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Hood Strut Addition

Robert MRobert M

I know some of you have put hood struts on the front trunk lid and some of you say it puts too much stress on the fiberglass.  I dialouged (is that a word) with Wild Bill and asked him how his setup has worked out and if there were any stress issues with his setup and he said no.  WB used 30# struts and fender washers in the body to spread out the pressure.  I decided to go one further and used some flat truss straps from the Home depot to spread the pressure out even further.  I bought 2 20# struts from NAPA, part # 819-5516, and four ball studs, part #735-1896, four pieces of flat strapping, and enough stainless steel nuts and bolts to put it all together.

 

I drilled a 5/16" hole near the tip of the trunk hinge to put the ball stud through and used a nylock nut to secure it. Initially I did not allow enough clearance for the nut because I forgot to take into account the bracket that is formed into the hood where the hood and hinge bolt together so I had to drill another hole. My error.  To secure the ball stud to the body I drilled out the holes in the flat strapping so they would all line up, painted two of them black, and pulled the carpet back where I was going to mount the strapping.

 

The struts are 15" in length with a 7" throw. I used a piece of 2x4 cut to fit in the trunk front to back and played around with different locations for the ball stud.  I settled on 19 1/2" from the back wall of the trunk forward from (the hinge end) and 2 1/2" down from the upper lip of the trunk. This gave me enough clearance so the strapping wasn't too high or low. 

 

I pulled the carpet away from the wall and drilled all of the necessary holes.  I used a piece of strapping on the front and the back to spread out the pressure from the struts.  I painted the strapping on the inside of the wheel well flat black to help hide it and I sprayed Loctite Spray Adhesive on the carpet and secured it back to the side of the trunk when I was done. I tested everything and removed the metal support rod and now I can get into the trunk without having the rod in my way.

If you're not living life on the edge, you're taking up too much space!

 

 

 

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Images (7)
  • image4: 20# struts from NAPA
  • image5: Ball Stud from NAPA
  • image2: Bracket behind the carpet
  • image1: Bracket inside the wheel well
  • image3: Carpet Re-installed
  • image1 (2): Both struts
  • image2 (2): Driver Side Strut
Last edited by Robert M
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Robert MRobert M
Originally Posted by art:

Robert,

When I pasted in the part # 819-5516 at NAPA Auto parts, the strut there is extended length of 15" and compressed length of 9.5"

 

http://www.napaonline.com/Cata...-BK_8195516_00063800

 

Can you clarify, thanks.  Nice clean installation, I like how you hid the hardware!

 

Art

Thanks. I double checked and you're right on the length so I corrected it in my write-up. 

 

I initially thought of just having the strapping over the carpet but the bolt length on the ball stud is short so you have to put it under the carpet in order to use the strapping on the back and to get enough of a bite with the nut.  If I had put it over the carpet I would have changed to under the carpet anyway since that is the cleanest look. The Loctite adhesive works very well.

Last edited by Robert M
Robert MRobert M
Originally Posted by ALB:

Nice install, Robert! And I think dialogued is a word; note you left out the u... 

Believe it or not Al I fretted over the spelling for a bit.  I usually put in the "u" but the auto correct didn't like either spelling and when I looked at the top right hand of the screen Theron used "Dialogs" so I just went for it.  

 

Frustrated I was. LOL

Robert MRobert M
Originally Posted by Troy Sloan:

Robert.  My apologies to your wife Nancy for selling you that car and creating all of that Speedster madness that she now has to deal with.

 

Just my recommendation, but whenever you spend any significant amount of money or time on your car, take her out for a nice dinner.

 

Like Anand's dad once told me "happy wife, happy life!"

So true so true.  Driving to her parent's in Kingsburg again today.  She picking out a scarf right now to match her outfit. LOL

El FrazooEl Frazoo Supporting Member

Very clean install there, and excellent pics -- all very clear.  I think I might have been tempted to do the mounts on the bonnet itself a little farther forward, to give them a better mech advantage to the weight of the thing.  But you did it, and I assume it works.  Do you let the cylinders do the lifting, or do you do the lifting when you open, and the cylinders just keep it open?

