Happytrails
NAXJA Forum User
- Location
- USA
read about using 92-94 Infinity Q45 hood struts. Did it today. $7 each at PnP jy. Very easy project. From these pics you can see I did things just a bit different than original threads on this. The upper ball joint is mounted on the inside of the hood hinge, rather than the outboard side. This allowed the ball not to interfere with the hood hinge bolts.
And the forward end of the strut is mounted directly to the XJ inner fender wall. No bracket is used for mounting. I just drilled a hole, and put the threaded end of the ball stud through. Then from underneath I attached the nut on a big fender washer. Actually, I used the small Infinity bracket with the captive nut. The bracket acted like a self locking wrench on the nut when I tightened the hex on the ball stud from the top side. The only hassle is pealing back the plastic inner fender liner to reach the threads on the stud. About 4 or 5 of those plastic pins have to be pried out of the fender liner above the tire to do this. But not that big a deal. Its all flexy under there. Took a third hand to hold the liner back and get the nut started.
Hood will hold up with one strut. But a little sketchy in the breeze, so I mounted the second one.
Also, I was concerned that the left strut would clear the ABS plumbing. It does. No problem.
Easy project and I highly recommend it. Took about 2 hours. Just remember to get the nuts you need at the hardware store first, as the ball stud nuts are captive to the brackets.
And the forward end of the strut is mounted directly to the XJ inner fender wall. No bracket is used for mounting. I just drilled a hole, and put the threaded end of the ball stud through. Then from underneath I attached the nut on a big fender washer. Actually, I used the small Infinity bracket with the captive nut. The bracket acted like a self locking wrench on the nut when I tightened the hex on the ball stud from the top side. The only hassle is pealing back the plastic inner fender liner to reach the threads on the stud. About 4 or 5 of those plastic pins have to be pried out of the fender liner above the tire to do this. But not that big a deal. Its all flexy under there. Took a third hand to hold the liner back and get the nut started.
Hood will hold up with one strut. But a little sketchy in the breeze, so I mounted the second one.
Also, I was concerned that the left strut would clear the ABS plumbing. It does. No problem.
Easy project and I highly recommend it. Took about 2 hours. Just remember to get the nuts you need at the hardware store first, as the ball stud nuts are captive to the brackets.
Last edited:
