What did you do to your S550 Mustang today?!

[GT Pony]

Replaced my smoked side markers as they both stopped working, guess this explains why.

Smoked in more whys than one.

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[Spazz2k]

Added some lights to the garage....does that count? I can now see....lol

 

[shogun32]

Only time I'd put hood struts on is if the car was in car shows ... which it's not, so not important to me. Hood rod works fine.

more car show guys need to man up and buck the herd - proudly flaunt that prop rod.

 

[Mr. Met]

Took her in to get the TSB for the shift forks 1st-4th replace. It broke my heart to leave her at the dealership

Looks like a nice dealership, at least then the ones around here.

 

[ice445]

May I inquire why you don't want hood struts?

I just don't care to pay $120 for something that provides me zero benefit, lol. The rod works, and it's free. The struts only save maybe 3 seconds per opening, which isn't that often. Just isn't worth it to me.

 

[WD Pro]

May I inquire why you don't want hood struts?

I don't want to cut my battery box lid to be able to remove it lol.

Don't know why he didn't want them but for me the prop rod is fool proof, never been in my way, doesn't weaken with age or lose pressure, doesn't change the force paths from what the manufacturer designed, didn't cost anything in time, money or effort to add to the car. With or without you still need both hands free to raise the hood, one to release the catch and the other to start the upward movement. I guess you could close the hood with one hand with struts but why let the other hand shrivel up and fall off from lack of use?

Okay. They makes sense if you have a need to open your hood with something in your hands. Never happened for me so I don't have to put up with all the downsides for that questionable benefit.

Only time I'd put hood struts on is if the car was in car shows ... which it's not, so not important to me. Hood rod works fine.

more car show guys need to man up and buck the herd - proudly flaunt that prop rod.

I just don't care to pay $120 for something that provides me zero benefit, lol. The rod works, and it's free. The struts only save maybe 3 seconds per opening, which isn't that often. Just isn't worth it to me.

I agree with all the above and don't mind the hood prop - in fact I actually quite like it ... lol

Difficult to explain, but to me it just suits the car.

Don't be offended, but 'in general' outside of America I think the Mustang is looked upon as being a bit overkill, a bit loud, a bit brash, a bit basic and a bit underdeveloped. As that's what attracts me to the mustang, the hood prop fits right in and is almost something to be proud of.

You can take your hybrid / EV with gas hood struts and stick it up your arse - I prefer my mustang with a V8, no auto stop start and a hood prop

It retains just that little bit of retro

WD

 

[Reddirocket27]

I just don't care to pay $120 for something that provides me zero benefit, lol. The rod works, and it's free. The struts only save maybe 3 seconds per opening, which isn't that often. Just isn't worth it to me.

This. It's just a mod for mods sake. Silly.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

This. It's just a mod for mods sake. Silly.

Wait didn't @Briebee72 start a "No using a prop rod does not make you smarter, more skilled, a better driver or more of a car guy" thread?

 

[Michael_vroomvroom]

Don't know why he didn't want them but for me the prop rod is fool proof, never been in my way, doesn't weaken with age or lose pressure, doesn't change the force paths from what the manufacturer designed, didn't cost anything in time, money or effort to add to the car. With or without you still need both hands free to raise the hood, one to release the catch and the other to start the upward movement. I guess you could close the hood with one hand with struts but why let the other hand shrivel up and fall off from lack of use?

Nah, you only need one hand to raise the hood with hood struts. One hand to release the catch, and then same hand to start the raise before the struts take over. Don't think I've ever used two hands to raise the hood after I installed the redline hood struts.

Got tired of burning my fingers to lift the prop rod when I wanted to open the hood after driving, felt the prop rod is often a bit in the way, installed as it is in the middle of the hood rather than to the sides as hood struts, and think hood struts look a lot better too. Can see engine room without some ugly rod in the way.

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Nah, you only need one hand to raise the hood with hood struts. One hand to release the catch, and then same hand to start the raise before the struts take over. Don't think I've ever used two hands to raise the hood after I installed the redline hood struts.

Got tired of burning my fingers to lift the prop rod when I wanted to open the hood after driving, felt the prop rod is often a bit in the way, installed as it is in the middle of the hood rather than to the sides as hood struts, and think hood struts look a lot better too. Can see engine room without some ugly rod in the way.

Burning your hand is unpleasant. Getting tired of burning your hand shows impressive endurance.

Of course nobody burned their hand even once until Ford discontinued the short piece of rubber hose on the strut rod for a bribe from Steeda (designated representative for a consortium of strut dealers).

I am haunted by the question of would I have known to just add a short piece of hose I had laying around had I not previously owned a Mustang that came from the factory with one. Maybe I'm not some hood support savant but just a common plagiarist.

 

[Michael_vroomvroom]

Burning your hand is unpleasant. Getting tired of burning your hand shows impressive endurance.

Of course nobody burned their hand even once until Ford discontinued the short piece of rubber hose on the strut rod for a bribe from Steeda (designated representative for a consortium of strut dealers).

I am haunted by the question of would I have known to just add a short piece of hose I had laying around had I not previously owned a Mustang that came from the factory with one. Maybe I'm not some hood support savant but just a common plagiarist.

Short piece of rubber hose on top of the strut rod. You hear that, ice445?

 

[HoosierDaddy]

Burning your hand on the prop rod builds character. Chicks dig character.

I stopped trying to impress chicks after I tried to light a cigarette for one when I didn't have a lighter in '68. I put the cig in my mouth, pulled a spark plug wire off, put it on the end of the cig and told her to crank the engine. She was still laughing when I came to. But I had my revenge when she got it lit later by someone with a lighter. The sparks must have perforated the length of the paper with tiny holes, because she pretty much just got air when she sucked on it and was teased mercilessly for the exaggerated sucking on it.

And it made me realize I didn't have to try to impress since I was almost off the scale impressive without trying.

 

[ice445]

Short piece of rubber hose on top of the strut rod. You hear that, ice445?

I could have done that, sure. Part of this was an experiment to see how good Tesa tape is at resisting heat though. So far so good. It also removes clean without leaving a bunch of residue like typical electrical tape. It also only took 60 seconds to put it on there, versus going into my tool box to find the right size hose and cut it.

I dunno, I'm not anti struts, my Taurus has them. They just don't provide any measurable value to my life, so why would I waste money on them, lol. If it's a must have for you, great. To each their own. This debate is reminiscent of the manual man versus auto boy threads. Clearly the prop rod is more engaging and provides more feedback compared to automatic struts.

 

[StangTime]

Grab the prop rod by the plastic end. No burned fingers.

 

[StangTime]

Added some lights to the garage....does that count? I can now see....lol

Great looking car! Care to show us those lights? Are they LED? I need to fix the lighting in my garage too.

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