Top boot cover eyelet

[dleapon]

My 1981 Spider 2000 didn't come with a top boot cover or hardware so I purchased a boot cover, the eyelet fishhooks and the plastic front hooks recently. I think I can figure out how the front hooks need to be glued into the boot pockets and the rear eyelet seems less straightforward. If someone could send a picture of either the original or restored eyelet installed I would really appreciate it.

Here is what I'm talking about:



(there are plenty of past posts on this topic but all the pictures seem to have disappeared)

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Dan, I think the way you have that rear hook laying on the cover in the picture is the correct orientation. There should be a one inch or so slit in that flap of vinyl on the underside of the cover, and then this hook is inserted through that and then the "arms" are glued to the vinyl with contact cement or vinyl adhesive or the like. The loose end of the flap is wrapped around the metal arms a couple times before gluing. If there is no slit, you need to cut one.

Make sure you get the hook exactly in the right spot on both sides, so it will clasp onto the chrome tab on the rear deck. You don't want the span to be too short/long, or canted to one side, etc.

-Bryan

[dleapon]

That makes sense Bryan, thanks for the tip of wrapping the flap around the arms. I'm going to enlist the help of my kids to pull and position the eyelet and boot then mark the slit to try to get the position of the eyelet right on both sides.

[18Fiatsandcounting]

Dan, sounds like you've got the right approach, especially with the extra sets of hands. There is a bit of a trick to gluing that flap to the arm so that it doesn't "unroll" when tension is put on that hook, but you just need to experiment with folding and then hooking it to the car a bit before gluing.

-Bryan