anyone ever replaced a 308 engine boot zipper, I broke mine this week :(
Mine derailed a while back as well. I was able to get it back together, but I don't think it's been the same. Listening with interest......
the PO of my car went to a boat upolstery shop and had them sew up a new one for $120. Looks perfect... I'm sure any seemstress could sew a new zipper in if that's all you needed.
some of my employees can sew in the zipper I just need a place to get a new one, and looking for info on how the boot comes out.
I too am in need of this fix. I tried to remove mine but it is pretty well glued on and I didn't want to damage it further.
I simply peeled mine off; no problem. Took the gasket off first -- no real resistance there. As for the cover itself: if necessary, you could pry up the outer lip of the boot cover with a screw driver ot the like to get it started; that area gets hidden by the gasket anyway.
I've heard that many folks take them to any place that does luggage repairs. They'll likely have a similar plastic zipper. Or you could "upgrade" to a metal zipper if you don't care about being original.
Any upholstery shop can handle this...just make sure they use a "coil" type zipper, like the stock one, so it will lay flat and not pucker. Remove the rubber gasket, and screws around the latches...then carefully peel it up (it is glued down).
The are glued from the factory, but after all these years, not much adhesive qualities are left....when I reinstalled, I did not use fresh glue....the rubber gasket holds it down fine.
Usually what goes on these zippers is NOT the coil, it's the slider. Fabric shops carry sliders, but make sure it's a slider for a coil zipper & not a 'tooth' type. The coil ones are shaped differently in the back. I just bought a short coil zipper with similar sized coils, used the slider & tossed the rest. All of $3 or so. The following is my zipper repair procedure that used to be posted under the tech how-to section that got lost when the hard drive crashed: HOW TO REPAIR 3x8 LUGGAGE COMPARTMENT ZIPPER By Verell Boaen 10-JUL-2002 I just repaired my luggage cover zipper last nite. Took about 2 hours. Cost all of $4.00 & a couple of feet of black thread. FAILURE IS USUALLY THE SLIDER WEARING, NOT THE ZIPPER COIL: The nylon coils wear grooves in the sliders which is why they stop working. Once they're grooved, they just don't crimp the coils tight enough together to force them to mesh!!! QUICK BAND-AID: I tried squeezing the sides of the slider with pliars spring when one of the sliders started malfunctioning. It got me thru a summer of frequent (almost every day) use. SLIDER DON'Ts:: ie: (Been there, done that & wish I hadn't.) 1)Squeeze top & bottom of the slider together: That isn't where the problem is. I tried squeezing top & bottom of the slider together. First I crimped it too tight & had to open the gap a bit w/ a screwdriver until it would slide at all. Then I noticed that it was flattening the nylon coils, but wasn't causing them to join any better. In fact it was making things worse. I suspect if I'd left it that way it would have ruined the nylon coils & the entire zipper would have to be replaced. 2)Squeeze really hard: the sliders are made of white metal & break very easily. SLIDER REPLACEMENT: However, last month the second slider started acting up, and the 1st one went really bad. In both cases, the slider would work fine until it came to the passenger side corner & side of the zipper when it would skip mating the coils. The coils weren't obviously damaged, and I could even get them to go together by sliding a small screwdriver blade firmly along just behind the slider. I went to a local fabric/sewing supplies store & asked if they had replacement sliders. Paid $10 for a kit, & then on a hunch, bought two 12" Talon(tm) black coil zippers for $2.00 each. The kit of replacement sliders was useless, I'm turning it in to get my $10 back. A coil type zipper requires a slider that is flat across the bottom of the closure groove's rear end. Standard sliders have slight sides to the bottom. If you try to use a std slider, it'll take a lot of force to zip the coils together, also the join is at a V angle instead of being flat, & I suspect the coil could get damaged. I disassembled the two 12" coil zippers to get the sliders. They worked perfectly. When I got home, I pried the rubber seal off of one end of the cover, then used a plastic putty knife to pry the cover off of the metal lip it was glued onto. I just lifted enough of the end so that I could work on both sides of the end of the zipper. Take it slow & easy here, you don't want to rip the cover. I then used a small sharp knife to cut about 1" of the stitches holding one side of the end of the zipper to the cover. Just enough so that I could get the old sliders off. Working the sliders on the zipper end is a PITA. The loose end of the zipper kept fraying on me. Also more stitches wanted to keep unraveling. I finally spread some DUCO cement on about 1/4" of fabric on the loose end of the