 

And so long as we are having English lessons,  Further is used to describe intangible things, like "upon further thought . . ."  and so forth.  Farther is used to describe physical distance, as in "I have fallen and need to crawl farther to reach my beer."

El FrazooEl Frazoo Supporting Member

dialogue

[dahy-uh-lawg, -log] /ˈdaɪ əˌlɔg, -ˌlɒg/
 
noun
1.
conversation between two or more persons.
2.
the conversation between characters in a novel, drama, etc.
3.
an exchange of ideas or opinions on a particular issue, especially a political or religious issue, with a view to reaching an amicable agreement or settlement.
4.
a literary work in the form of a conversation:
a dialogue of Plato.
verb (used without object), dialogued, dialoguing.
5.
to carry on a dialogue; converse.
6.
to discuss areas of disagreement frankly in order to resolve them.
 
 
verb (used with object), dialogued, dialoguing.
 
7. to put into the form of a dialogue.
Last edited by El Frazoo
Robert MRobert M
Originally Posted by El Frazoo:

       
Very clean install there, and excellent pics -- all very clear.  I think I might have been tempted to do the mounts on the bonnet itself a little farther forward, to give them a better mech advantage to the weight of the thing.  But you did it, and I assume it works.  Do you let the cylinders do the lifting, or do you do the lifting when you open, and the cylinders just keep it open?

And so long as we are having English lessons,  Further is used to describe intangible things, like "upon further thought . . ."  and so forth.  Farther is used to describe physical distance, as in "I have fallen and need to crawl farther to reach my beer."

It does a fair amount of the lifting but I help it just a little bit. Definitely holds it open and that was my primary goal. I was worried about the strut closing and not having enough clearance to completely shut the hood. In a perfect situation I would have set up my gopro using the preview feature and viewed the trunk lid closed with the strut collapsed for the exact mounting location but the 2x4 trick got me pretty close. I went with 20# struts to start so I wouldn't put to much stress on the hood while closing. When I talked with Wild Bill about the setup he said his 30# struts were working great also.
Last edited by Robert M
Bob: IM S6Bob: IM S62016 Intermeccanica S6 Supporting Member
Originally Posted by Robert McEwen:
Originally Posted by Troy Sloan:

Robert.  My apologies to your wife Nancy for selling you that car and creating all of that Speedster madness that she now has to deal with.

 

Just my recommendation, but whenever you spend any significant amount of money or time on your car, take her out for a nice dinner.

 

Like Anand's dad once told me "happy wife, happy life!"

So true so true.  Driving to her parent's in Kingsburg again today.  She picking out a scarf right now to match her outfit. LOL

I guess I really am blessed.  My wife is happy when I am happy, and that's not a bad way for a guy to go through life.  She asks for very little, other than 'When's the new Speedster going to be ready so we can go for a drive.'

 

I'm a lucky guy. 

Robert MRobert M
Originally Posted by Bob:  2015 Intermeccanica S6:

       
Originally Posted by Robert McEwen:
Originally Posted by Troy Sloan:

Robert.  My apologies to your wife Nancy for selling you that car and creating all of that Speedster madness that she now has to deal with.

 

Just my recommendation, but whenever you spend any significant amount of money or time on your car, take her out for a nice dinner.

 

Like Anand's dad once told me "happy wife, happy life!"

So true so true.  Driving to her parent's in Kingsburg again today.  She picking out a scarf right now to match her outfit. LOL

I guess I really am blessed.  My wife is happy when I am happy, and that's not a bad way for a guy to go through life.  She asks for very little, other than 'When's the new Speedster going to be ready so we can go for a drive.'

 

I'm a lucky guy. 


       
I went and told my wife, "Troy says he apologizes for selling me the Speedster and creating the Madness within me." She looked at me, laughed, and said, "Please, you haven't come close to what I've spent at the Loft.". We both laughed because we both knew she was right. Then she said that spending money at Loft made her happy and that I should be happy too. That's why we've been married 27 years. We know what makes each other happy and let the other do that thing.
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