Has anyone used a bicycle cable for rear hatch, 87TR?

Yep....Not a big deal, as long as the ferule "fits" the pull handle reasonably well.

Regards,
David

 

Yes I have before........problem is getting one long enough.

 

Interesting Idea..... *noted*

 

Home Depot hardware section..The have several sizes of cable on reels by the the foot..Plus..they have the proper size swages for the cable that you can crimp on with your wiring crimper..I did my 400i last year..perfect..hope this helps..Jacques

 

The cable is only 30 bucks from ferrari...and you can feed it through the sheeth without a problem. Be sure the handle isn't broken however.

 

Hi Tom......

I paid $2.49 for the bike cable.

 

This is an easy repair. You can get the cable and the black housing from a bike shop. The new black housing has a teflon liner so the cable slides even easier. The bike shop has a couple of different types of end lugs to match with your release levers. One thing I noticed on my car is that the cable guide near the release levers were just a big washer and ferrari didn't use a 90 degree guide tube. So after a million times opening the engine compartment (everyone likes to look at the TR motor), the cable frays. So I made a guide tube to transition from the black housing and the release housing. About the only difficulty is the eng.cover release uses an eye bolt mount so I made an adaptor that went over the stud on the handle and used the bike cable ends. And the trunk uses the regular style cable lug. Easy and fun task and the trunk and engine covers open very easily. Send me a pm with email address and I've got jpegs. Good luck!

Jeff Pintler
89 348tb, 86tr

 

Dear Ferraristi,

Good post Jeff.

But....the cables are only about $45.00 ea. from my local F-pimp.

Pull out the old cable, slide the new one in and bolt it up. I agree about the 90 degree part. I allowed the cable sheeth slack to be at the pull handle area . This allowed the black sheeth to curve right up into the handle without any harsh bends.


Shamile

Freeze...Miami Vice !

 

Aircraft spruce sells some stuff that is the same size as the Ferrari stuff. The bicycle cable is a little thin, it will work but I would rather replace it with the heavier stuff. I cannot remember the size of the stuff but I buy 500 feet at a time because it is the same cable as the window regulators.

 

Only $45.00 each for a bloody cable? Given that the cable comes from back hole shop somewhere in Maranello (Probably a bike shop!) I think $3.00 and 1/2 hour of work makes a lot of sense. I did he same trick with my TR deck cable. Saved $40 plus bucks, it is identical to what you get from Ferrari (Save the plastic bag.) and works. What could be better?

 

Here are a couple of photos to demonstrate what Jeff was describing.................................
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Nice one Kerry - my front bonnet cable snapped last Saturday (whilst trying to get at the battery) so I'll be trying the Wittigmethod this weekend. That's why I love my TR, there's always something to fix.......

 

Hey Godber & Kenco, Thanks for the high fives guys, but........................

This is not my great fix/update.

Another FChat member, Jeff Pintler is the boy genius here!!

I merely accomodated Jeff by posting the pix for him.

So hats off and kudos to Jeff for a great fix.......

Kerry

 

Thanks Kerry for posting the jpegs. You can kinda see the nut over the stud and where ferrari just sliced off the boss on the bottom of the release housing and used a big washer. The trunk release uses the normal bicycle style cable and I took the time to make a 90 degree guide and after replacing all the black housing with the teflon lined housing, the trunk opens smoothly with just one finger. The cables will now last the life of the car. And one thing is for sure, there is always something to fix or improve on the older TR's. This weekend, I'm hoping to tear off the front shocks and get them rebuilt. Good luck.

Jeff Pintler
89 348tb, 86tr

 

Ok let me try this again.........................

Jeff...........Where did you acquire the gray (appears to be plastic/nylon) fixture that holds the 90* tube?
How is the gray piece attached to the lever housing? Rivets/epoxy/what?
Where did you acquire the 90* tube?
What does the attachment point on the end of the cable look like in the lever housing?
Did you in fact change the end? If so in what manner, how, and with what specificly?
I realize that you used a bike cable, I did this 2 years ago and posted this on thhe BBS...........Just need a parts list or instruction as to how you assembled the upgrade..............

Kerry

 

Kerry: The gray piece is a metal piece that I made on the lathe. It is tacked to a sheet metal that is rivited to the black housing with large head rivits. The tube is Stainless steel and I used stainless steel to make the transition from the black cable guide (from a bike shop) to the 90 degree piece, silver soldered together. My solution for attaching the cable was cleaning up the threads on the stud and drilling a very small hole to feed the cable thru and retaining with a washer and a nut. Hope this helps.

Jeff Pintler
89 348tb, 86tr

 

Had to replace my rear engine lid cable this weekend. Did not have the resources to fix as Jeff did but I can add a little more detail for others in the future. My inner core cable snapped at the release handle, as probably all do. I couldn't tell if the cable was crimped to the "eye" connector or soldered. After heating it was clear it was not soldered. It was slightly flattened so I assumed crimped. Not a good way to "un-crimp". Instead I carefully drilled the cable out of the eyelet with a 1/16" drill bit. I initially bought cable from Home Depot as mentioned above. It has an OD of 1.65mm and it will fit inside the original F-car black sheath fine. I also stopped at a bicycle shop on the way home and while they didn't have complete cables in adequate length (approximately 90"/229cm) they did have the inner core cable. I purchased an Avenir brand "slick brake cable" (see photo 1). It has an OD of 1.46 and smaller/more strands so it looks identical to the F-car cable. Bonus it is teflon coated. Length is 105" so it is long enough core for any cable on the car.

Either cable will work, the Home D cable is more robust but the bicycle cable looks identical to OEM if you are excessively concerned about appearance (I am).

Cut the universal connectors off both ends & solder to prevent fraying. I silver soldered the cable into the eyelet and did not crimp (it holds fine). You can assemble the eyelet with cable attached to the handle then fish it through the black sheath, secure the handle with the single phillips screw. Since my plastic housing "post" was snapped off as in Jeffs picture, I used a washer to keep the sheath from pulling through the housing.

I contacted Verell at Unobtanium who is gearing up for a TR replacement housing and he replied "I'm doing some work on the mold. Should resume production by 15 Jan". The Avenir slick (teflon) cable definitely has less friction, should last a long time. Easy job. PM me if you have any ??
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Even easier, my orig cable had so much extra in the extra in the engine compartment that I just looped the broken end and installed a crimp. Less than a buck. Factory alfa Romeo cables are built that way, that's where I got the idea.