360 Spider - Replacement of Capote housing | FerrariChat

360 Spider - Replacement of Capote housing

Discussion in '360/430' started by gvanrenterghem, Jul 2, 2024.

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  1. gvanrenterghem

    gvanrenterghem Karting

    Jul 12, 2023
    112
    Hi team,

    I am wondering whether any of you with the Capote tray which has the access to the fuel pumps could take a few pictures of what I am looking below? That would be super helpful.

    Because my 360 is an old model (2001), my Capote housing was the old version without the cutouts to give access to the fuel pumps nor the holes to give access to the subframe bolts.

    I therefore bought a used Capote housing (part number 66394500) thinking it would be plug and play (leaving alone the painful lifting of the roof assembly) with my existing frame.

    When I put the new tray in position, I struggled to get the rear bolts align to the roof mechanism chassis, and the hole structure is c. 0.5cm too high at the back (between the roll bars and the engine bonnet). This is despite having the feeling that the tray is pushed forward to the max since the front part bolt OK to the front as well as is flushed with the rear brackets.

    I could not figure out why there was the 0.5cm delta, but noticed that there are sort of protuberances linking the roll bars and the brackets on which the engine bonnet is fixed. While for my old tray, the protuberance is quite long, it is much shorter on the newer version of the tray (plus there are holes for 2 screws which my old tray did not have).

    The result of this much shorter protuberance is that the black plate below is blocking the tray from coming down enough and the entire tray is resting on this black bracket.

    The roll bar subframe system does not seem available at Ferrari so I could not compare the two models, but was wondering whether any of you have a new version of the 360 Spider and could post here a few pictures of what their frame looks like?

    Also, the black plates are blocking access to 2 out of 4 screws of the subframe that would need to be removed to remove the clutch, so wondering what the black plate seen on the picture below looks like on the more modern version of the roof frame (and this part is welded so don't want to take the risk of cutting it off)

    Thanks much for your help.


    New generation tray with old generation frame: The black vertical bracket with 2 screws blocks the tray from coming down. Also, 2 bold of the subframe are hidden by this black plate
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    The old Capote housing had a much longer protuberance to allow the black plate to fit below.
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    Also what I don't really get (unless the diagram below is wrong) is that the 430 Spider (who allegedly has the new tray system) also has plates with the 2 bolts which I have on my roof frame, so not sure how the tray could fit.
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  2. hessank

    hessank Formula 3
    Silver Subscribed

    Aug 8, 2005
    1,921
    Canada, Florida
    Full Name:
    Fred
    Not saying that this is possible, but why not make the cuts on yours, transfer the panels (from the newer tray) to yours to expose the pumps etc.? I would also make cutouts for the roll-over valves at the same time, or at least change them WYAIT

    That way you're assured it will fit perfectly

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  3. gvanrenterghem

    gvanrenterghem Karting

    Jul 12, 2023
    112
    Hi Hessank, indeed would be doable bt would require to make 4 large holes in my old tray, whereas if I cut the new one like the red cut-out below, then that makes less work and I get properly tight fuel access.

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    Also I did more search and looks like the rollbar on the 360 from 2003 have different connecting bars (circled in red below) whereas mine are straight bars. The benefit of these new connecting bars is that they go around the subframe bolts giving good access to these. So even if I sort out my capote issue, this does not solve my "access to subframe bolts" issue, the only solutions for this being:
    - Either buy a new roll bar => EUR 700 plus a lot of work to fit everything on it
    - or cut out or drill my existing bar to give access to the bolts under => unsure if the modified structure would be strong enough to support the engine cover (which is I think the only thing that it supports) and if not then I would need to weld reinforcement parts as my black bar is in steel.

    Unsure what the best option is.
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  4. priericky128

    priericky128 Formula Junior
    Silver Subscribed

    Feb 11, 2021
    685
    St. Louis MO
    Full Name:
    Rick
    I have the old version also since mine is a late 2000 build for the 2001 model year and I don’t recall the specifics but I looked at doing the same thing you are doing but I gave up because honestly it seemed less complicated to just hoist it out like it says in the wsm.

    I hope you figure it out though.


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  5. gvanrenterghem

    gvanrenterghem Karting

    Jul 12, 2023
    112
    I ended up cutting space so that the roof housing seats flush now ;-)

    Just the idea of spending 10h taking this roof on and off for some regular maintenance drives me crazy so at least now I can replace my fuel pumps easily (already done as had the old white ones prone to leaking and the fuel level gage was stuck).

    Next existential question is whether I drill the black plates to get access to the bolts below. Not an emergency but may consider that indeed in a few weeks ahead of getting the clutch replaced.


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  6. gvanrenterghem

    gvanrenterghem Karting

    Jul 12, 2023
    112
    Hi everyone, wanted to provide you with an update as I realized that the 2 roof liners are actually not identical in size. I was wondering why not everything was fitting normally, why the gap between the roof top above the rear of the door was too large, why the engine bonnet was protruding by c. 2-3mm further back etc.

    Turns out I tried to readjust the fitting of the new generation housing in my car and could not do it, so decided to remove it, and when I compared the 2, this is pretty striking that the new generation is actually shorter and not as wide as the old generation one. The new generation one literally fits inside the old generation one. I think the pictures below are quite telling (old generation housing on the ground and new generation one placed inside the old generation one).

    That said, now that I have changed the fuel pumps, changed the roll-over valve, there is not much to be done underneath anymore AND `1) lifting the roof is actually not that complicated once you have done it a couple of times and 2) anyway with the old generation roof housing and frame, it needs to be lifted anyway for clutch replacement since the bolts of the gearbox support frame are hidden by the roof housing frame.

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    EastMemphis likes this.

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