Mike, I called JO-ANN Fabrics earlier today and they said they had coil zippers. When I got there one lady didn't know what I was talking about but another one showed me to the zippers. The bad news is that they only had one size. The good news is that I got one removed it's slider and it does fit. I was able to repair and reinstall the boot cover. Sorry Mike no size or number that I can pass on. Charles, Like I said earlier, mine too is brittle so it we can find someone to make a couple of new ones at a reasonable price (less expensive than Ferrari UK) I would be very much interested. There is an upholestery shop, Tim's Auto Upholstery in Duluth & Gainesville that I was refered to for the repair, maybe they can make new ones.
Mine has been no good since I got the car a year ago. Not only is the zipper busted, but the cover has shrunk so much that it will no longer reach, so even repairing the zipper is not an option. I've been told the only solution is to get a new cover......
Thats about the same shape mine was in, except I could zip it closed but it was so tight and brittle..... I took it off and dropped it at a furniture upholstery shop and some day I hope to have it back along with a new peice for the front under bonnet area as well. I chose to have him put in heavy duty brass zippers, thought that would work best. Never contemplated it puckering. He is remaking it with new high quality vinyl, and plans to put new edging along the zippers. I sure hope it dont pucker. If not, it may not be absolutely original, but the zippers should outlast the vinyl. Seems like thats how it "should" have been in the first place.
Wouldn't you know it, when I was at the end of my Indy trip the zipper gave out on my 308QV. I'd already been down to using just one of the sliders since the other wouldn't close the zipper, but my second one apparently also got past its wear tolerance. I went down to the local fabric store (Hancock Fabrics) and was about to buy a couple of short replacement coil zippers to get the sliders off of, but at the counter I asked if they had just replacement siders. They did -- zipper repair kits for just 80 cents each!! They had two different sizes, so I bought both since I wasn't sure. Mine is fixed now, using Verell's method of lifting off one corner of the boot and cutting about an inch or so of the thread so I could get to the end of the zipper to remove and replace the slider. Regarding the size that worked, I figured you guys would like to know for reference that the original is a #5.
Thought I'd dig this thread up. My two zippers gave up the ghost. Verell is right on the money that it's the slider & not the teeth. I happened to have a zipper kit The original Zipper Rescue kit 1-800-735-4620 with a wonderful description not unlike Verell's on the repair. Plus, it had a nice collection of sliders. But per the instructions, I tried the easy way first. I used a pair of locking pliers snugged just past the force needed to secure them on the slider's side. I pinched the slider sides, tightened the lock a smidge more & did it again. Bingo! Working zipper. Originally I used pliers on one slider but I applied to much force & the slider was binding. The visegrips/locking pliers did the trick.
Mine wasn't zipping together and I found out that one of the lever was bad so All I did is replace one of them (left) works great, the right side is still the original. I thought I was going to replace the whole thing. Image Unavailable, Please Login
IIRC, someone on ebay was selling replacement rear boot covers, zipper and all, for the 3X8 cars, and they were not that expensive. My coil zipper got damaged last winter while working on the engine and ignition conversion. I'm going to remove it over the winter and take it to a local shop that did my seats, and I'm sure they can fix it. But if the cover itself is not in good condition when I remove it, I may just check out one of those on-line replacements rather than fool around with having one custom made for a small fortune.
