How do you install 355 Spider elastic top straps?

Did you as Daniel Jerry?

Give him a call.

 

To be honest Bob, no, not yet. I have had no luck asking wrecking yards for some and I assumed Ricambi wouldn't have them either since they don't show up in the diagrams and have no part number. I've checked with Eurospares and they can't supply them. But I'll give Daniel a call anyway. Maybe he can help afterall. He's pretty resourceful.

Thanks for the reminder Bob.

 

Is it easy to determine the length of the strap (I imagine the old one will be quite stretched/loose)?

Thanks
Cheers

P.S. Seems like a great thread to be stickied

 

Hi Drbob101,

I'm interested in hearing if you found those caps. Mine are missing and it put a small tear in my top. I have "Electrical Tape Feet" cushions at the moment.

Boaf

 

HJP (Jerry) was looking for them. I have mine. I told him to call Ricambi , I don't know if he did but I would start there.

Send HJP a PM though and ask him.

 

Thanks, I will call, just did not want to re-invent the wheel.

Boaf

 

I did call Daniel and he has none and doesn't know where I could get them either. He suggested making a substitute with a moldable rubber compound. That may be possible as a last resort but I'm still looking for something better.

 

Gents, did anyone come up with an off-the-shelf solution for the rubber caps? I'm missing both of mine.

I see some folks have round caps, others rectangular to match the shape of the metalwork. Anyway, the semi-circular type metal shape the caps have to cover is 1/4" thick x 7/8" in diameter (and probably no more than 1/2" high)



I had a go at making some straps this week, but used matt black 17mm press studs (snap buttons) as shown in other forum threads instead of sewing the ends of the elastic loop together. A small soldering iron is great for sealing the ends of the elastic strips to stop them fraying (and looks quite professional). I used 1" "upholstery" elastic (which matched the original perfectly, but I'm not sure how long they'll last. The press studs put quite a bit of strain on the elastic, even if you double up the elastic. Perhaps I should have used the soldering iron on the holes, too.

I noticed many of the forum elastic strap installation videos and photos show the elastic not sitting in the slot provided in the rear bracket. Not sure why.

Cheers
Ian
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Dod you ever find where to get these rubber feet? I asked Ferrari themselves and they thought I ha 2 heads. Thanks

 

My wife made new straps using 1" elastic from Amazon which looks like the original (except the original material is 3cm wide), but the bands have too much stretch to pull the bar back. Does anyone know where to get heavier material or something with lower "stretch factor" ?

 

I’ve made a lot of these and used the one inch elastic strap material from Joanne Fabrics.

 

https://www.joann.com/black-braided-elastic/11384468.html

This is the stuff I’ve used. I put snaps on the one end.

 

I fitted what seemed to be industrial strength elastic, but it didn't seem to do too much. I think the fabric in some roofs is simply too rigid, or the pivot points are too stiff. Have you tried lubricating the roof?

 

I did the same as Dr Bob. Left the old one on and just used snaps on the new ones and wrapped over the old ones. Didn't go through the slots in the frame. It's a matter of the right length of elastic to get the tension right.

 

Thanks, I'll try that

 

Can anyone describe the behavior that indicates these straps need to be replaced?

 

When you manually pull back on the roof to trigger the buzzer to start the electrohydraulic phase, the roof doesn’t fold properly. The first “rib” from (behind) the window crossbar goes down instead of (corrrectly) up, causing the roof not to go down properly.

 

Just wanted to thank you guys for this thread. I replaced my straps this week.