Hello, The most common problem with the targa top latches is that the rubber nose breaks up or breaks off. Just finished restoring the noses on a pair of 328 targa top latches for a custome & thought you'd like to see the results. I had to do a cosmetic restoration to remove wear from one of my latches before it could be used as a pattern to make the mold. The blue Silicone mold in the 1st picture took about 6 or 7 hours to design & make, plus another 24 hours cure time. The new noses are molded from a black polyurethane rubber. It's hardness is similar to the OEM rubber, but it's much more abrasion & oxidation resistant. It was originally developed to repair the rubber surface of industrial conveyer belts, needless to say it has to take a beating. It takes a surprising amount of work to restore one: - The original rubber nose is completely stripped off with a heavy wire brush, - the nose area is sand blasted to remove any traces of rust & to ensure good adhesion. - Areas not to be covered with rubber are sprayed with a release agent to ensure that any excess rubber can be removed. - The latch is masked off. - A special high adhesion polyurethane primer is applied. - Finally the new nose is cast. The parts look much better to the eye than the one in the close-up picture. The camera's flash apparently exagerates very shallow surface details. Unobtainium Supply is now prepared to offer a replacement nose service for targa top latches. Price is $85/nose + return Shipping & Insurance.. If you need this service, just click on my name by this post & select [Send email to Verell] on the drop-down menu. Image Unavailable, Please Login Image Unavailable, Please Login
I have been trying to come up with a way to fix that on mine, was preparing to do multiple dips of "plasti coat" but I will definately have you fix mine. I will send them as soon as I park it for winter, to much fun driving right now!
I need to have mine done. Verell can you send me a pm or email as to where to send them and what the turn around is?
Turn-around will typically be about a week as the polyurethane takes a while to cure, & I only made 1 mold. This time of year there usually isn't a queue in front of orders, but one could develop.
Verell, you are a saint! $85 is a literal bargain for such a labor intensive job. Cheers to you and the incredible help you offer to Ferrari owners!
Yes, this service is still available & should be for the forseeable future. If you need it, follow the instructions at the bottom of the 1st post of this thread.
Verell, you are the man! Too bad I already sprung for a new one! I seem to be one step ahead of your fixes. Before I buy my next seemingly impossible to fix part I'm going to drop you a line to see if you've started on a solution! You wouldn't by chance know where to get the rivet to hold on the strap would you? I also bought new boots for the other end and found that they use screws instead of spring pins to hold the new latches together and they won't fit. Now I have to figure out how to carve out a bigger hole to clear the screw heads! I still have the old latch and may just send it your way sometime to fix. The only thing wrong with it was this rubber. Then I could have a spare or sell it and make back a small portion of what I paid for the new one! By the way the shock bushings are fantastic! Way better than the ones I had fabbed up locally!! Thanks, John
John, just saw your post about the rubber boots. I'm making molds for them about half done. If you could let me borrow one of the latches with screws instead of pins for a week or so, I could make a 2nd set of molds for that latch varient also.
Jdubya, Thanks for loaning me your latch & boots. I now have molds for the std boots. See: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=137353744
I've done quite a few latch nose replacements and am consistently encountering something I hadn't anticipated when I priced out the nose replacement: Molded inside the rubber nose is a L shaped piece of reinforcing metal. The L is spot welded onto the main piece that's under the nose, & the free leg sticks up inside the nose to strengthen & stiffen it. What I'm running into is that the free leg of the L is usually broken & comes off with the rubber nose. About 90% of the latches I've repaired so far have had this piece broken off. I've been drilling out the spot welds, making up a new L piece, brazing it on & then sanding & refinishing the nose arm. On the average, I'm finding that it's taking an hour to to fabricate & install a new L, then refinish the nose arm. This more than doubles the time to replace the rubber nose. Effective immediately, there will be an additional $65 charge if your latch requires replacing the L piece.
