General Replacing soft top rear window

[Bluecat2021]

Hi my recently bought barchetta has a split rear window. Having looked online there are several French or German companies that offer replacements. Fitting seems a bit fiddly and involves stitching the zip together at the ends to stop it opening. Has anyone recently bought one and if so where and how was it to fit?? Many thanks

 

[gar074]

There's at least one thread about this on here, from a few years back - experiment with a few key words in the search box and you should find it.

IIRC, the general consensus was that replacing the rear window is a pain, not all soft-tops are suitable for that treatment, and it's probably a better bet to pay the extra £ and replace the entire hood.

 

[s130]

Well this will make you all cry!

In 2014 from Fiat:

47300101 - £1035.13 GBP - Zip in rear window
120080080 - £2038.69 - GBP - Hood Fabric with zip in rear windows

If your hood is in good condition then you can take the old split window out and take it to a trimming specialist to get a new one with zip made.

Get a complete new after market hood.

Another option is to remove the window completely and have a blank panel fitted. I have found that with a Wind Stop and then older fading window then rear view mirror visibility is poor and the wing mirrors give far superior rear visibility. With such a short top both wing mirror views cover over the top of the rear wings anyway.

 

[Bluecat2021]

Well this will make you all cry!

In 2014 from Fiat:

47300101 - £1035.13 GBP - Zip in rear window
120080080 - £2038.69 - GBP - Hood Fabric with zip in rear windows

If your hood is in good condition then you can take the old split window out and take it to a trimming specialist to get a new one with zip made.

Get a complete new after market hood.

Another option is to remove the window completely and have a blank panel fitted. I have found that with a Wind Stop and then older fading window then rear view mirror visibility is poor and the wing mirrors give far superior rear visibility. With such a short top both wing mirror views cover over the top of the rear wings anyway.

Having now cleaned up the hood, it’s the original and has come up fine, it’s a 1999 car that has been garaged from new but the rear window has split. Price wise supply and fit a new hood is 7 times the price of a diy window, so will take the plunge and try the cheaper option first.

 

[s130]

One continuous problem with most older Fiat cars, possibly excluding the original 500, is that availability of spares and acceptable prices is a pipe dream.

When we bought our 130TC in Jan 1988 then 3 or so months later track control arms were not available (if my memory serves me correctly). Then within a few (but very much less than 10) years just about all bits were officially NLA (no longer available) unless they shared a long standing mechanical common part with other models.

So in the case of the 130TC then next to nothing was available.

It is so sad the Fiat didn't want to maintain their heritage. They are now recovering some of this classic stuff but this is a resurrection of the parts and tooling they scrapped years ago so these replacement parts are ludicrously expensive and in some cases to order only and then a very long wait period.

So sad.

 

[Bluecat2021]

The rear plastic window albeit a copy is available for around £100, a decent hood is £3-450 but fitting it is beyond my diy skills. Have harboured a long term dream for a Dino but they are now in the garages of wealthy collectors. The next best car is a 130 coupe which although still affordable I would imagine the cost of spares is prohibitive. Most parts are still available for the barchetta but £600 for a headlight!!

 

[s130]

I'm not going to explicitly detail a particular model or body trim item but a once £15 item was at one point on eBay/other sites at £500 / 600 euros or there about.

Not looked recently as I've given up tracking older and rarer car parts as it is soooooo depressing.

What is worse is some very rare parts like Bertone / Pininfarina / Guigiaro badges were cut off cars damaging paintwork and then used to spice up a car with no legit heritage or reason to bear such items other than the dick heads thought it was cool and gave their wheels some street cred.

I would liked to have cut off their credentials

 

[gar074]

Having now cleaned up the hood, it’s the original and has come up fine, it’s a 1999 car that has been garaged from new but the rear window has split. Price wise supply and fit a new hood is 7 times the price of a diy window, so will take the plunge and try the cheaper option first.

Makes sense if the rest of the hood is fine. I've been putting off replacing my hood - the rear screen is shot, but there is also some wear in the fabric where the frame hinges catch it (the usual B problem area). As mine rarely gets driven with the hood up, and never goes out in the rain, I've left it for now. (All spare cash is going on engine mods for my Murena... )