Harness hold downs

[Patcon]

I don't know the proper name for the rubber coated strips of metal welded to the inner fenders that fold around the electrical harness and hold it in place. I had always thought they were some special metal, but I am beginning to believe they are light gauge steel coated with rubber. Well the problem is they like to break right at the bottom. Has anyone made any replacements or are they available any where? If not does anyone have any ideas for fabbing some up? On a side note they appear to be differnet in my 73' 240z versus the earlier cars.

Thanks, Charles

[5thhorsemann]

Those things are a joke, aside from always getting hooked on cloths and tools and coming open, as you say, they brake off easily.

I replace them with the 3M glue dowh wire tie pads. If you need to cut one of the ties out of the pad, you can just slip in a fresh tie and reuse the pad.

[Patcon]

That sounds like it would work, but I was looking for a restoration type solution...

Thanks, Charles

[zKars]

There is a product called Plasti-dip (plastidip.com) that seems like a solution to recreate these tabs. Its marketed as a multi- purpose coating and looks great for this application. You just dip the part, dry, dip again, etc until the desired thickness is attained.

Edited May 17, 2011 by zKars

[TomoHawk]

I use the Plasti-dip to recoat the metal wire wraps on the intake. If you practice it enough (and warm up the plasti-Dip) it comes out nice.

OTOH, what do they call the plastic wire wraps with the barbs that you push into little holes on the fender?

[26th-Z]

The restoration solution is to make them and weld them back into place. They were never intended to be undone and redone; yes they break. (B R E A K) I used Plasti-dip.

[Zup]

Heat shrink tubing works well for the insulated portion as well. All of the metal pieces have been good on mine, but if I were doing a correct restoration I'd source them from someone's part out of a car to far gone to save.

Jim D,

"Zup"

[JLPurcell]

In the past I was able to cut them out of pliable sheet metal and dip the ends in the rubber tool coating then spot weld them in place prior to paint. Looks as factory. jlp

[AZ-240z]

The restoration solution is to make them and weld them back into place. They were never intended to be undone and redone; yes they break. (B R E A K) I used Plasti-dip.

Chris, I usedthe plasti-dip to restore the oil press sender wire harness clip that attaches to the right engine mount. It came out PERRRRRRRFECT! I snapped off one of the under hood harness clips and have thought of making one. If I could find a sheet of metal stock of the correct malleability and gage, it would be easy to cut out a duplicate clip of correct size and shape, dip one end in plasti-dip, put a dimple in the other, exposed metal,end to simulate the appearance of a spot weld, and then, using a dab of a body shop epoxy, fasten it in the correct location.

Just a quick and dirty outline of one possible method. I have used an epoxy before that body shops have used and it is extremely strong. Parts will break before the epoxy fails. A little touch-up paint deftly applied and it would be indistinguishable from original, I am certain.

Dan

Dang, Jerry, you were too fast for my slow typing and thinking!!!!

Edited May 17, 2011 by AZ-240z

[Patcon]

Does anyone have any ideas on what gauge metal or does it need to be a certain type?

Charles