I just received eMAIL from a customer reporting that when he went to remove his latch 3 of the cap screws broke off in the top! This is the first I've heard of the mounting cap screws breaking off. I thought the reason that they were so long was that they were just going into fibreglass. However, to sieze like that there must be metal inserts or a plate in there somewhere that they're rusting into! I'd suggest that if a cap screw doesn't break free fairly easily that you apply PB Blaster or Kroil to the screw daily for 3-4 days. Hopefully it will penetrate & free the screw up. I also suggest tilting the top so that the latch is down. This is in case the penetrating oil flows a bit, it won't flow onto the headliner fabric. Here's what I suggested for removing the broken screw ends: Apply PB Blaster or Kroil to the broken screw daily for 3-4 days. Hopefully it will penetrate & free the screw up. Then try to drill the screw out with a small left hand drill bit. There's a good chance that the broken end will have loosened up & will come out during the drilling. If not, then use a small easy-out to back the screw out. I've asked him to write me when he gets the broken ends off so I can pass it along.
The reason my latches are loose is that the fiberglass is pretty chewed up around the screws. The previous owner inserted larger diameter (wood) screws, but they don't hold tight. I was considering epoxying metal inserts into the top to attach the latches firmly. I guess steel is out. Brass may be too soft, and may deform, causing binding of the screws in the inserts. Maybe stainless steel inserts? But maybe someone inserted aftermarket inserts into that customer's top, sometime in the past.
One of my rubber noses fell off and I no longer have it. Where can I get a replacement? How expensive is one?
Did you bother reading this whole thread? If it's the nose of the latch itself, re-read the thread. If it's the rubber boot the slips over the latch go to the link in Verell's post about four up from here. EDIT...just to make it easier... http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=137353744 On the other matter......I had a hard time getting the screws out of mine too and wondered if there was some sort of insert in there but I couldn't see anything. They were VERY tight and a little rusty because they are steel screws. I tried cleaning mine up but couldn't get all the rust off so I found new ones. It is nice having a Tacoma Screw store about two miles away!! .
Where were you when I had to buy an OEM model a few years ago? The newer version doesn't fit as well as the original, the rubber somehow seems 'bigger'. I think I still have my original piece laying around, I may send it to you just to have them match. But I sure hope my "L" doesn't break off!
Hi, I don't understand what's my problem because the rubber nose are good, but I have the noise with the hard top in. I ask: please how can I make hard my latch because one is very easy to close? Many thanks.
If one is very eaasy to close it has probably shrunk or is cracked and collapsing when a little pressure is put on it
If it is just noise but the top is snugly closed I would cut some felt and glue it to the fron and back of the top where it comes in contact with the rubber seal
Many thanks, but I want my car absolutely original. She's very nice. Fisrst to buy a new latch I would like to understand as it works and because it is weak to close.
Try turning some of the screws that fasten the latch to the top -- they may be loose. Don't over-tighten, or they'll never be tight again.
Check to see if there are shims between the latch and the top. On one side of mine there were some shims. With new rubber seals mine is now almost too tight to close the latches. I may have to shim mine out a little bit, just the opposite of what you are describing. Your rubber seal may be breaking down too. If it's not sealing well you might want to replace it before a latch!
I have an original latch on one side of my car, and a 3 year old replacement on the other. The old latch is easy to close, the new one is NOT easy. I'd guess that the rubber on the older latch deteriorated and got 'smaller' making for a looser fit.
There are several possibilities you should explore to eliminate the wind noise: - The seal on the body is foam & has taken a 'set' so doesn't press firmly enough against the roof. - The 'loose' latch has a shim under it that is no longer needed either because the body seal isn't pushing up as much against the roof as it originally did, or else because the latch's nose no longer presses up firmly enough. The shim is a black painted metal plate 1 to 2 mm thick that's the size of the latch's base & has 4 holes that the latch mounting screws go thru. Remove the shim & see if this tightenes the latch up. - If there's no shim under the latch, and it's not the roof seal, then the latch's nose has either taken a set, has softened, or the internal metal reinforcing L's leg has broken off repair alternatives are: a) Have a new nose molded onto the 'loose' latch, & if necessary, the internal L piece replaced. b) Buy a new latch. With the top off of the car, don't be concerned if one latch is looser than another. Sometimes just a couple of drops of oil on the tight one will make them operate the same. (You do lube the latches occasionally don't you?). Also, there's a wide variation in the mechanism's tightness from latch to latch. While a little wear will loosen the mechanism up quite a bit, that looseness doesn't translate into a reduction in clamping force. The mechanism has a sort of cam action that isn't very sensitive to looseness. BTW, if you buy a new latch, it'll come thru assembled with hex cap screws instead of pins, so your rubber latch boots won't fit onto it. See the old vs new latch pictures in the latch boots thread: http://ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?p=137353744
