Gas Struts (Nm) **Update Fitted**

[Mollydog]

I've been doing some searching on here but haven't been able to find the answer to my question, I plan on fitting gas struts to both my front and rear lids on my fl MR2 but couldn't find what Newton-meter (Nm) struts would be suitable for this,

Any help would be very much appreciated

[Joesson]

@Mollydog
While I have read on here in the past about group buys for Gas Struts I don't recall any technical figures.
The following link is from a manufacturer / supplier who offer a calculator to determine your needs before buying:

https://www.gasspringsshop.co.uk/gas-spring-calculator/

[Beachbum957]

You can buy kits specifically made for the MRS. They come from Hong Kong, but I think they ship internationally.

https://autobahn88shop.com

https://autobahn88shop.com/collections/bonnet-toyota/products/dampe223-t
https://autobahn88shop.com/collections/bonnet-toyota/products/dampe223

We have them and they work well, but you will have to trim the front luggage compartment cover for clearance for the struts, or just remove the cover.

[J88TEO]

For the front bonnet I used the struts from my Lexus GS300 mk3.

[Mollydog]

I was planing on putting this kit together myself,

once I came across kits being sold on Alixpress

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001172680153.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.2dc02e0eaGmrGs

from £21 not worth the hassle of collating all the parts myself

My MR2 is Sable coloured with a red top, I'm not sure if getting red struts would go with mine or if I should just go for black, any opinions?



Edited to add: forgot to mention they do them for the front too from£23

[Joesson]

@Mollydog

For less than £50 for front and rear, if you want gas struts to open the lids that has to be a good buy. The group buy on here was £100 some years back.
I would go for the black, as neutral, the red would be different shade  to your top so would clash. I'm not fitting them to my car, but if I were to I would choose black.

[Call the midlife!]

Just as an addendum to this, the struts won't "lift" either the bonnet or engine lid but they'll keep it up (usually) once you've lifted it by hand.

[Beachbum957]

The kits from Alixpress look about the same as from Auobahn88 and mount the same.  They won't lift either lid initially, but once they are about 1/2 open, they will lift the rest of the way and hold them up nicely.  In  addition to trimming the front luggage compartment cover, we had to remove the OEM support rods as they hit the cylinders in the closed position.

[Mollydog]

Thank you for your opinions, black it is then,

seeing the anchor point are so low on the lids I didn't think the struts would lift up the lids, still nice to be able to lift the lid up and stay up

I'll do this mod on the engine lid first and see how I get on before attempting the front one

[Mollydog]

Had a knock on the door this morroning was the postie with a small packet, turns out the MR2's rear struts didn't take that look to get here to the UK,

I couldn't wait to see what they looked like, after all, for £25.50 that includes shipping and 20% UK VAT I wasn't too sure what I was going to get

I thought the struts were well packed for shipping





It came with an A4 instruction sheet and all the fittings





I should think these struts are all made in the same factory in China and the branding is placed on them by individual sellers





Either I got lucky and they provided more fitting than I need or they provide fittings for all combinations



I had booked my MR2  in to the garage for today to have the coil spring and leaking damper fitted to pass its MOT or these struts would of been on the car by now, I'll have to wait till I get the car back tomorrow

[Beachbum957]

Those are different than the ones from Auobahn88 and mount different.  Put up some pic when they are done, as they look nice.

[Mollydog]

Those are different than the ones from Auobahn88 and mount different.  Put up some pic when they are done, as they look nice.

Will do

[shnazzle]

Those are the ones I got. Well, except for that I screwed up and got two rear sets. But they work well

[tricky1138]

Must get round to fitting mine - put them in a "safe" place. 

But for £20 I might just go for them as they look great.

[Mollydog]

for some time now things bought off Aliexpress they add on 20% for UK VAT

[Mollydog]

It was a bit nippy this morning but I got out my tools and started on the bool lid struts

It didn't take the long to fit them , straight forward really once you see where the struts fit on the car, took me a bit longer fiddle with the phones taking the clips,  excuse the out of sync editing I used two phones to capture overall shots and tight/close-ups, my editing isn't on par with Wheeler-dealers

https://youtu.be/DsHXFK-N8hs

[BARNPOT2000]

It was a bit nippy this morning but I got out my tools and started on the bool lid struts

It didn't take the long to fit them , straight forward really once you see where the struts fit on the car, took me a bit longer fiddle with the phones taking the clips,  excuse the out of sync editing I used two phones to capture overall shots and tight/close-ups, my editing isn't on par with Wheeler-dealers

https://youtu.be/DsHXFK-N8hs

Thanks for uploading your video, can't beat seeing installations in action. By the way, I've seen pictures of these sorts of struts installed both ways around, (rod at top and sometimes at bottom), is one way better or take your pick?

