Mopar Muscle Association UK

The hinges on the bonnet are shot, and the boot is getting replaced by a full fibreglass one.

I was thinking of using gas struts for both. The boot will be easy enough as it has a hinge, so just fit the correct gas strut and it should work a treat. However as the hinge on the bonnet is so complicated and shot. I'm wondering if any off you have any ideas (or even done this yourself) of how to get it to work..

Also how do I find out how much force I need and what stroke length ect I need. I'm assuming if you now the size, pivot point and weight you can work it out with some equations..

gas struts encase your confused on what I'm thinking of are these things. http://www.strutsdirect.co.uk/component ... ucts_id=54

They seem to come in lost of different sizes, stroke length, force and fittings..

So any idea or help would be good..

Bonnets are HEAVY! Good Luck

Kev wrote:Bonnets are HEAVY! Good Luck

Tell me about it. Having to lift it on and off every time I want to get to the engine bay at the moment.

Get a glass hood.....so much lighter!

DrogoBroadband wrote:Get a glass hood.....so much lighter!

That is the plan, but can't afford it at the moment. Geeting glass boot, wings and doors at the moment . But can't strect any further at this point in time.

Have a word with Markie, he has a spare steel hood and hinges that he took when he bought my Charger with the glass hood.....may want rid of them. Hood is rust free standard '72 hood.

Ok, a few thoughts here, if you are going to use gas struts with a fibreglass panel then you will need to make a complete steel subframe that's substantial enough to do the job without bending or flexing (The mounting points of the struts would to subject to high stresses)and then fit the panel to it. I can see it would be a very time consuming job with quite a bit of trial and error to get it to work. I would imagine the strut manufacturers would provide the necessary information to enable you to select the right items for the job. If you got it sorted it would look very neat but the weight saving of a 'glass panel would be lost. Paul Worrow uses a simple rod to hold up his 'glass hood on his charger using the stock hinges with the springs removed, you could do the same with a bootlid. Even if you were fitting gas struts to the stock hood you would need the stock hinges (or a copy of) to get it to open and close without hitting the windscreen.

just a thought , if you want to go the gas strutt route , i know that adjustable struts are available so you can tweak them to your exact requirements (but not cheap) im sure you could buy a glassfibre bonnet for what you will spend sorting the struts, somone must have one going spare