KevinR Posted April 1, 2019 Report Share Posted April 1, 2019 On the basis that they are strong enough to rip the inner wings of a slightly corroded steel bonnet, I would expect them to seriously distort a fibreglass bonnet. I had a set on an absolutely pristine steel bonnet - no corrosion what so ever in the wheel arches and the struts caused the hinge tube hinges to fail, so I have first hand experience to back up my dislike of them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NonMember Posted April 2, 2019 Report Share Posted April 2, 2019 9 hours ago, KevinR said: I had a set on an absolutely pristine steel bonnet - no corrosion what so ever in the wheel arches and the struts caused the hinge tube hinges to fail, so I have first hand experience to back up my dislike of them. And yet other people fit them and have no problems. So that leaves us with a few options - either your bonnet wasn't as perfect as you say, or the struts you got were the wrong ones, or you fitted them wrong, or everybody else is either lying or ignoring serious problems. I suppose it could be that last one but I suspect Occam's razor is worthy of application. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mark powell Posted April 2, 2019 Report Share Posted April 2, 2019 I fitted a pair of gas struts to a totally different application (horsebox upper upper ramp opening) and they came fully pressurised, however each strut had a bleed screw to reduce the pressure needed for the application. Obviously couldn't repressurise if overdone! I can't remember where I got them from, but there's a huge range of different specifications out there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mjit Posted April 2, 2019 Report Share Posted April 2, 2019 I've got, and am very happy with the gas struts fitted to my steel bonnet car but think you'd need 'softer' struts with a fiberglass one. There's a massive difference in weight between a steel and fiberglass bonnet and the standard struts will be spec'ed for the weight of the much heavier steet unit. I don't know if the club are able to sell just the brackets/strut details so you can source your own, lower rated ones? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglefire Posted April 2, 2019 Report Share Posted April 2, 2019 Sgs engineering do bespoke gas struts they did some for me for my rear tailgate on my Land Rover to suit the addition of a ladder on the back door. https://www.sgs-engineering.com/gas-struts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Badwolf Posted April 2, 2019 Report Share Posted April 2, 2019 Thank you for all the useful comments. I only enquired as it will be a little while before the steel bonnet is ready to fit and it seemed a shame to leave the struts sitting in the garage. However in view of the more helpful comments, I do agree that the fibreglass will probably not stand up to the pressure of the lifts. As for any damage they may cause, I feel that if opinion is that strong regarding the possibilty of damaging either a rusty or pristine bonnet, then the club should clearly mark the packaging with a warning and include this on the shop web page, especially when a member closely associated with the club has such grave concerns. These concerns should investigated by the club shop before selling them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulBSpit1500 Posted April 4, 2019 Report Share Posted April 4, 2019 Triumph Spitfire 1500 strut installation Feb 2019 The offer from Moss for a bonnet lifting kit under £80 and Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket proved to be a no brainer. The kit arrived a couple of days later and the package was eagerly torn apart. The A4 instruction sheet was easy to understand however I made a modification to the installation by adding a load bearing support bracket more of that later. Before starting make sure the metal bonnet is located correctly and the cones adjusted appropriately. There are two lower supplied fixing brackets that fit into the radiator housing recess, the drivers side bracket has a smaller offset from the housing than the passenger side bracket. The existing bolt in the housing is removed, Moss suggested that this is used to secure the new bracket, I used a new bolt, lock nut and the supplied clipped washer. Install the ball stud in the bracket with the ball pointing to the outside of the car using the supplied washers and nut, which is then pushed into place. As for torque settings, my brothers nick name for me, gorilla hands, say no more, so as tight as you feel appropriate, but tight. With the lower bracket installed the bonnet fixing is next using the supplied ball stud however the fixing to the bonnet used just an oversize washer and nut but this seemed under engineered. So off to my 2mm steel sheet and I fabricated a large support bracket that fitted on the road side of the inner wing, this can be seen as the black triangular shape, this was bolted onto the wing with the Moss supplied fixing and a new bolt with the head ground down, to ensure strut clearance when the bonnet is closed, with a washer and lock nut using the existing hole in the inner wing. New fabricated bracket. Ground down bolt head to allow for strut clearance. The thick end of the strut was now fitted to the bonnet ball stud as per the instructions, prise the spring clip back with a small screwdriver to allow the location of the socket onto the ball. However a problem became evident, the strut when connected to the lower ball stud will foul the breather pipes to the carburettors filter. Moss make no mention of this so the pipes have to be moved. Using the existing fittings and relocating the the pipes seems to work, a new bolt, washer and locking nut was used and the pipes had a cable tie to secure them together. Old pipe location. New pipe location using old bracket and new nut, bolt, washer and spring washer and cable tie. Use of existing spacer. View from above. The lower strut was connected, the bonnet needs to be slightly lifted to get the connection to fit. When connected the bonnet will now stay up by itself. The bonnet stay can be removed and the passenger side strut can then be installed as per the drivers side. The difference is in my opinion well worth doing and certainly makes the lifting and closing of the bonnet so much easier with little effort and the removal of bonnet twist, just remember not to let the bonnet drop when closing but let it down slowly. A little costly for some but a significant improvement and I would recommend the modification, however I'm not sure about this modification for a fibreglass bonnet. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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