MY hood Strut Kit (for less than $15)

Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives

The other day I was thinking about a hood strut kit. Decided $50 was too much. I knw my taurus has hood struts and there is a million of em in the junk yard. So i set out to make them work.

I Purchased them along with two out of four ball ends i needed. Found some perfect size screws to work as the other ball ends. I also purchased a 8x1.25mm tap and 17/64 drill bit. Removed the upper screws that held in the hood and taped the holes larger.

I then removed the appropreate bolt on the fender, replaced with my new "ball end" (really just a proper sized screw) and that was it.

The kit fits perfect, looks factory, has motorcraft part numbers on them and lifts the hood about 2" more than normal.

Heres the final product. I do eventually plan to find proper ball ends to replace the lower screws. The tap set cost me $11 and the struts were $3-4.

Picture 1

Picture 2

Good option. I like cheaper but does everything close up nice and tight? You purchased the struts from a slavage yard but only two of the four ball ends? Does the taurus only come with two? Do they sell the ball ends at parts stores?

Those are hot Brad!

Yea, im thinking I kinda want a set now...

Next time we run to the junkyard i'll grab a set.

I started cleaning up those headlights. I picked up a kit from Advance that has these presaturated pads that you spray water on to activate the compound, they did pretty well and cleaned up the yellowing very nicely, but they weren't quite as clear as I wanted them to be so I picked up a heatsink lapping kit from frozencpu and started to wetsand them...

great idea man

It closes up perfect. It looks and feels factory.

-The taurus has diffrent size ball ends for each end. The two larger ones are the ones i pulled.

-The smaller ends are welded to the car. This is the reason i only pulled 2 ball ends.

Once you lift the hood up 6" it holds itself. At about 8" it pushes itself up the rest of the way.

-Brad

brad... a "how-to" would be nice..

Man , those muthas are huge

! Looks like they work just hunky-dorey though , so ... GOOD JOB

Very resourceful man, good job

Originally posted by Nate S:
great idea man

x2!

Same great look and function!

Big props!

I used ones for a (IIRC) Cadillac Catera. They were $12-15 each brand new and have a lifetime warranty. I did this a good 5 years ago.
I even did a nice write up that may still be in the archives NOBODY EVER SEARCHES.

I would never use used struts personally!

Originally posted by DemonSVT:
I used ones for a (IIRC) Cadillac Catera. They were $12-15 each brand new and have a lifetime warranty. I did this a good 5 years ago.
I even did a nice write up that may still be in the archives NOBODY EVER SEARCHES.

I would never use used struts personally!

WOW! Even a better deal!!!!!!!!!!!

Originally posted by DemonSVT:

I would never use used struts personally!

Thanks for the props everyone.

Demon- Look man, yo have some good info and are a very knoledgable person, but your opinion was neither asked for or relivant. How many gen 3 taurii have you seen with failed hood struts....hmmm...none. Mine came off a 99. My parents 96 taurus has the same struts as day one and they work like new. So if i got a max of 3 years id be happy....by then ill have totaled this car or onto somthing much better.

As for the writeup....ill try to do one. Or if demon would like, he can post a link to his writeup.

BTW: the priceyou listed is also 5 years old...try getting thoes struts for that price now!

-Brad

Using the part numbers out of the archives

(there were 3 listed that work BTW) I came up with $16, $20, $23 each on Autozone's website.

Funny what you can find when you actually search. Saw some old names too while I was digging. Those posts sure were a lot better then the typical BS posted on this site now days. How things decline.

Originally posted by DemonSVT:
Using the part numbers out of the archives (there were 3 listed that work BTW) I came up with $16, $20, $23 each on Autozone's website.

Funny what you can find when you actually search. Saw some old names too while I was digging. Those posts sure were a lot better then the typical BS posted on this site now days. How things decline.

What terms did you search the "Archives" with? I am not having much luck with it.

Old posts are fun!

i dont see anyone saying they could not figure somthing out. I just posted how i did myu hood struts. Im not saying its better or anything.

And if the posts are so worthless and you know it all, why stick around?

Glad to hear you can get cheap new struts thoe. Thanks for the info....

-Brad

Here is the link. Hope it stops the chest thumping or whatever is happening here.

http://www.contour.org/archive/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=UBB2&Number=97475&Forum=All_Forums&Words=strut%20kit&Match=And&Searchpage=7&Limit=25&Old=allposts&Main=97474&Search=true#Post97475

Spy guy, thanks for the alternative write-up. Pictures paint a thousand words.