Finally got around to mod'ing some gas struts for my deck lid. Pics.

[70_Fastback]

I have been wanting to add some gas struts to my deck lid for quite a while now, but always seemed to "forget" to do it.  Until I showed up at a car show and had to prop the deck lid open with a wooden dowl...  can you say W.T. ?

If you look real hard here, you can see the wooden dowl on the driver side, rear deck lid hinge bracket.  The dowl contours the curve of the bracket.  Pretty classy ahe?


Better shot of it here:


Now if that doesn't dock you some points, I don't know what will.  :headac 

So I had a free day, and with the impending Basehor Car show coming up this weekend, and faced with having fellow VMF'rs & StangFix'rs there, I wanted to get this done to reduce the outward W.T. appearance.

So I headed off to O'reilly Auto to buy some universal gas struts.  Not much luck.  Everyone they have is like 100lbs rated.  I could hardly push one cylinder in.  It would be way too much force for the rear deck lid.

Head of to Napa.  Napa had a couple of 20lb struts in stock, but they were WAY too long for what I wanted.  I decide to head over to my local salvage yard and do a junkyard crawl to find what I want.  After about 2 hours of climbing through wrecks, I leave with 2 different pair of struts.  Cost me all a whopping $12 bucks.  The brackets somehow found their way into my pockets though.  Slippery lil' boogers they were...  :naug.

I wish I would have payed better attention to what these shorter struts came off of.  It was a Chrysler mid-size car if I remember correct.

Both ends where set up for the ball press on fit - with different sizes on each end.  I ended up just drilling out the smaller end to run a bolt through (see later pics).

I snagged these brackets from something else.  I honestly don't remember what it was.  I know it was not an Explorer because they were all riveted on.



I started by mocking everything up first.  Clamped everything where I thought it should initialy go.  Checked geometry, travel distance and made sure the struts had enough pressure to hold the deck lid open, but not fling it up when the latch was unlocked.  Everything seemed to work fine on the initial locations.  So I marked holes and started drilling.



I began by locating the bottom brackets using one existing hole to help set exact alignment for both sides and drilled the remaining bottom hole. Bolted brackets in place.


Next up was the hinge bracket itself.  I did snag a couple of screw in ball-studs to attach the opposite end of the strut too.  But it was going to be impossible to drill and tap the holes on the outside face of the arm, next to the mounting plate.  I would of had to remove the entire hinge assembly from the car and have to realign the deck lid, etc, etc.  Didn't want to do that.  So I drilled through the entire arm and ran a bolt from the inside to the out.  This comes back to the earlier deal of drilling out the ball fitting end on the strut to facilitate a bolt installation though it.



Both ends connected and secured in place (I added the "Russel" stickers to purty'em up a bit  :nice:



They support the deck lid perfectly with out forcing the deck lid up.  Closing it is a breeze as well.  Once you get past mid travel of the strut, the deck lid falls shut as it did before without any additional force to close it.


So in closing....
Before:


After:

[lethal289]

Awesome J.  Great right up too. 

What kind of paint did you use to paint the trunk.  Looks great.  But you missed a spot.

[AzPete]

Nice job for sure.

[70_Fastback]

Awesome J.  Great right up too.  

What kind of paint did you use to paint the trunk.  Looks great.  But you missed a spot.

I noticed that today too Jake.  It's like some of it is starting to discolor for some reason - not sure why.  Anyone have any input.

And it was just the typical "splatter" paint in the aeresol can.  The trunk was honestly an after thought and I coatd all of that when the car was already painted.  Talk about a P.I.T.A.

[Sluggo]

I noticed that today too Jake.  It's like some of it is starting to discolor for some reason - not sure why.  Anyone have any input.

And it was just the typical "splatter" paint in the aeresol can.  The trunk was honestly an after thought and I coatd all of that when the car was already painted.  Talk about a P.I.T.A.

Nice job.

There is either petroleum based sealer under it or spray can undercoat underneath and it's bleeding through.

Another shot of spatter might clean it up.

[70_Fastback]

Do I need to seal that splatter paint as well?

[garner67]

Great job on the install.  I've been thinking about doing the same thing, and your junk yard approach is a lot smarter than purchasing a costly kit.

Thanks for the write up!

[silverblueBP]

Nice job Jeremy!!

If you fix that area you'll need to clear it also. Make sure it's done for Saturday or we'll point it out to the judges.

[daveSanborn]

Nice results and a good write-up Jeremy.

The next time you're really bored.... maybe this winter sometime.... install an electric trunk latch to make the trunk even more trick.  Late 70's/mid 80's Ford sedans used an almost identical trunk latch mechanism that is a direct bolt-in on a classic Mustang.  The only difference between the two mechanisms is an electric "popper" that augments the traditional key operation.  The "popper" is a one-wire mechanism as the latch to the tail-panel provides the ground.  Route the one "hot-wire" up to the passenger compartment to a hidden momentary switch, give it a 12v source and you'll be able to pop the trunk lid open from inside the car.

