Folks, please post your strut discussions and issues here please.
Sorry Grant - before we even start. The post seems extra wide (to take the photos perhaps), and try as I can, can't amend the settings on my printer to get it all on the page.
Can you amend the size or can any computer whizzy tell me where I am going wrong.
Thanks, Roger
I always just copy&paste the text into my fav text editor and print from there...I don't really need the pics once I've browsed through them...
Now I have printed on landscape - why didn't I think of that before s:oops: :oops: s:oops:
Doh!
I couldnt do alot with the pics, as they are linked form another server...
I'll resize and post them to Spydermagazine later on...
Quote from: "GSB"I couldnt do alot with the pics, as they are linked form another server...
I'll resize and post them to Spydermagazine later on...
Grant, don't bother - as I said if I print landscape they fit on.
roger
Front and back now on. Look good, work well. Just got to cut the froot cover, next weekend if the weathers nice. Thanks again Grant.
I can put up some pictutres if you like, but IMO they are not that different from yours. What do you think?
roger
Feel free.
If you want you can post up a few pictures to detail any points you feel I may have missed?
QuoteYep it does, unfortunately it still seems to foul the plastic cover, causing the same issues.
More tinkering needed today me thinks, update soon
Above Quote from locked Fitting Instruction Website ex GSB and Markiii
Presumably you are talking about the plastic bit from which the rubber seal was cut? If so, mine causes no problems. I appreciate age of car is different, but if its OK on offside, but not nearside could you have taken the plastic off at some stage, and nearside is not seating properly?
roger
well the plastci has been o loads of times, but I've checked and checked and checked
And in teh end the only way to solve teh problem was to trim the plastci the sits under the bonnet to avoid fouling the struts.
having trimed it useing the same stiff as teh holes for my strut brace,all now fits and it doesn't look bad at all.
Fitted my rears earlier and have another tip:
Even after following Grants advice of taking out one bolt, placing the bracket and putting that one bolt back, then the other, I found that the decklid was catching when opening and closing on my hardtop (the part that latches over the chrome hooks).
The solution was to loosen off both bracket bolts, then you will find there is some adjustment up and down, to bring the decklid toward / away from the rear edge. After adjusting both sides a couple of times it is now lined up nicely, but it's something to watch for.
Just fitted the fronts, couple of points to note.
Firstly my strut also raised the frunk slightly on the nearside. A small amount of trimming of the platic windscreen surround fixed that. I didnt need to reroute the washer pipe, the washer pipe clip or trim the rubber around the windscreen surround.
MORE IMPORTANTLY
I nearly let too much gas out of the struts this was because they were stuck solid and needed a cople of fairly hard strikes to to move and show the true resistance of the gas in them. You should definately be able to move the strut after about 20 'squirts' of gas so if you cant give it a wack to free it.[/b]
Quote from: "Slacey"Grants advice of taking out one bolt, placing the bracket and putting that one bolt back, then the other,
One tip for this, make sure that the first bolt you put in is the one that goes in the ROUND hole on the bracket. Then ELLIPTICAL hole second.
Doing it the other way round could move the bonnet alignment. Also doing elliptical first could mean the round hole doesn't align.
Quote from: "roger"One tip for this, make sure that the first bolt you put in is the one that goes in the ROUND hole on the bracket. Then ELLIPTICAL hole second.
Doing it the other way round could move the bonnet alignment. Also doing elliptical first could mean the round hole doesn't align.
I did that as it seemed the obvious way to go, but as mentioned there was still an alignment problem. Easy to fix as I mentioned though.
what kind of maintenance should be done? I see some grease in the ball joints, how about the rods?
They should be maintenance free for the life of the car...
I've had the same problem as Rage, but much worse.
First, I filed down a nail to fab a gas-loosening pin to release pressure from a rear strut. Installed the fittings for the engine lid. Then I began to release pressure from the strut. No matter how much gas I released from the rear strut, it simply would not budge. Periodically, I would whack the strut with a hammer (the base of the strut braced against a wooden board) but it never moved. Ever.
Finally, all the gas was released from the strut. I whacked that strut repeatedely, and eventually it cracked loose. I don't know how much effort is needed to release a strut. The one I was dealing with was frozen and would not respond to any measure within reason I applied to it. Still, I have no idea what a strut, when released, should feel like. Does it move? Does it slide along its length? Mine simply felt like there were 400 newtons holding it shut. I braced against my workbench and leaned against it. I placed a board on top of it and sat on it. I kept hitting it with a hammer and it wouldn't budge.
Fortunately, I found a company that will recharge it. I'm asking these people to reset it to 350 newtons:
m http://www.lstechnologies.ca/ (http://www.lstechnologies.ca/) m
Then I'll try again. (sigh)
Getting a rubber mallet and I swear to God I'm going to whack that sucker really hard after I let a little gas out. Grrrrrrr......
