NEW PRODUCT! Now testing - Gas strut bonnet kit - PICTURES!!

[GSB]

I've been playing with these for a while, as its a mod that would make things very convenient when accessing under the bonnet and engine cover. My 8 year old Peugeot 106 has got them as standard, as has just about every other car these days, yet toyota has resolutely stuck to the lift and prop method. It works, but its a real pain when you've only got one hand free, or you just want to quickly throw something light in the front luggage locker.

Over the course of the last couple of years I've been toying with some spare struts I picked up in breakers yards, but its not as easy as it looks to actually implement it on the car... In fact its a real ballache, as the hinges on the '2 work through some very interesting geometric patterns between closed and open.

However, i've recently handed over a fistful of Euro's to a German Gentleman who seems to think he's cracked it, and I'll be recieving the results of his labour tomorrow or Wednesday. His kit consists of a pair of custom length gas struts for front and rear, plus all brackets and hardware to connect them to the body. No drilling of any body work is required, it all just bolts on with custom bracketry. The only holes required are a couple of small clearance holes in the front under bonnet plastics... I'll be fitting these to my car for testing at some point in the coming few days, and will report here on my findings. If they're any good, and theres enough interest, then I've already done a little negotiation on a bulk buy with favorable results, so I'll organise a GB asap...

Heres a couple of photos of the prototype designs on a Left Hand drive MR2. There are improvements over these in the final versions.

[Anonymous]

When you unbolt the bits to attach these, do you crack the paintwork (not exterior paint, thankfully)?

[GSB]

When you unbolt the bits to attach these, do you crack the paintwork (not exterior paint, thankfully)?

Dont see how you can do that, but I'll let you no in due course, my money would be on a definite No, but obviously thats one of the things I'll be checking out for when I evaluate the parts that turn up for me tomorrow. You can rest assured, if it turns out to be crap, then you wont be buying it through me. However I think enough time and effort has been put into this to make it a winner.

[roger]

I'd go for these - especially in the front. If / when you are making up the GB, any chance of giving options for Front, Back or Both?  Thanks.

[Anonymous]

Dont see how you can do that

Sorry, I thought my question was a bit vague... let's try again:

lots of the bolts on the car are painted over, either with a body coloured undercoat, or with the full gloss monty.  I've never undone one of those bolts, but I'd expect that as you do it, the paint would almost certainly crack, leaving exposed metal.  Not good.

I was wondering if these struts use such bolts, and if so if they leave exposed metal where there was once undercoat.

I realise you'll give 'em a good test GSB, a you do with everything else, it was just the first worry I thought about.

[GSB]

I'd go for these - especially in the front. If / when you are making up the GB, any chance of giving options for Front, Back or Both?  Thanks.

I'd have to speak to the maker again, I imagine it is possible, but speaking on a personal level I'd prefer to just deal with complete kits for simplicity. If the makers up for it, then that could of course change. Anyway its not that expensive to have the whole kit anyway, we're only talking in the region of £75 - £80ish for the whole lot. (although I have to secure an order of 10 sets to get a decent price) A real bargain considering the effort thats gone into them... Besides You could always sell the half you dont want here or on eBay once you have them.

[GSB]

Dont see how you can do that

lots of the bolts on the car are painted over, either with a body coloured undercoat, or with the full gloss monty.  I've never undone one of those bolts, but I'd expect that as you do it, the paint would almost certainly crack, leaving exposed metal.  Not good.

Gotcha, from experience of removing such bolts in the past, its not a problem as although the bolts were installed for final pianting everything would have been seperatley primered.  If however it does become an issue, and something is scratched during assembly its nothing a bit of touch up paint or vaseline wont cure very-very easily.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

They look good, especially useful for the front.

[Darth Paul]

Hope these work as it's my birthday next month.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  I'll tell the wife...

[Slacey]

I'm in Grant, good work  s:) s:)

[Anonymous]

I'd definately be in for the fronts.

[Slacey]

I'd definately be in for the fronts.

I'm only really interested in the rears, so if you want to join up and buy as one?

[Anonymous]

will average joe be abole to fit these?  s:? :? s:?   im very interested in the fronts...

[GSB]

Yes, just about any Joe who has the ability to speak and walk upright will be able to fit these... They should be very easy indeed and require only the bare minimum of tools.

I'll say it again though, at present the potential GB is covering complete kits only, (i.e. 4 struts plus brackets etc. for the front AND the rear of the car)

Cost is likley to be in the region of £75, maybe a bit less. Ordinarily, I'm told that the price of a single kit for just the front wouldn't be far short of that price anyway, so think of the rear as a bonus...  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

Slacey Wrote:
I'm only really interested in the rears, so if you want to join up and buy as one?


Good idea, I'll go along with that.

[Tem]

My 8 year old Peugeot 106 has got them as standard, as has just about every other car these days, yet toyota has resolutely stuck to the lift and prop method. It works, but its a real pain when you've only got one hand free, or you just want to quickly throw something light in the front luggage locker.