If you later decide to install a car alarm, you can wire the deck lid latch into the alarm so that it can be opened remotely with the alarms key fob.

[KBMWRS]

Here's a option in case you don't want to do the salvage yard thing.

http://www.rodneydickman.com/n50.html

I have a Fiero GT with a huge wing (stock) that over powers the stock support. This was a simple and easy fix.

[Starfury]

Wow, that's awesome!  I'll have to keep that in mind if I ever get that far with my car, lol.

[70_Fastback]

Nice job Jeremy!!

If you fix that area you'll need to clear it also. Make sure it's done for Saturday or we'll point it out to the judges.

Who said I'll be opening the trunk there...?

Got'a keep that body hidden.

[70_Fastback]

Nice results and a good write-up Jeremy.

The next time you're really bored.... maybe this winter sometime.... install an electric trunk latch to make the trunk even more trick.  Late 70's/mid 80's Ford sedans used an almost identical trunk latch mechanism that is a direct bolt-in on a classic Mustang.  The only difference between the two mechanisms is an electric "popper" that augments the traditional key operation.  The "popper" is a one-wire mechanism as the latch to the tail-panel provides the ground.  Route the one "hot-wire" up to the passenger compartment to a hidden momentary switch, give it a 12v source and you'll be able to pop the trunk lid open from inside the car.

If you later decide to install a car alarm, you can wire the deck lid latch into the alarm so that it can be opened remotely with the alarms key fob.

Thanks.  And I'm already ahead of ya.

I have the painless RF relay controller, with the billet 4-button control center, that bolts to the center of the steering wheel and replaces the horn location.  Out of the 4 buttons, you have six button operations.  Pushing 2 buttons at the same time initiates a momentary contact.  Perfect for an electric release.  And a horn operation as well.   I just need to buy the release now.

[70_Fastback]

Here's a option in case you don't want to do the salvage yard thing.

http://www.rodneydickman.com/n50.html

I have a Fiero GT with a huge wing (stock) that over powers the stock support. This was a simple and easy fix.

My method was much cheaper.  And more rewarding Mikey.  LoL.

[garner67]

What length strut did you end up using?  (I assume you measure struts by the total extended length, right?)

[70_Fastback]

I want to say it was around 11" to 12".  I will measure again to re-verify.

[Starfury]

btw, if you get me compressed and extended lengths (hole center to hole center), I can get you the Napa part # for them.

[70_Fastback]

Will do Tad!

[johnpro]

 Late 70's/mid 80's Ford sedans used an almost identical trunk latch mechanism that is a direct bolt-in on a classic Mustang.  The only difference between the two mechanisms is an electric "popper" that augments the traditional key operation.  

This is true for '68/prior, but not so much for '69/'70 cars.  The later model electric releases have a small bump out on them that fit fine in the earlier cars.  They are not a direct fit into the '69/'70, though because the brace around the gas fill neck is different.  You have to cut a hole in the brace for the bump out.

Not a real big deal, but does require a fairly permanent modification to the '69/'70 cars.

[70_Fastback]

This is true for '68/prior, but not so much for '69/'70 cars.  The later model electric releases have a small bump out on them that fit fine in the earlier cars.  They are not a direct fit into the '69/'70, though because the brace around the gas fill neck is different.  You have to cut a hole in the brace for the bump out.

Not a real big deal, but does require a fairly permanent modification to the '69/'70 cars.

John, take a look at the pic of my trunk brace.  Mine has 2 bumps outs arleady.  Are those not in the correct location to faciliate the electric release?

[johnpro]

John, take a look at the pic of my trunk brace.  Mine has 2 bumps outs arleady.  Are those not in the correct location to faciliate the electric release?

No.  The '69/'70 brace fits just a tad tighter to the fill neck, than does the previous years.  The "bump out" on the electric trunk release runs into the side of the brace on the '69/'70, but is a direct bolt in (like Dave said) in the prior years.  I have an electric trunk release on my work bench, and having to drill the hole to allow that "bump out" to stick through, is the reason it's still on the work bench.  You'll basically need to have the electric release in hand to figure out where to cut the relief.

It's not a big deal, and I don't really have a problem cutting the hole in mine.  I've just been too damned lazy to do it.  Mine, if/when I ever install it, will be tied into my keyless entry system, so I can pop the trunk from the key fob.  If someone is afraid to cut a hole in the brace, they'd be better served with the stock trunk release on the '69/'70.

I figured cutting the hole with a hole saw was going to be the cleanest way to make the mod to the brace.  More creative minds may come up with an even better solution, though.

[daveSanborn]

Thanks for the clarification John, I didn't realize that the '69/70 support was different.

[johnpro]

Thanks for the clarification John, I didn't realize that the '69/70 support was different.

Neither did I until I went to bolt mine in.  LOL :doh

[70_Fastback]

What size of hole is required to be cut/drilled?

[johnpro]

What size of hole is required to be cut/drilled?

I'm not exactly sure yet.  I'm thinking like a 3/4" diameter hole.   Maybe I'll actually get off my ass this weekend and do it and take some pictures ... just for you!