Quote from: "Slacey"Folks, please post your strut discussions and issues here please.
Hi. The fittings arrived in two bags (front and back, I suspect), but they seem to be missing a couple of items -- at the very least, a nut and a small washer.
Could someone tell me what they are so I could purchase them locally? Thanks.
Front:
(http://homepage.mac.com/ianbruce/.Pictures/kit_front.jpg)
Rear:
(http://homepage.mac.com/ianbruce/.Pictures/kit_rear.jpg)
I noticed I had 1 too many small washers on my front set (11 total), just thought it was in case I dropped one.
I think you should have 2 nuts though.
Simon
Correct, there are a couple of washers spare, so you're ok there. The nut shoud be available from just about any hardware shop, but it will be metric, probabley an M6... Sorry about that.
Quote from: "GSB"The nut shoud be available from just about any hardware shop, but it will be metric, probabley an M6... Sorry about that.
No problem at all. Just wanted to be sure. Thanks!
Well I have my drivers side front strut fitted but with the other side fitted, the frunk was raised too much to leave it in.
At the moment it looks like the only option will be to remove about 1cm of plastic from the edge of the plastic cover where the strut sits. Anyone got any better ideas before I take a knife and do somthing perminant!
Simon
An odd one...
First try turning the struts upside down and seeing if that helps, also, make sure that the hinge points at the bonnet end are all the way up towards the bonnet, as ther is some scope for movemnet there... If that fails, like it di on markiii's car, then a little trimming of the plastic may be in order.
It seems to be stopped by the plastic just next to where the old frunk support is. Swapping it round doesn't seem to help.
I will try the hinges tomorrow as the light is going here. Do you meant move the big metal bits I have added as far away from the seats towards the front of the car as I can?
Markiii, Any pics of the cutting?
Simon
The big metal brackets cant be moved, as it will move your bonnet. Im talking about the little ball joint that bolts into te bracket. Make sure its pushed up towards the bonnet before tightening, and you may find you win a little extra clearance.
Ah gotcha.
Will try tomorrow
Simon
Completed the front gassprings installation. No problems getting the struts to the correct pressure. The biggest difficulty is compressing the struts to fit the sockets over the ball joints. There's enough pressure in the struts to make the fitment interesting.
In the final testing, two issues are causing trouble. First, the struts are fouling on the plastics somewhere and I'm not having much luck finding where the binding is. I've removed enough plastic from beneath and to the side of the ball joints to get the cover to lay flat and trim. I suspect the trouble is somewhere around the ball joints and the socket that fits over them.
So I removed the plastic cover and the lid closes neatly - except for what is now a slightly more noticeable frunk gap between lid and bumper. Perhaps 1/16-inch more. I'm going to try a hinge adjustment to clear that up, and do some more plastic trimming. So far, I'm getting really proficient at removing the plastics and the lid brace.
This turned out to be a lot of work to get rid of the pesky bonnet prop-bar. But the end result made it worthwhile. Along the way, I learned a few things that those of you planning to fit yours might find of value.
Here's the finished result:
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/sefbst1.jpg)
If, after fitment, you notice that the right side of the bonnet is higher than it should be, then you'll need to trim a bit of the bonnet underplastic as shown here:
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/sefbst2.jpg)
I used a dremel cutting tool and ran it from the right edge of the plastic nearest the windscreen all the way to the previously drilled hole for the ball joint. Use a dremel height-brace guide to ensure that your tool is level and constrained to a 3/4-inch depth. Then, I removed that piece and used a dremel sanding bit to curve the gap, giving the section a natural bend. A de-burring tool and the sanding bit gave me a satisfactory finish and there was no need for door-trim to finish the install. The offending bit of plastic and de-burring tool are shown below:
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/sefbst3.jpg)
This way, you can keep the drilled hole for stability. From your dealer, order at least 10 of the plastic poppets that secure the bonnet underplastic. You'll break several along the way, and having a good supply on hand lowers the profanity-level of the job.
Expect trouble with the cotter pins that secure the ball joints. The ones on the right are hard to get to, and angle-nosed pliers are helpful. The tip of a narrow screwdriver is necessary during pin removal and it will slip and you'll cut yourself a few times. Use heavy work-gloves when compressing and releasing the struts. If the pressure is right, you'll be able to just barely control them during release. Get familiar with your 12mm wrench, as you'll be adjusting the hinges a number of times. Keep lots of cold beer at the ready. Also, the lid-prop will need to be inserted and removed several times as you monkey about with the struts. It gets quite easy to insert and remove it and don't hesitate to use it when necessary.
