A picture of what you have could help me visualize it.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-Tecra-8000-To … =item2c8e1b883d

Could be that would have what you need.

OR for just a bit more you buy a whole new one.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-Terca-8000-/3 … =item4d0ce6d037

Nah, the part I need is part of the side of the casing, it's the panel "below" 99% of the keyboard. And I wouldn't be here, asking for help, if I had a picture of it.

Also: why would I need an entire extra Tecra when I only need that one plastic part? I already have two extra CD caddies I don't know what to do with.

Maxaxle wrote:

Also: why would I need an entire extra Tecra when I only need that one plastic part? I already have two extra CD caddies I don't know what to do with.

Often the easiest and cheapest way to get parts. Why would anybody dismantle a crappy old laptop and sell some odd piece of plastic they'll probably get next to nothing for?

Someone in China already sold me a piece of metal I paid next to nothing for (specifically a hard drive caddy), why would this be any different?

Because the hard drive caddy is a part integral to function of the machine.

It sounds like the plastic bit is cosmetic. A picture of your machine, specifically showing the spot where the part is missing from, would help us identify the part.

"Cosmetic"? It holds the hard drive caddy in place and provides pins between the hard drive (whose pins are recessed as a part of the caddy) and the laptop (whose contacts are recessed), it's fairly integral. And I'll see if I can get a decent picture.

EDIT: Pics here:
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/Maxaxl … zps749cb07b.jpg
http://i67.photobucket.com/albums/h298/Maxaxl … zps4135dc76.jpg

Please excuse the quality; I couldn't find a regular camera that wasn't a potato, so I used a tablet instead.

Okay, that was not clear from your initial description. At least to me, but then again I am uncommonly stupid.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/HDD-Caddy-Connector-T … =item2ec74b59cf

I already have that part, it's part of the caddy. I need something to go between the exposed pins of the caddy (shown in the first pic of the listing you found) and the exposed-but-hard-to-reach pins of the laptop, plus the part accounts for about a quarter of an inch of vertical room (below the caddy) and a bunch of horizontal space (around the caddy).

It sounds like you're describing wadded up tissue paper.

My scouring of eBay for Tecra parts turned up only those for-parts laptops, and a few optical drive caddies.

Hmmmm. At this point I'm not sure what to do.

If you're really committed to making the Tecra work, I'd say buying a parts machine isn't too expensive.

If you wanted to get it running again on a lark, maybe now is the time to shelve it and build a different machine.

Alright, so I MAY have tracked down a good site for replacement parts. I THINK I've found the right part, but there's no picture, and it's referred to by two different names ("lower hard drive caddy" and "hard drive handle"):
http://www.impactcomputers.com/p000258070.htm … _1030_947_66900

To anyone looking for Tecra 8000 parts: This MAY be a good site for replacement parts:
http://www.impactcomputers.com/toshiba-tecra-8000-4-parts