covering cloth bits

I have done the search on the subject of recovering the rear shelf and associated bits with new material but I did not find the answers I pursued. First, anyone that has done this please relate your experience. I know the heat shield must be removed to access the nuts holding the shelf cover but I was looking for advice on the difficult areas such as the butress panels and such. With respect, please NO opinions! I'm asking for hands on experience. thanks in advance,
Lost

 

Tom,

Its all here... http://www.flickr.com/photos/moseley_ferrari/sets/72157621788322687/

We can talk if you need.

I chose an open weave racing seat fabric, no where near stock. I don't like leather seats so I am putting Momo's in the car and wanted a racing seat fabric that I could use for the seats, the headliner and the package shelf. It looks much better than the pictures. And it should be very durable. Cleaning all the old decaying foam and dead glue was a B**CH! Lacquer thinner worked best. It is a jigsaw puzzle as to the order the pieces come out and have to go back in. All surfaces in the car were covered in DEI BoomMat then a foil backed Jute before the recovered pieces went back in.

Rick

 

Thanks Rick , I'll look at the link you provided. Tom

 

I have done this job on a 328 GTB but I think the panels you are dealing with are the same (OK, that was an opinion, not fact).

To get to the rear, vertical piece, indeed, the heat shield must come off. There are three nuts (8mm I believe, that I need to double check) that must come off. Then pull the fuel lines, along with the clip, off the threaded studs. Once you pull the heat shield off the studs it can be removed out of the engine bay.

I'm not sure about the 308, but on the 328 I recommend removing the air box and dismounting the coil pack off it's bracket so they are out of the way.

Once you remove the heat shield you will see three nuts on the firewall. These hold the rear shelf vertical wall. I think they are 8mm, but again, I need to double check that.

The horizontal shelf is made up of two separate pieces, each held in place by a single nut on a stud. That nut can be accessed without removing the heat shield. Just reach up under the overhang in the engine bay and you will find them. The one on the right side is hard to access because of all the fuel lines in the area.

The only piece that might be different on a GTS vs. a GTB, are the small, trapezoidal vertical wall pieces which are held in place by rivets on a GTB. Not sure about a GTS.

Let me know if you have any questions.

-F

 

Job is done in less than 2hrs./ What I could not find is that the impossible to get to nuts are 10mm behind the heat shield and 7mm for the post in the division strip. To get to the division strip nut simply cut a small slot to slide the fender washer out. The heat shield can be drawn back and hel with several small blocks (2X2) then the 10mm nuts can be reached with a 10mm universal. This way the heat shield need not be removed. And it WILL NOT spring the shield. Keep in mind this is an 82 made in 81 if that makes a difference. The guy that wrote the post about taking the windows out in 30 secs. I would have bet against him. He is right on in fact less than 30 secs. on the second. I am surprised how flexible that old rubber is. Hopefully the material will be here on the morrow. Lost

PS thanks to all contributors!!When it came to changing out the sodium valves I didn't think twice------------- this panel redo freaked me out. I planned two weekends and it should be done in two days start to finish.

 

On the GTS to get out the large top piece above the window you need to remove the roof latch plates. These are screwed into threaded plates which float about in the bodyshell void. The good news is that (unlike the similar plates on some cars door catches) the plates cant get lost irrecoverably somewhere. But, to make assembly easier I first removed 2 of the screws, replaced by pieces of threaded rod, then removed the other 2, then removed the latch plate leaving the 2 pieces of threaded rod screwed into the loose back plate to keep it in place.
On mine there was no need to remove windows to get out the corner pieces, they were not held in by anything other than all the other trim pieces.

 

I agree and inserted two screws into the plates after removal. The glass certainly had to come out because there were 5 pop rivets on each side holding the panels in. I hope the recovering goes as well. Lost