355 - 355 Spider Roof - Strange request | FerrariChat
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355 355 Spider Roof - Strange request

Discussion in '348/355' started by gatekeeper, Nov 6, 2025 at 10:27 AM.

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  1. gatekeeper

    gatekeeper Rookie

    Jun 8, 2021
    37
    Full Name:
    Paul
    #1 gatekeeper, Nov 6, 2025 at 10:27 AM
    Hi,

    In my constant pursuit of getting the roof working properly after a previous owner decided to butcher it into a manual operating roof.....I'm happy to report that the hydraulics are now working in both up and down directions.

    But as you can see from the photos the previous owner decided to hack off a part of the hook, probably so it cleared the rear seats when going down. I intend to put this back by fabricating and welding the missing part, but I don't know the shape. I've drawn the existing outline and the missing section is dotted.

    Therefore I'm hoping someone would kindly draw the outline of their unmolested roof mechanism and also provide the measurement of the opening at the widest point.

    Thanks
    Paul

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  2. Qavion

    Qavion F1 World Champ
    Silver Subscribed

    Feb 20, 2015
    14,672
    Sydney
    Full Name:
    Ian Riddell
    #2 Qavion, Nov 6, 2025 at 2:45 PM
    WATSON likes this.
  3. WATSON

    WATSON Two Time F1 World Champ
    Owner Rossa Subscribed

    Sep 9, 2010
    24,092
    WI
    #3 WATSON, Nov 6, 2025 at 3:30 PM
    That is incredibly maddening and sad all at the same time.

    If you must disable the roof ECU, making it manual is a lame approach.

    Use the emergency switch and a remote momentary toggle switch. Mine is next to the ashtray

    Move the windows and seats manually. Easy peasy.

    Been doing it this way for 15 years.

    I need to clean up my car!
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  4. gatekeeper

    gatekeeper Rookie

    Jun 8, 2021
    37
    Full Name:
    Paul
    #4 gatekeeper, Nov 7, 2025 at 3:29 AM
    Thanks Ian. Appreciate your help as always! I actually thought it would be more of a Y shape, but the lower part is more of a hook shape which I hadn't expected. Would you be able to draw around the hook on a piece of paper and then take a photo square on? I'll then scale and print it to use as a template, since I imagine its going to require a fair amount of trial and error.

    100% agree and I can only assume this was done a long time ago when someone didn't car about the history. I was also using the emergency switch to get the hydraulics working and maybe these stopped working so they quickly gave up. Could have been something as simple as low fluid!

    I've since made a test harness with a couple of relays connected directly to the pump and an external 12v battery, which has worked very well to tweak and adjust the roof movement without having to have the ignition on. Once I'm 100% happy with the roof movement and hydraulics, I'm then moving on to the ECU. I suspect its something to do with the full-travel sensor circuits on the rams. I've tested the rams locally and they seem to all be closing the circuit at the right position, therefore probably something within the ECU which isn't registering this correctly.
     

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