zipper, and on the bottom of the last few stitches & let it dry. This stopped the unraveling & fraying, and also stiffened the loose end of the zipper so that it was a lot easier to work with. Once the new sliders were on, I used button & carpet thread (nice & heavy) to stitch the zipper end back into the cover. Also I stitched thru the original stitching holes so the new stitches match the original ones. I then stretched the end of the cover over the metal lip by hand. Sincd it seemed to want to stay, I didn't glue it down, just pressed the rubber seal's down over it. Seems to be holding fine. If not, just glue it with some trim cement. SLIDER PULL TABS MAY NOT BE 'AUTHENTIC': Only discrepancy is that the pull tabs on the sliders are slightly different from the original ones(different brand). Unfortunately, the tabs are retained by a solid piece of the tab that's under a spring along the top of the slider. The spring is crimped into the slider & can't be removed w/o breaking the slider. If you really want to retain authenticity, you'll have to try to find coil zippers from the same company that made the original luggage compartment zipper. REPLACING ENTIRE ZIPPER: If the zipper coils themselves are damaged, then the entire old zipper's stitching will have to be ripped out & a new one sewn it. Any upholstry shop can do the sewing. Also, someone who's seriously into sewing and has a sewing machine that can handle denim or canvas should be able to do it. Shouldn't take more than 1/2 hour. WHERE TO GET A REPLACEMENT ZIPPER: The sewing supplies store zipper display had 100" black coil zippers displayed as 'sleeping bag zippers' for $20.00. They were just long versions of the coil zippers I took the sliders from. I didn't measure my zipper, but I suspect that 100" (8' 4") is long enough to replace the luggage compartment zipper. If not, , the display had forms where you could order zippers custom made in any length & color for about $1.00 to $2.00/foot. If you're not a stickler for authenticity, I suggest ordering a more ruggid zipper made with heavy plastic teeth & a large slider (the kind that comes on parkas). It shold last forever. I have a 15 year old parka that I've used almost daily every winter & the zipper is still good. If you want authenticity, then order a coil zipper.
Thanks for re-posting Verell. Perry308QV, I removed the cover about an hour ago and I really think parts were glued down. Off to get it repaired tomorrow, hopefully. I still think it's going to be a B to get it back on tight, in some places it was only rolled over the metal edge by about an 1/8 of an inch.
I don't think it will be that hard to put back. Mine wasn't. Over the years, the material has taken a "set," and should not be hard to get into its former position. If you want to re-glue it, you can use clamps to hold it in place while it dries. But I did as davehanda described, no glue, just put the gasket back over it.
I had mine repaired a few years ago at an upholstery shop and their advice was to always keep the boot zipped up. Their opinion was that leaving it unzipped allows the pieces to shrink independently causing irregular tension on the zipper when closed. Mine is normally closed but for those who prefer to leave theirs open for easier access just be aware of this potential problem.
I had my local shoe repair guy take a look at mine, which I tried like crazy to fix myself (with all the original parts). Initially he said no, then poked around for 2-3 minutes, got interested, and took him 10 minutes to put a new slider (is that what it is called?). Paid him $20. He was happy, I was thrilled!
Well I took it to 2 upholstery shops yesterday and neither one could fix the zippers. They said that they don't have a coil zipper supplier, which I find very hard to believe. One did say that if I can't find someone to repair it he will try. The other gave me a name of a shop about 40 miles away that can do it. I called them and they said that they can fix it and will have to see it to give me an estimate. This morning I called a local fabric shop to see if they have coil zippers in stock, they do so I'll pick up a couple on the way home and try the fix that Verell posted.
Walt, Mine is torn up --the coil is ripped off for 3 inches----When removing mine it was a bit brittle and ripped in a few places---call me and maybe we can find a good shop to make us a pair of new ones.
Not hard to find... though I don't know the #size you'd need. www.owfinc.com/Zippers/zippers1.asp Notice that the sliders are available by themselves too! They also have a special tool/jig available for putting on new sliders.
Charles, I may have to go this way, mine is brittle also. It looks like they are available from Ferrari UK for about $300 US plus shipping and whatever duty would be imposed. Mike, thanks for the link, I did a search this morning and found that the coil zipper isn't as rare as the shops I went made me believe. I'll pick up a couple complete zippers (short ones) and remove the sliders and make an attempt to fix mine.
