[sme101]

OK Guys and girls, i've been wanting to add some bonnet gas struts for a while now and recently bought the struts and set about fabricating brackets from off the shelf stuff (from B+Q) and tried to make it work.

Here are some pics of the final article to give you an idea of what its like and below a brief walkthrough of how i assembled the bits.

And a video of it in action!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=873LfB016qo&feature=youtu.be

I tried various combinations of brackets etc, but this is the cheapest / easiest / simplest combination i came up with given the size / power of the struts all in all it seems to work well.

Right, so here are the bits that i bought (all from B&Q apart from the struts themselves) :

2 x Struts
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item27c83ca976

2 x Extra Ball Bolts
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item20cee0aa5f

2 x Heavy Duty 120mm brackets
http://www.diy.com/n...0?skuId=9291480

2 x Right angle brackets 50mm
http://www.diy.com/n...1?skuId=9291481

M 4 machine screws (4 required)
http://www.diy.com/n...?skuId=10078916

M 8 Nuts (4 required)
http://www.ebay.co.u...=item19d5aff143

The struts come with 2 ball bolts but one is M 8 threaded and one is self tapping. You need them both to be threaded, hence buying the extra two from ebay.
The lower mount for the struts is quite simple, there is a bolt underneath the clip part of the headlight that can be replaced with one of the ball bolts. I found, however, i had to cut a bit of the clip away with a hacksaw and snap it off to give clearance. Also, due to those ebay ball bolts being slightly thicker necked, i found its best to file some of the neck away on the side that faces the front of the car, so the strut has better movement over the ball.

The bracket is made up of the two bits from B&Q as mentioned above that are screwed together.

Shown below is how each part is needed to be cut (red line) and drilled out to 8mm (red circle)

This is for one side, the other side will be a mirror image so don't cut the bit exactly the same for both sides!

Basically, screw the right angle bracket to the heavy duty bracket so the right angle bit is facing outwards. Bolt the ball bolt through the hole you drilled out to 8mm on the right angle part. I used a second M 8 nut as a spacer to bring the ball bolt outwards a tad more.

The bracket is attached by the top bolt from the bonnet hinge and tightened so its over to one side so it brings the ball bolt more inline with the lower one. I found that putting a bit of hard rubber behind the heavy duty bracket between it and the bonnet helped protect it a bit, since the bonnet is quite flexible and the struts are quite stiff (just so theres no metal on metal).

I painted mine with black hammerite.

Once i had the first bracket figured out, i knocked the second up in about 20 mins.

Lastly, so the struts and the brackets dont foul anything when closed, you will need to cut away a section of that plastic lip at the back of the engine bay. About 3 inches wide by about 1.5 inches deep (so not right to the bottom so it still acts like a channel for water run off) each side should do it.

Im currently trying to source a pre-made bracket that could fit without having to do a DIY bracket..... watch this space.

So by my calculations, this is achievable for less than £35 (as long as you've got a drill / hacksaw / workbench etc....)

Hope this gives you some inspiration, maybe you can improve it? Message me with any questions if your attempting this and i'll try to help.

Stu

 

[ICEMAN ST 07]

Great stuff Stu.....

Had these on my old Fiesta Si 1.6i and is something I hope to try very soon on the ST.

Thumbs up for attempting this yourself mate and for achieving a functioning result.

 

[sme101]

Great stuff mate.....

Had these on my old Fiesta Si 1.6i and is something I hope to try very soon on the ST.

Nice write up and thumbs up for attempting this yourself.

Cheers buddy, room for improvement, but pleased for now.

You cant quite hear on the vid but it makes a good noise when opening!

I'll prob get a better vid up tomorrow.

 

[S44 XTN]

To be honest one strut alone would probably be fine to lift the bonnet, only had one on my old c2 and it still shot up lol people used to buy the packs of two and sell one to make some of the money back. So that should reduce the cost but also worth testing?

Looks very good though, like that you've painted the brackets to hide them very OEM.

 

[sme101]

To be honest one strut alone would probably be fine to lift the bonnet, only had one on my old c2 and it still shot up lol people used to buy the packs of two and sell one to make some of the money back. So that should reduce the cost but also worth testing?

Looks very good though, like that you've painted the brackets to hide them very OEM.

I did have just one on for a day while i waited for the second ball bolts to turn up. It was plenty strong enough to hold up the bonnet but pulling it shut there was quite a lot of flex in the bonnet to added the second one to balance the force (and of course i already had the second strut).

I'll probably paint the hinges black too so the brackets dont stand out against them so much.

thanks for sharing

 

[st07]

Very nice mate, will probably attempt this myself soon

have always had a fondness for gas struts

 

[Yarde]

Very impressive! I really want some of these! Now, although a little confusing, I imagine its a lot more obviously once you've got the bits in front of you!

My only problem, the bracket might not clear the strut brace!

 

[sme101]

Very impressive! I really want some of these! Now, although a little confusing, I imagine its a lot more obviously once you've got the bits in front of you!

My only problem, the bracket might not clear the strut brace!

Glad you like. I didnt take pics as i went along so just had to remember and describe it

more of an overview than a guide. But more than happy to help if you do have a go. But hopefully will get some proper brackets soon so will just be a case of a bolt on job.

Hmm, not sure about the strut brace, think it should be ok - im getting one soon so it WILL be ok

From what i can see the bracket folds down to about the red circle, and strut braces use the bolts in the yellow circle right?

 

[Yarde]

From what i can see the bracket folds down to about the red circle, and strut braces use the bolts in the yellow circle right?

View attachment 60898

Correct.

It seems to be the bonnet side brackets that are the issue. hmm. I might order me some parts and start work. Probs be next month. You may be bombarded with PM's when i start!

 

[tiestoooooo]

crackin guide mate ,
youll be getting loads of emails with this tidy mod ahah

 

[Yarde]

Well, I've only gone and ordered the parts of this! Whoops!

 

[RobDG88]

I would gladly pay you to make some of these badboys for me haha!

 

[sme101]

haha

Version II is now installed on mine, just not painted up yet, much easier to DIY

http://www.fiestastoc.com/forums/topic/78556-bonnet-gas-struts-version-ii/

 

[Yarde]

Keep an eye on my progress thread tomorrow...that's all I'm saying!

 

[Maverick-ST]

I

Keep an eye on my progress thread tomorrow...that's all I'm saying!

I know I know I know