- Location
- Southern Maryland
So now that I'm lifted the hood is harder to work and I wanted to get a strut setup. After looking around and reading several posts about how easy this was supposed to be I decided to knock one out. I already had extra struts and anchor posts from when I did the body work so I did not even have to do anymore junkyard diving, and only had to buy some 8mm flange nuts from the Dorman hardware kiosk at Autozone to secure the anchor posts against the sheetmetal. All told it was pretty simple, but not a 15-min knockout.
First order of business was to position the strut so that it would open and close without interfering with anything. After looking at a couple of the other cars here I decided to mount the bottom of the strut at the rear top of the inside fender lip, and to mount the top end where the hood bumper sits so that it would be secured into place by the rubber piece.
At first I tried to use the anchor pin and nut alone but the sheetmetal folded up a bit when the strut was loaded. In order to strengthen this I cut a 4" long piece of angle iron, trimmed it to fit, drilled a hole for the anchor post to pass through, and then flapped and painted the thing. Here is the brace, post and nut.
This pic shows the brace mounted. The brown stuff is some enamel I smeared over the hole to prevent rust
For the top part I did not feel like a brace was needed since the metal is stamped and curved which provdes natural bracing on its own, plus it seemed thicker. Anyway it does not look like it wants to buckle or anything. I put the nut on a piece of tape and fished it through the hole there, and then screwed the post onto it (the serration on the flange nut helps it grab the back so it doesn't spin). The indentation next to the mount is where the hood meets the rubber bumper on the inner fender.
Here is the hood being closed. There is plenty of clearance in all directions and the strut is not fully compressed at fully closed position
Here is the hood open
Overall I'm very pleased. I would like to find a strut that is a little weaker but this one is fine
First order of business was to position the strut so that it would open and close without interfering with anything. After looking at a couple of the other cars here I decided to mount the bottom of the strut at the rear top of the inside fender lip, and to mount the top end where the hood bumper sits so that it would be secured into place by the rubber piece.
At first I tried to use the anchor pin and nut alone but the sheetmetal folded up a bit when the strut was loaded. In order to strengthen this I cut a 4" long piece of angle iron, trimmed it to fit, drilled a hole for the anchor post to pass through, and then flapped and painted the thing. Here is the brace, post and nut.
This pic shows the brace mounted. The brown stuff is some enamel I smeared over the hole to prevent rust
For the top part I did not feel like a brace was needed since the metal is stamped and curved which provdes natural bracing on its own, plus it seemed thicker. Anyway it does not look like it wants to buckle or anything. I put the nut on a piece of tape and fished it through the hole there, and then screwed the post onto it (the serration on the flange nut helps it grab the back so it doesn't spin). The indentation next to the mount is where the hood meets the rubber bumper on the inner fender.
Here is the hood being closed. There is plenty of clearance in all directions and the strut is not fully compressed at fully closed position
Here is the hood open
Overall I'm very pleased. I would like to find a strut that is a little weaker but this one is fine
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