Bit OT, but Supra had gas struts on both ends in '82  s8) s8)


Do you know if these are strong enough to pop the hood open without any help? Or do they just keep it open..?

[GSB]

My 8 year old Peugeot 106 has got them as standard, as has just about every other car these days, yet toyota has resolutely stuck to the lift and prop method. It works, but its a real pain when you've only got one hand free, or you just want to quickly throw something light in the front luggage locker.

Bit OT, but Supra had gas struts on both ends in '82  s8) s8)


Do you know if these are strong enough to pop the hood open without any help? Or do they just keep it open..?

I dont know... yet.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

However I do know this... On the engine cover, the design of the hinges is such that the struts must first be compressed by about 3mm as you lift the cover, and then they extend and will lift it the rest of the way, so its not possible to sit in your car, pull the lever, and watch the engine cover lift up behind you. It needs to be lifted about 1 inch first...

I dont know if the same applies on the front, but thats held closed by the latch anyway.

Once fitted you adjust the strength of the springs to suit the car by releasing some of the gas inside. This will cater for those who have heavy spoliers on the rear, or perhaps a lightwieght carbon bonnet on the front.

[heathstimpson]

Do you know if these are strong enough to pop the hood open without any help? Or do they just keep it open..?

I dont know... yet.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

However I do know this... On the engine cover, the design of the hinges is such that the struts must first be compressed by about 3mm as you lift the cover, and then they extend and will lift it the rest of the way, so its not possible to sit in your car, pull the lever, and watch the engine cover lift up behind you. It needs to be lifted about 1 inch first...

I dont know if the same applies on the front, but thats held closed by the latch anyway.

Once fitted you adjust the strength of the springs to suit the car by releasing some of the gas inside. This will cater for those who have heavy spoliers on the rear, or perhaps a lightwieght carbon bonnet on the front.

The front has the catch that has to be realised first.

[GSB]

The front has the catch that has to be realised first.

Thats what I said... although perhaps not very clearly.   s:? :? s:?  

I dont know if the same applies on the front, but thats held closed by the latch anyway.

[GSB]

I've just recieved my little box of bits from Germany, and I have to say I'm very imressed with the quality of the brackets and fittings, hopefully I'll be this impressed with the rest of the package once its on the car...  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:   The brackets themselves are very nicely machined Stainless Steel jobbies, as are all the nuts and bolts etc. This bodes very well indeed.  s:) s:)  

At the moment the struts are set to 400N front and 350 N rear, meaning that theres no way on earth I can compress them by hand, but there is a small gas release valve hidden in one end to reduce the required force to a level more suited to the featherwieght bonnets of my MR2...

Only negative point thus far? No instructions... I had a feeling that would be the case, but fortunately its not exactly rocket science to sort out the fitting, and if nessesary I'll post a short write up here for future buyers... Coul be that he just forgot to put them in though! I'll find out later  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:  

If these things work out as well as they look like they will, then I'll definitely do a Group Buy... All interested parties, let me know your intentions.

Fitting, testing, and photos here tomorrow night...

[Darth Paul]

Looking forward to it!  s:wink: :wink: s:wink:

[Anonymous]

The front has the catch that has to be realised first.

Thats what I said... although perhaps not very clearly.   s:? :? s:?  

I dont know if the same applies on the front, but thats held closed by the latch anyway.

Is it possible to wire in a solenoid to release the front catch so that the bonnet would open automatically?

[GSB]

Anythings possible, but I imagine what you really mean is "is it easy?"

Probabley, depends upon how good you are at making brackets and wiring these things in. I'd use a solenoid pack mounted below the slam panel, with a cable pull on the relevant part of the catch... I personally wouldn't do it though, unless the circuit was cut by the ignition "ON". Otherwise pushing the button at any speed, will lead to an immediate and very lasting lack of vision, as well as a very big bang indeed as the bonnet attempts to mate with your windscreen frame...

I actually saw this happen to a car the other day,and although the driver got away with it, and managed to navigate his way to the hard shoulder, he certainly looked like he could do with a new pair of trousers...

[Anonymous]

I had it happen to me at around 90mph in a Mk1 Granda ... very nasty.

Anyway, assuming you have a separate switch for the solenoid, even if it was activated, surely the bonnet wouldn't open as you would only be operating the safety catch, not the bonnet release cable. I don't know if I'm making myself clear so I'll tyr again.

When you operate the bonnet release the bonnet springs open but is held by the catch that you operate with your fingers at the front of the car. The solenoid could operate this completely safetly, shouldn't it?

[GSB]

Yes it should... You just dont want both catches activated at the same time if the cars moving though, which is why I'd suggest a circuit in the igniton to disable it if the engines running.

Its not really within the scope of the design for these though, they're just designed to prop the bonnets open and assist you in lifting them. But if I get a chance, and I remember, I'll disable the saftey catch on my car tomorrow and see if the bonnet will lift when I pull the release handle in the glovebox... You never know, it might just work.  s:wink: :wink: s:wink: