Technical Replacement Hood "How to"

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Technical Replacement Hood "How to"

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As there is no guide section for the barchetta I will have to put this here.

PLEASE DO NOT REPLY TO THIS THREAD AS IT IS STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

OK first things first this thread is for the roof I replaced from e-bay and is not an original Fiat item so may be different so take this into consideration when doing the job yourself.

As before I take no responsibility for you messing up your roof due to following my advice BUT I hope it will help anyone undertaking this task. Be prepared as this will take a while and you will need lots of patience.

I was advised to do this job in hot weather so it was already streched as it may need adjusted in warm weather if it's cold when fitting.

The first thing to do is remove the screws holding the window seals in place there are three seals on each side but the middle one remains attached to the frame the other two seals have one screw in each. The seal nearest the windscreen has a screw facing the interior of the car and is on the outer surface(pic1), the seal nearest the boot has a screw facing the exterior and is on the inner surface (pic2) To remove the seals they slide out of the frame the one closest to the windscreen slides forward the one nearest the boot slides downwards (see pic3) it is adviseable to lower the roof 2/3rds of the way on the lower seal for clearance of the rear wing panel.
 

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Next remove the thin bar accross the length of the roof there are about 10 phillips screws. Once removed also remove the thin rubberseal and place to the side as it will be required for the rebuild (pic1) be carefull as it may be fixed by contact adhesive and you don't want to rip it.

The front of the original roof can now be pealed away be carefull not to remove any of the edging strips which prevent the metal edges of the roof cutting through the material of your new roof (Not that your anywhere close to needing it at this stage).

This is where we may change ideas but at this point I cut most of the old roof off with a stanley knife However there are two straps that run along the length of the frame that look like seatbelts (pic2) DO NOT CUT THROUGH THEM. I cut the hood off as you dont want to be moving it back & forward accross your paintwork. I also had to cut the hood above the two cross spars again be very carefull what you cut.

This left only the edges of the old hood to remove which makes things easier.

Once you can see a bit more clearly remove the old hood material that is round the two cross spars (again not the seatbelt type) this in my case was held on with contact adhesive and was easilly removed.
 

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Next undo the 2mm Allen key that holds a cable that threads through the side edges of the hood also drill through the rivett that holds the elastic material in place on the frame for both sides (pic1) Note the small hole the cable runs through on the front edge of the frame (opposite side of the allen key) as you will need to re-thread it through this later and it's a B@$T@RD of a thing to do if not done early in the refitting

Now lift the back of the roof & drill through the rivett holding the lower side edge of the roof again both sides (pic2 & 3) with the lower window seal having been removed you will see a U shaped piece of metal behind where the seal was in place make sure you don't loose it as it will come off when the rivett is drilled out. The U piece will need all bits of the old rivett cleaned out and placed to the side for later.
 

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Finally lift the back of the hood (rear of the frame) & remove the screws holding the spar & seal there are again about 10 screws, remove the spar & seal (pic1) (do not remove the three square rubbers attached to the bottom of the frame or it will scratch the paintwork of the hood cover)
 

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You can now spend a bit of time removing all the left bits of the old hood & make sure the frame & seal edges are all straight & unbuckled.

Go get yourself a cuppa or a very cold drink in my case and take a break as it was roasting hot and I was sweatting buckets.
 
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OK Now for the fitting.............:bang:

Place the hood loosely over the frame tucking in the sides & bottom at the rear of the window first the window down obviously. then tuck in the front edges where it attaches to the screen. have the frame loose at this point as in not attached to the windscreen.

The hood is fixed to the cross spars by strips of contact adhesive remove one corner of tape covering the adhesive and wrap it round tightly on one side then the other (pic 1 & 2) under the straps you can see the type of fixing supplied it was too long for the front spar so had to cut it to size. complete this procedure for the rear spar (pic 3 & 4)
 

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Pull the front of the hood tight & if you have contact adhesive use a small ammount to tack it in place shut the hood down to make sure it's not over or under streched. Working from the middle and out to the sides continue checking for tightness. Once it's there or there abouts put the thin bar against the material and mark where the holes lie remove the bar & cut the material from just above the mark to the edge of the hood (ONLY the material that is under the Bar). Again using contact adhesive (a very small ammount) line up the rubber seal and screw the bar lightly in place.

Now using a pair of pliers or simmiler pull the edge of the roof material whilst tightening the closest screw do this again from the middle outwards till the front of the hood and the bar & bubber strip are tight you need to tuck in the two edge pieces under the rubber before tigtening the end screws.
 

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Next before tightening anything at the rear thread the cable through the side of the hood (it is obvious where) then through the frame and out past the allan key fixture on both sides. Then rivett the elastic material to the side of the frame reverse of removal

The hood came supplied with an extra bit of material that goes under the back seal where the U piece was attached this needs to be put in place and then rivetted through the frame the material and the U piece which holds the sides in place.

Next is the rear of the hood below the window and is replaced as the front bar pulling the hood into shape & fixing by a phillips screw, the rear seem should be inline with the edge of the frame. this as is the front bar the fiddley bit and will take a while to get right especially the front outer edges as it curves backwards at the edge of the windscreen.

Next slide in the Window seals a bit of talc powder on the inside sliders in the seal will make sliding it into position easier then screw into position as removed, be very carefull you don't split the outer edge of the seal as they are about £50 each :eek:

I now added a bit of contact adhesive to the inside of the rubber strip and tightened the front clamps so it would pressurise the seal into position. Leave for about 30 min and it will be set.

During this time you can pull as hard as possible on the cable & tighten the allen key.
 
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Finally these straps (pic) were not attached to anything if anyone knows what they attach to (a pic would be nice) I would be very gratefull.

job done...............

BTW I waited till the roof was fixed before threading the cable through and it took over an hour with lots n lots of swearing in between.
 

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Alan.D said:
Finally these straps (pic) were not attached to anything if anyone knows what they attach to (a pic would be nice) I would be very gratefull.

job done...............


Alan - the straps are for holding down the roof when it is lowered - they hook over part of the frame of the roof when it's stowed in the tonneau. Personally I never use 'em.

doog.
 
For people wanting to attempt this - I re-fitted my hood yesterday. It took me ...wait for it... 10.5 hours! I wasn't rushing (clearly!), and none of the work is particularly difficult, but it does take time. And it started raining 10 mins before I finished - it was an exciting time, I tell you!

Here's some tips I can add:
1. One of the most time consuming parts is refitting the metal rails at the front and at the back. The instructions I had told me to glue the hood in place all the way along the front and the back with contact glue, which ends up covering the holes for the metail rails. Using a pin to locate the holes by pricking repeatedly until it goes through will help a lot on this case.

2. Be extra careful when putting the rubber seals back in place. Use lots of silicone lubricant to help get them on, and make sure they are properly aligned before pushing them onto the rails. I sliced one of my roof rubbers :-(

3. Using some string to hold the hood up while working on the back seal is a god save!

I think if I was doing it again I could get it down to about 4 hours.... but hopefully the mohair will last quite a while so I won't have to do this again soon.
 
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