modified mechanism, hope this clarifies what i've done. installed it in my car a few weeks and no problems at all

also, i intend to remove my other door handle, remove or disable the stiff spring that causes the entire thing to break, and replace with a soft spring as shown in the pic.

hope this post helps someone out there to repair their broken handle or prevent it from breaking in the first place

slayer9008

zakmartin

Welcome slayer. Thanks for the write-up. Check in every once in a while to let us know how it holds up.

Unfortunately, it's been my experience that epoxy, and particularly J-B Weld, only offers temporary fixes at best. I've never had a repaired object stay permanently repaired using that stuff.

p.s., Where in the Caribbean are you?

slayer9008

thanks for the "thanks" lol
ive had jb weld last for quite a while on previous projects, not usually under high stress situations though, just sealing holes/leaks.

im hoping that removing the heavy spring takes away the majority of the force that usually breaks the part. the force required to press on the blue plastic fitting to open the door doesnt seem like much, so im hoping the jb weld can stand up to that. my next option is to redo the mount for the rotating part with a pvc tube and rivet it in place. ill post pics again if it comes to that.

oh, im from Trinidad btw

verdict.

Nice first post, slayer. Welcome!

Thanks for your write-up. Keep us updated on how it holds up!

zakmartin

Ahhhh man, driving a Z around Trinidad. Life should be so rough I spent a few weeks in Jamaica and didn't even bother renting a car. Most of the drivers around Negril were BAKED. LOL!

RE: The door latch, I don't know how much replacement parts cost out there (I'm guessing it's pretty high). For what it's worth, manufacturers will often put heavy-duty springs in the door jam mechanism to keep them working in freezing conditions (assuming you get ice in there). In the Caribbean, that shouldn't be much of a problem, so you might be able to get away with a weaker spring.

slayer9008

lol yea life is good right now
loving the Z thus far, soon to be my daily driver

will let everyone know how it holds up over time, fingers crossed!

RWDBajan

Driver's or passenger's door? Mine was passenger. I got a replacement on eBay UK.

slayer9008

passenger (left side) was broken
yup i found the handle on ebay uk as well, but i figured i would try a diy fix first.

RWDBajan

Funny how it seems always to be the passenger side.

slayer9008

update: 2018 and both door handles working perfectly, replaced the spring in my unbroken door handle in 2015, works perfectly fine

tampa_joey

glad to see you pop back with an update- sooooo rare these days
and nice to hear you still have the Z

slayer9008

im glad i can contribute something useful to the forum
i think removing the spring is a good idea, before the handle breaks in the first place.

Heel Til I Die

iTrader: (2)

I guess it was inevitable - my driver side door handle crapped the bed last weekend. The knurled **** that is located inside the spring that OP replaced basically shredded the cheap plastic that was holding it in. I built it up with steel weld epoxy, but I reused the same spring.

All seemed well until today when it broke again. Made it 4 days! lol.

I guess using the same spring was my downfall. I'll just have to find a small spring like OP and try this again...

Or, I saw this replacement on fleabay which uses a similar but slightly different design than our OEM handles.



I'm going to try this cheapo version and see if it works. It's about $50 and I think it's worth a shot instead of getting an OEM replacement if the design is still inherently flawed. Time will tell...

johnnyo

Hey Heel, did you go with the Fleabay replacement part? If so how did it work out? Thanks in advance for your response

Heel Til I Die

iTrader: (2)

Yeah man. I decided to take a chance on it and it still works great. When I posted that, my driver's side broke and I replaced it with the handle from eBay. About 2 months later, my passenger side crapped out. So, now I have the eBay handles on both sides and they are holding up well.

Fitment was surprisingly perfect. Unfortunately, I can't comment on the exterior finish since I skinned them with carbon fiber, but they are fully functional.

I'll post back here if they break on me to give anyone an idea of their longevity, but so far so good.