engine and drivetrain Hood prop ideas?

[Pinepig]

Pinepig, that looks great.

It looks like I could make a bracket to mount to the area where the top of the inner fender meets the nose panel. I wonder if I could use a shorter one and make it mount to the torsion bar mount on the hood

John

I looked at that and it didn't appear that the rods would move at all if you mount the lower bracket where I did, and you pretty much don't have a choice to put them any farther forward anyway because the hood pinches in as you go farther forward leaving no clearance for the shocks or the brackets.

[justinevert]

Mr. Pine,

Any chance you could put together a "kit" for the rest of us? Personally I would like to get rid of all that "torsion bar" stuff.

Justin

[Pinepig]

Mr. Pine,

Any chance you could put together a "kit" for the rest of us? Personally I would like to get rid of all that "torsion bar" stuff.

Justin

It's really not worth making a kit, the only extras from the stuff in the hood shock packages are 2 large washers, 4 bolts and nuts and 2 " brackets " that could be hacked out with a hacksaw, 3 holes drilled in them and finished up with 5 min of file work. The hardest part is not making the bracket, it's getting a nut on the backside of the top ball joint ( fiddly fucker ).

BTW I got the aluminum angle at Orchard Supply Hardware in their cute little metal supply rack, I think it was 8$ for a 3 foot length, 1 1/4" x 1 1/4".

[oz02]

Hi Pinepig, i was just thinking about doing this the other day, looks really nice, bet it saves a bit of weight too. Could i trouble you to do a sketch of the dimensions of the gas struts, just to clarify. Also does it say what the force is on the strut.

Again, nice job man..

[ahlem]

I would measure the spacing between the holes and cut a piece of stainless 3/16" flat stock long enough to fish in from the adjacent opening.

Drill and tap the holes. Or I would cut a shorter piece drill and tap it and have a volunteer TIG weld a chunk of 1/8" rod to it to use to locate it from that opening. You could use steel but be sure to paint or powder coat it.

Hopefully there isn't any obstruction. Other suggestions include purchase weld nuts from McMaster Carr, drill out the hole and weld the weld nut in place.

[powelli]

Thanks guys for all the responses. Looks like a bunch of us have an interest the topic/issue.

Nice work Pinepig. Thanks for sharing the info. I am definitely going to consider taken your approach.

[Pinepig]

Hi Pinepig, i was just thinking about doing this the other day, looks really nice, bet it saves a bit of weight too. Could i trouble you to do a sketch of the dimensions of the gas struts, just to clarify. Also does it say what the force is on the strut.

Again, nice job man..

They are 22" long struts ( what it would say on the package ) , the piston rod is 10" exposed when extended. I picked the softest strut I could find ( wish they would have had softer ones ) I'm guessing it took about 30#s of force to collapse it when I put one end against the floor at Pep Boys ( way overkill ).

To get the nut on the top ball joint I just put a piece of masking tape over the box end of the proper sized wrench, push the nut into the tape and it'll stay, fish it in the opening and thread the ball joint stud in.

[PatrickMTL]

I'm a bit late to the party here, and I'm not looking to cause a stir, but this mod is even easier to do than Pinepig suggests.  The 10mm ball socket can be bolted directly to the nosepiece/inner fennder, foregoing the need for the bracket.  All that I had to do was trim off about 2.5cm of the rolled edge of the fender/rad support, and cut off the stock support bracket from the fender apron.  The upper mount is exactly as described.  I used p/n 735-1896 ball studs from NAPA, and p/n 819-6530 gas struts, also from NAPA.  You will need to shim the lower ball socket out to get adequate clearance. 

[Dudeland]

Can you figure out one for the trunk?  Mine opens with a "twang."

[nutbehindthewheel]

It may cost a few bucks more, but most all BMW hood shocks have BMW logo !!  

[PatrickMTL]

On 7/16/2018 at 8:24 PM, Dudeland said:

Can you figure out one for the trunk?  Mine opens with a "twang."

 

I'm pretty sure I could.  If I do, you'll see a post.

[biltwok2]

from SAAB 9000. Look at far side

hood lift support.ppt

[Dudeland]

On 7/18/2018 at 10:03 PM, PatrickMTL said:

 

I'm pretty sure I could.  If I do, you'll see a post.

Awesome thanks

 

[AndySals]

If your garage is responsible for the damage, the least they can do is fit the nutserts/rivnuts for you. If not, whatever you come up with, just watch you don't open the hood too far because you will cream your front grille.

[Ferrance]

Check out the segment of Jay Leno's Garage which features a 2002 with hydraulic tubes at the very front of the hood.  Very cool!