Sourcing NLA Parts

"Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever" (superchan7)
12/04/2015 at 02:29 • Filed to: None

Cosmetically restoring an old car to its original as-new condition can be a challenge, especially if the car had a relatively low production volume. But a rare-ish car is exactly the sort of thing that an enthusiast would want to restore to its former glory—actually, I don’t really fix things on my own, so I’m not an enthusiast. I’m a poseur.

It’s late and I’m a little tired, so I will give some examples on my car without too much talking:

One rubber pad on the edge of the engine bay was missing when I bought the car. I refused to pay $60 at the online stores. Mechanic had no idea what the hell I was talking about. Asked me to show him on a Spider that he had in the shop. I went down and of course, the Spider’s engine bay does not have those pads.

After a month of hunting, I found one at an exotic junkyard in Sacramento, CA. They wanted $5, and of course the guy who pulled it off the wrecked F355 GTS broke the thing. I ended up gluing it back together.

My coolant temperature gauge also began to act up by jumping around randomly. Unfortunately, the gauge is only sold as a pair (they are mounted in one housing behind the instrument panel), and this “pairing” was different between manual and F1 cars.

Manual transmission: Oil pressure on top, coolant temperature on bottom. A new unit is $480.

F1 transmission: Gear display on top, coolant temperature on bottom. A new unit is $1400.

After a few weeks of hunting, a junkyard agreed to let go of a manual set for $100. My mechanic swapped just the coolant gauge onto my instrument cluster. He sent my old gauge to a gauge repair specialist. “Someone else will need this,” he said. At this very moment there are three F355s at his shop (down from five last month) so I believed him.

A few other rubber bits and pieces had also fallen off the doors, the wipers and the tow hook hole. But all of those were available brand new at friendly two-digit prices.

DISCUSSION (13)

CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist) > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
12/04/2015 at 02:36

Nice Ferrari. Just wondering about that exotic junkyard, does it have any Lotus Exige/Elises?

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > CCC (formerly CyclistCarCoexist)
12/04/2015 at 02:42

Just checked for you. Short answer is no. Long anwer is, both junkyards that I used have the word “Italian” in their names, so they probably won’t be of help to you. Sorry!

NoahthePorscheGuy > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
12/04/2015 at 02:51

NLA? I know there is a company called NLA that sells OEM classic Porsche parts.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > NoahthePorscheGuy
12/04/2015 at 02:54

No Longer Available.

Don’t worry; I just learned this abbreviation recently too.

Sam > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
12/04/2015 at 03:14

Only 19k miles (I secretly hope its 101k miles, but I know it isn’t)? How often do you drive it?

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Sam
12/04/2015 at 03:33

That pic is from when I bought the car. I came in at just under 3k over the past year.

Sneaky Pete > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
12/04/2015 at 04:07

You wouldn’t have happened to have taken your car to the Danville/Blackhawk Cars and Coffee a few months back, would you?

CodyVella > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
12/04/2015 at 05:13

I feel your pain with NLA parts. It’s shocking how many common parts, on fairly common vehicles are NLA. I’ll share two examples from my own vehicles.

I have a 2002 Nissan Xterra SE/SC. The Xterra from ‘99-’04 had Automatic Free Wheeling Hub Locks. So when in two wheel drive, the wheels would spin and the drive shafts would not. But when you shifted the transfer case into 4-wheel drive, the force of the axles spinning would cause a spring loaded gear in the hub lock to pop out and grab the hub. Nissan found this to be too complicated, and stopped producing the part (they made it in-house). Add to that, no aftermarket one exists. The spring loaded lock in these has a habit of collapsing in on itself. So your only two options are to install drive flanges off an R50 Nissan Pathfinder, which constantly locks your hubs to the axles, and causes your fuel economy to plummet, or convert to aftermarket Manual Locking Hubs (The kind you get out and lock by hand).

Also, on my ‘84 Porsche 944, the strut mounts are NLA. Same deal, Porsche who manufactured them in-house stopped producing them around ‘97, and same as the Xterra, no one builds an aftermarket one. This is especially annoying since every 944 in the history of everything ever has busted strut mounts. The rubber bushing degrades and peels away from the mount, leaving the bearing exposed to the elements. The cheap option is to modify Volkswagen Fox mounts to fit, but the most common option is to upgrade to 944 Turbo suspension, as the mounts for those are plentiful from aftermarket companies.

It’s painfully annoying when companies do this.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > CodyVella
12/04/2015 at 12:27

Fortunately, with a community of enthusiast owners someone is bound to be motivated enough to design a solution.

Does someone in the Xterra community have a fabricator friend who can try prototyping the original hub lock? Someone has to have a car with the original locks still working.

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Sneaky Pete
12/04/2015 at 12:27

I should do this but haven’t yet as it is quite a drive for me. But if you have seen a red F355 Berlinetta at Blackhawk, I have a good guess at who it is as I know an East Bay resident who has one and has been featured on Forza magazine. Challenge grille and Challenge mag wheels?

Sneaky Pete > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
12/04/2015 at 14:42

Kinja'd!!!

This was the one. Beautiful car.

CodyVella > Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever
12/05/2015 at 03:17

While I’m sure someone could fabricate a more durable automatic hub lock, and market it. There isn’t really a demand there. Most people who care about the 4-wheel drive capabilities of the Xterra will gladly switch to manual hub locks. Where as most people who simply drive them as a tool to get from A-B, can’t be bothered to fix the 4-wheel drive.

The 944 however, I do know there are a few backyard mechanics who have begun working on fabricating OEM strut mounts for the early 944s (1982.5-1985.5).

Chan - Mid-engine with cabin fever > Sneaky Pete
12/06/2015 at 04:36

Nope, not the guy I know. Guess there are more red Berlinettas in the Bay Area than I thought. That car looks pristine!