[Joesson]

It was a bit nippy this morning but I got out my tools and started on the bool lid struts

It didn't take the long to fit them , straight forward really once you see where the struts fit on the car, took me a bit longer fiddle with the phones taking the clips,  excuse the out of sync editing I used two phones to capture overall shots and tight/close-ups, my editing isn't on par with Wheeler-dealers

https://youtu.be/DsHXFK-N8hs

Thanks for uploading your video, can't beat seeing installations in action. By the way, I've seen pictures of these sorts of struts installed both ways around, (rod at top and sometimes at bottom), is one way better or take your pick?

If these were hydraulic cylinders used vertically there is reason to have the rod at the top, so that any oil seepage can be drained off, although there is / was a system that necessarily had the rod at the bottom and any seepage was caught in a catch tray.
As these are filled with gas, and so no messy seepage there is no such reason, so available space could be a reason for one or other orientation. In this particular case the end fittings might predetermine the orientation, but otherwise likely just down to the fitter's preference.

[BARNPOT2000]

It was a bit nippy this morning but I got out my tools and started on the bool lid struts

It didn't take the long to fit them , straight forward really once you see where the struts fit on the car, took me a bit longer fiddle with the phones taking the clips,  excuse the out of sync editing I used two phones to capture overall shots and tight/close-ups, my editing isn't on par with Wheeler-dealers

https://youtu.be/DsHXFK-N8hs

Thanks for uploading your video, can't beat seeing installations in action. By the way, I've seen pictures of these sorts of struts installed both ways around, (rod at top and sometimes at bottom), is one way better or take your pick?

If these were hydraulic cylinders used vertically there is reason to have the rod at the top, so that any oil seepage can be drained off, although there is / was a system that necessarily had the rod at the bottom and any seepage was caught in a catch tray.
As these are filled with gas, and so no messy seepage there is no such reason, so available space could be a reason for one or other orientation. In this particular case the end fittings might predetermine the orientation, but otherwise likely just down to the fitter's preference.

Thanks, thought it might be either/or.

[SuperArt]

for some time now things bought off Aliexpress they add on 20% for UK VAT

I'm not sure that's right.
Only goods being imported with a value in excess of £135 should be VAT chargeable.

Maybe it's the seller not Aliexpress putting on the VAT. I'd question this.

[Beachbum957]

It was a bit nippy this morning but I got out my tools and started on the bool lid struts

It didn't take the long to fit them , straight forward really once you see where the struts fit on the car, took me a bit longer fiddle with the phones taking the clips,  excuse the out of sync editing I used two phones to capture overall shots and tight/close-ups, my editing isn't on par with Wheeler-dealers

https://youtu.be/DsHXFK-N8hs

Thanks for the video!  These are similar to the Auobahn88, but they use an angle bracket at the bottom like the top. The only issues we had was an installer error (I dropped one of the little clips for the ball end and had to make one  ), and sometimes the top angle bracket likes to twist a little after opening and closing a number of times. It needs to be tight.  I think the cylinders are mounted rod down for clearance

[Mollydog]

for some time now things bought off Aliexpress they add on 20% for UK VAT

I'm not sure that's right.
Only goods being imported with a value in excess of £135 should be VAT chargeable.

Maybe it's the seller not Aliexpress putting on the VAT. I'd question this.

As I don't know if you've ordered for Aliexpress, what happens is once you select buy you're taken to a page where it states what you're buying and a rundown of the cost,

starting with the price of the item, then if there is P&P to pay it shows how much followed by  a line showing 20% charge and finally a total of the three rows

I've had this from multiple sellers so either it's legit or it's a catch all

[Mollydog]

@Beachbum957

I think adding images or video clips adds to the thread, as not everything written down is self explanatory and images/video helps explain, it's having the time to do both when working on the car thats the issue

[BARNPOT2000]

Well struts arrived a quicker than expected and fitted them today. All went well (apart from dropping one of the fiddly little retaining springs, luckily retrieved from the depths of the engine bay with one of those magnets on the end of a car aerial, I would be lost without that little tool  ).
I did notice that however tight I tried to screw the top brackets into position , the struts insist on turning them to the angle they prefer, so that's where they'll stay. Hopefully they wont work loose, maybe locking washers will be needed if they do. Overall very pleased with what is a relatively cheap upgrade and an easy installation, recommended. I went for the plain black ones as they aren't really something I want to highlight but each to their own as they say  .
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[Joesson]

This was in answer to a question, that subsequently has been withdrawn, so I will  do likewise with my answer!