Hi fellas,

I noticed that 3 out of 4 locator pins on my door panels have broken off. I assume this happens when the door panels are taken off too aggressively and pulled off instead of gently prying the lower white clips out first and then gently lifting the panel up to release the locator pins. But anyway...here is the last remaining pin:






The pins are an interesting two piece design. A plastic snap pin with a metal m4 thread fused into the plastic.



The pins snap into these plastic clips which go into the door, one of mine is broken and one is missing...






I spent a bit of time searching online for replacement pins and clips. In this thread https://www.rx7club.com/3rd-gen-gene...clips-1149555/ someone listed the part number FD0168423A but unfortunately the part is NLA. Also spent some time searching for the plastic clip.

In this thread post #45 https://www.rx7club.com/build-thread.../#post10293543 you can see that Mazda used to sell the locator pin along with the female retaining clip.

To make things worse one my my pins was completely broken off out of the panel along with the metal base that the pin screws into...



In the image above you can see I cut off some of the door panel "foam" material to make a new flat surface where I will glue on a new threaded base. You can see the imprint where the old thread used to push into the panel.

I decided to make new pins out of m4 grub screws. I was debating on using metal or plastic m4 screws. Using metal screws interduces the risk that someday if someone yanks off the door panels, the metal pins won't break like the plastic ones and damage to the door panels might occur. On the other hand using plastic m4 screws introduces the possibility of the plastic screw breaking inside of the threaded base, which might make it difficult to extract the remaining screw part out of the threaded hole.

I put the grub screws into a drill and used a file to file the threads down to make a pin.



In between the base and the pin there is a small bracket, I was missing one so made a new out of some 1mm sheet metal I had laying around the garage.



For the pin which was also missing the metal threaded base, I 3D printed a new base and installed a m4 threaded brass insert.




First test fit seems good!

 

I used some epoxy to secure the base to the door panel.


Added some foam to the small brackets as I noticed the OEM ones had something similar







So the drivers side door panel went on nicely. The metal pins fit into the OEM female clips just fine.



However my passenger door was missing one clip and one was broken. Searched online and couldn't really find something similar.

So I opened up Solidworks and modeled up a new clip



Printed a few out of ASA plastic...but the part is so small that it would not be an adequate longer term solution. The part has very thin walls so it snaps easily.



Than I realized I had some TPU felxible material and decided to print it out of TPU...

removed the slits in the model and made it a solid piece...




Please ignore the print quality, my workshop is humid as hell and my filaments are old and full of moisture...so it is what it is

The TPU female clips fit nicely into the door

 

So I left the door panel sit on the door just by the two pins. I wanted to see if the epoxied base would hold on or break right away...so far so good.

Finished installing the door panel and everything lined up...I also replaced all the white snap clips with some generic ones I found at the parts store.




So I hope this helps someone who has the same broken pins like I did.

The door panels sit nice and snug. Without the upper two locator pins there is nothing holding the door panel on at the window sill.

 

Nice! Following to see if anyone ever comes by and shares a source for the originals too

 

Great job, and very resourceful. I will need to do something similar in the near future.

 

This is great! I've been meaning to do this on my drivers side panel for ages.

 

Would you be willing to print up a few extras?

 

I’d definitely pay you to print some one of these off. Or even for the print files. But I’d rather just buy the pieces.

 

be a cool person, and put the files on thinigiverse or similar.

 

haha sure no prooblem.

 

Yeah sorry guys totally forgot to share them STLs:

https://grabcad.com/library/mazda-rx...n-snap-clips-1

I would just print the solid version of out TPU, has been working great so far.

I also uploaded the locator pin base. However I modeled this accordioning to my own door panel, depending on the damage on your specific door panel it might not fit as nicely. You need an m4 brass threaded insert which you heat up using a soldering iron tip and then you just gently melt the insert into the plastic. They can be ordered online.

These models are really easy and cheap to print. So any local 3D printing place can easily make these for you and for cheap. I am located in the EU so shipping will be more expensive than the parts themselves. But if anyone needs help printing them send me a PM and I can try to help out.

I recommend to print the female clips from TPU and the pin base from ASA (heat resistant)

 

Great work! Yeah this is a pretty common problem, seen a number of cars with this issue.

Dale

 

thanks for the stl files! i appreciate it

 

Major props to OP for uploading those files.
I was missing both the L bracket and pin on my passenger door panel, so I modified your STL a bit. I couldn't get the pins to align, so it's just the L bracket.
I epoxied the bracket on using some 3M scotch-weld, and it hugs the door frame tightly. Works great! I printed it out of PETG, 100% infill.
STL is attached (change .txt to .stl).

 

I'm making them in cast silver, 1/1 of the OEM ones and they were easy to install in my door card which didn't have the oem ones for so long.

 

Anyone make a model of the pins themselves? My female side and bases still exist, the pins themselves have returned to the great beyond, so I'd like to save the bases if possible

 

Thanks for this! Everything worked perfectly. My door panels fit properly again.