355 top misaligned? or bent? what could it be?

Spider?

 

Can i assume that the roof is unclasping from the header rail ok? If its not and that's the problem then there are 3 Allen bolts on each side under the rail to align the female receiver's.
If its not that, then it could be that there is air with in one of the 4 rams on one side of the mechanism. Causing the roof to open and close crabbed. If so a quick bleed is in order.

 

and soon, the frames are very easy to twist/bend but not so to fix such problems. Dave Helm also has a few pointers about the side cables and elastic straps.

Brian.S

 

Wonder why I bought a GTB....

 

Because the 355 spider top mechanism is crap(technical term)! If I could transplant my 348 top mechanism to my 355 I would in a heartbeat!

 

Could you post a link to Dave's pointers about side cables and elastic straps??

Thanks

 

Hi guys,

I had the same problem wiyh my 355 hood,the dealer improved it by bleeding the rams but it still needs a push here and there.The dealer says the only way to get it right is a new hood/frame and rams at a cost of £9000! Dream on.I still think Its a hydraulic problem as you can see the rams are out of sequence if you stop the hood at different stages of its opperation.Im still working on it.

Does any one have any information on how to bleed the system ? The dealer wants me to think it can only be done by him using very special kit ? Seems a bit suspect to me.

Hope this helps in some small way, If i get more information ill let you know.

P.S. Im new to this site, having only just found it.

Regards

 

Only operate the top with the engine running. That will solve most of the issues. The nudging the top I think is status quo. I have yet to see one that does not need some help. If yulou read some of these service records you will see that some Spiders were at the stealership since brand new with top problems. The design is a really POS.

 

I have not heard of many top problems amongst the local 355 spider owners in our club. Both Skipper and Tony's problem sound like either they need to have their hydraulic systems bled, and or need one or more rams replaced. I know my top required two rams to be replaced by the previous owner, but it was because he allowed the hydraulic fluid to run too low.

Check the fluid at least once every 18 to 24 months.

 

Most of the procedures are posted on this site, but require some digging and searching to find them!

Here ya go:

The "official" method:

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=136494392&postcount=2

The "chaa" method:

http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showpost.php?p=136278178&postcount=25