Haven't installed mine yet...but did anyone have any fitment issues that didn't get solved by cutting the platic cover?
(mine's in the garage s:roll: :roll: s:roll: )
Quote from: "RaGE"MORE IMPORTANTLY
I nearly let too much gas out of the struts this was because they were stuck solid and needed a cople of fairly hard strikes to to move and show the true resistance of the gas in them. You should definately be able to move the strut after about 20 'squirts' of gas so if you cant give it a wack to free it.[/b]
Yep I've done this, mine seized up and I ended up letting too much out because it wouldn't free up. Even with hardly any gas in the cylinder the strut had seized again this morning, Not sure if it's faulty but I certainly don't want them seizing when they are on the car!
I've found a place that will re-fill the strut with gas but they are in Bedford, anyone know a place nearer to herts/essex?
Quote from: "Tem"Haven't installed mine yet...but did anyone have any fitment issues that didn't get solved by cutting the platic cover?
(mine's in the garage s:roll: :roll: s:roll: )
I fitted my set to both my MR2's and had no cutting to do. But I have to confess that I never installed the plastic cover with them. My plastics were ditched at day one on both cars, they are in my humble opinion, utterly useless, and a real pain when you need to replace a headlight bulb on a cold rainy night.
That said, we did put them in on Markiii's car, and he had a problem on the left side. The bonnet gap at the front of the left side was to big as the panel was sitting just slightly to high. We spent a fair amount of time looking at it, but the main plastic panel was not the problem. The real problem was at the rear of the bonnet, where the strut went over the plastic panel that forms the windscreen surround.
As for the sticking struts, a few people have commented on this, and I have to agree that at the extreme end of the struts travel, they can sometimes lock. My own cure for this is not to take the bonnet up to the very end of the travel, but only to the same point it would reach if usisng the original bonnet stay. By design the rear struts wont do this, as the struts do not reach full extension.
All I can really say to people is, be careful...
QuoteThe real problem was at the rear of the bonnet, where the strut went over the plastic panel that forms the windscreen surround.
I'd never gainsay you, Grant, but here's how I troubleshot the matter:
1. Cut up 6 narrow strips of newsprint.
2. Placed strips horizontally across path of the strut in closed position.
3. Closed bonnet.
4. Attempted to remove strips. Noted which ones were binding.
5. Repeated on "good" side of bonnet, no binding.
6. Consulted with you and markiii, then had it with the dremel.
It was indeed necessary to reverse the strut to clear the upper windscreen base plastics, as you mentioned, but it was only after removing a section of the liner that the bonnet returned to its normal position when closed.
In a day or so my recharged rear strut should arrive and I'll complete the engine lid. I'm guessing that I'll have to reverse the position of the hinges shown in the fitment guide, but I'm doing it "per the book," first.
I'm going to be removing my FSB at some point (part of an experiment to see weather it actually makes any difference on the 2004 cars), so when I do I'll fit the plastics and see what happens... Good luck with the rear struts this time!
Here's some notes on the engine lid strut fitment. And by the way, the firm that recharged my strut did a bang-up job. Nice to know that if you over-depressurize, it isn't the end of the world - but you'll kiss 40 bucks goodbye. So this time around, I wasn't taking any chances.
First, I set the strut on a board and wacked it with a hammer, then a mallet, then released a bit of gas. More wackery. Then the board test:
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/serbs1.jpg)
I compressed the strut a number of times, and depressurized it further. Eventually it was responding to the "lean test," where you fit one side against your workbench and put your weight on it. Eventually it was hand-compressable and ready for install. I found it best to wear silly socks.
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/serbs2.jpg)
Fit the bottom of the strut first, compress it, then attach it to the hinge bracket as shown. One reason for this is simple leverage, the other is that pesky cotter pin. You need to swing the lower fitting to the side, get the pin into it, then swing it back into position.
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/serbs3.jpg)
As suspected, the hinge bracket position shown in the tutorial is incorrect. Here's how you need to set it. When you lower the lid, watch how the brackets just edge by the hinges. The precision with which these parts were made is truly remarkable.
(http://www.spydermagazine.com/files/serbs4.jpg)
Job done. As Grant mentioned, the best results front and back are obtained when you don't open either lid to its full extent - hold back an inch or so and the struts operate more smoothly.
Where's the assistant, SE? s:twisted: :twisted: s:twisted:
I did the same as you...took a block of wood and drilled a hole part way through so I could really lean into the struts. Two of the four were really hard to break the first time, but once done, they worked beautifully. I can see how one might have kept releasing gas expecting them to compress, only to release too much and finally manage to break it loose the first time. s:( :( s:( Luckily, I was able to benefit from the experience of many of you...