Redline hood strut installation

[OVRKILL]

I installed a set of standard Redline hood struts last week and I have a few notes to share. I've annotated a small imgur album with tips and tricks.

http://imgur.com/a/01Vnp

I am happy with the quality of the struts, and the design looks OEM. My chief concern, mentioned in the album, is that the hood flexes at the upper mounting point. MRT has included a large bracket with their struts that eliminates this issue.

The actual operation of the hood is quite nice. It opens with very little resistance, and closes easily. When closing the hood, it will drop on to the latch when about 25% travel remains.

It looks like ford provided for hood struts in their design, and for some reason didn't include them.

If you plan on spending any appreciable amount of time under the hood, these struts are a very nice thing to have.

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[Clink]

Thx for posting!

 

[TNcoupe]

Did mine yesterday as soon as I got the car home. Took 10-12 minutes and its amazing how much cleaner it looks with the hood up.

 

[draco24433]

Looks like I made the right choice in ordering them.

 

[Free Agent]

I installed a set of standard Redline hood struts last week and I have a few notes to share. I've annotated a small imgur album with tips and tricks.

http://imgur.com/a/01Vnp

I am happy with the quality of the struts, and the design looks OEM. My chief concern, mentioned in the album, is that the hood flexes at the upper mounting point. MRT has included a large bracket with their struts that eliminates this issue.

The actual operation of the hood is quite nice. It opens with very little resistance, and closes easily. When closing the hood, it will drop on to the latch when about 25% travel remains.

It looks like ford provided for hood struts in their design, and for some reason didn't include them.

If you plan on spending any appreciable amount of time under the hood, these struts are a very nice thing to have.

Thanks for your thoughts. Can you let me know how much hood flex we are talking here? I am wary of stressing the paint and aluminum at that point overmuch if you say you are seeing some flex at the upper mounting point. I may have to go with the MRT hood struts since I see their upper mounting plate is much larger/longer. Thanks.

 

[OVRKILL]

There's about two or three inches of deflection at the forward edge of the hood. I don't think it will be a problem, but it's also not as solid as I'd like.

 

[Flak]

Easy install if you have a scratch awl and step bit. Overall I agree, well worth the price because they are sized to let the hood drop under it's own weight once you start to close, no need to 'slam' it down like withsome struts.

 

[Nitro]

So, can you no longer remove the battery cover?

 

[SVTFreak]

So, can you no longer remove the battery cover?

You can pop the strut off. Or simply rotate it around instead of removing it completely.

 

[tsunami]

I prefer the MRT hood struts which include brace brackets to help prevent any hood twisting.

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