I don't know what it is but both of the fieros I have bought have lid support deficiencies. This one is no different. The car I was working on for a friend had the gas shocks from someone on here. My question is has anyone ever fabbed up their own and made mounts for Mcmaster carr struts. Looked at the ones on that other car and took some measurements and found that they were not the greatest gas shocks I have seen before. I am planning to buy some nice ones I used on another project from mcmaster car that have spherical ball ends and are very nice. My only concern is of course the sizing. I was thinking dual 40 pound shocks should be more than adequate but I thought I would ask here before I jump in. Has anyone else made their own setup and ifso can ya post some nice high res pics. This is going on my newly acquired 85 fiero GT notchback car. Thanks and peace
Not sure where the struts you saw before came from, but I put a pair on my '85 GT coupe and am pretty happy with them. I would think that for $54 for a single or $100 for the pair from Rodney Dickman, you might want to save yourself the bother of trying to fabricate something. It took me about 1/2 hour from start to finish to put mine on. I could have gone with the single, but just thought the dual looked better and give a bit of extra support.
[This message has been edited by NetCam (edited 04-30-2012).]
Netcam, Thanks for the post. Honestly it is not really that I do not like the dickman ones rather it is the fact that the ones he is selling are using nylon or plastic ends and the car I saw here they were actually quite loose and popped off easily. The shocks I am used to using from Mcmaster carr are much much better quality and are like $14.00 each. they use captured ball ends that have special bent pins to secure them so no way the lid will accidentally fall with those and quite frankly they just look nicer with the shiny ball fittings on each end. I fully intend to use a pair of them because it looks nice and would support the hood evenly so on that I agree. I am all for supporting Rodney tho he makes some very cool stuff. Besides I kinda get off on fabrication and making my own stuff so it is a really simple thing for me to do. Peace
I am sure that is true guys but I will say that while I was working on the car I bumped the strut with my arm and it popped right off. Also when I tried to reinstall them the top piece came off the ring it is mounted on and I had to remove the screw to get it back on. I am sure if you were to get them and take real good care of them they will last awhile but these were pretty worn out and came off very easily. Not bashing on Rodney here or his products just stating what I saw myself. I do not even own a set of these from him but they looked exactly like the ones in that picture you posted. I am going to make my own and have no interest in buying those from Rodney because I want to save a few bucks and also do it myself with what I feel is a better style of gas shock. Just wondering if anyone else had decided to build their own style or do something else that supports the decklid that is cool and functional. Peace
I've always thought there are three kinds of people in the world. People who can make things for themselves, People who cannot make anything but can afford to pay others to do it for them, and the third type of people who cannot make anything, cannot afford to buy it, and are pretty much screwed....hehe Unfortunately I am one of the first type who can make about anything they put their mind to but do not make enough money to pay others to make things for me so I wind up ALWAYS making things for myself. It gets kinda old and just once I would love to pay someone to do something I cannot or do not want to do.... hehehe
I think the gas shocks are gonna be pretty cool and the ones on that car actually did their job well enough so the design is proven which is nice. Gonna probably use the steel bracket part of the hinge system on the decklid drilled and tapped for the ball socket and the same on the mount for the decklid vents. Basically for about $35.00 I can get it done. I will post some pics when I get it done if anyone is interested. Peace
I just did what someone else suggested. Picked up a used one off a cutlass ciera or other GM's as there are a lot that have the same one. Sucker is very strong. I put on one. If I put two on I'd have to hang on the hood to get it down. This is on a car I'm working on. Got tired of the hood banging me in the head.
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[This message has been edited by Dodgerunner (edited 04-30-2012).]
Dodge, Hey thanks man, I am curious as to what year and type of fiero this is? Do you have some open and closed dimensions of the shocks? I measured the ones on that car at closed around 9.5 and open around 14" eye to eye. I like what you did and I am quite sure it will be fine that way. I just want to use two instead of one if for nothing else than symmetry. Thanks for posting that. Peace
That looks like a pretty good job Dodge, did you fabricate the brackets yourself? Too late for me this time around, maybe for my next car.... right now I'll be working on putting the interior back together after replacing my shift and select cables, and then installing the power locks/remote unlock when the parts arrive. The fun never ends does it?
This is on a 87 coupe. Gas spring open is around 16.25 closed around 10. Lower is just a 1/4 X 1.25 wide bar bent. 1/4 bolt double nutted with a nylon insert nut. Top was just a metric double stud or specialty bolt (type with a head in the middle) I happen to have with another nylon insert nut. Took all of about 15 minutes to put it together..
[This message has been edited by Dodgerunner (edited 05-01-2012).]
Can I make a suggestion...... DIY/Tutorial/How To thread on how to make these! Ive been looking to do the exact things you guys are looking to do and would love to see how to do it!
You can go a little shorter but once you past the grill brackets there is not much to mount a spring to. Also the higher the angle of the spring becomes the greater spring force it needs.
I don't mean to hijack this or anything, but could someone recommend a strut replacement for the Rodney kit? Mine was for a car with the torsion rods and mine had to be removed for the 3800sc swap. so now the struts aren't strong enough to lift a decklid with no torsion rods.
I thought the dual struts from Rodney were designed for a decklid without the spring supports? I would tell you to get them from Mcmaster Carr like I am going to do but if you are trying to replace the ones in the rodney kit they are not gonna work since his kit uses tube style ends that go over studs that screw into the decklid and the strut tower vent mounts. The ones from Mcmaster come in a variety of different end styles but as far as I could tell not that style. I am going to be using the spherical ball end ones probably in the 15.5x9 inch size and I am THINKING about using the 40 pound shocks. That may be a bit much but I would rather it go up strong so wind will not affect it and maybe have to hold onto it when it goes up then to go too weak and wind up having it not strong enough. The shocks are like $14.00 each plus shipping so they are cheap and to install them you simply drill and tap a hole in each mounting point. I have some of these struts on a machine I built in the 100lb each size and they are very nice and good quality that should last for many years. good luck finding what you want tho...peace
I thought the dual struts from Rodney were designed for a decklid without the spring supports? I would tell you to get them from Mcmaster Carr like I am going to do but if you are trying to replace the ones in the rodney kit they are not gonna work since his kit uses tube style ends that go over studs that screw into the decklid and the strut tower vent mounts. The ones from Mcmaster come in a variety of different end styles but as far as I could tell not that style. I am going to be using the spherical ball end ones probably in the 15.5x9 inch size and I am THINKING about using the 40 pound shocks. That may be a bit much but I would rather it go up strong so wind will not affect it and maybe have to hold onto it when it goes up then to go too weak and wind up having it not strong enough. The shocks are like $14.00 each plus shipping so they are cheap and to install them you simply drill and tap a hole in each mounting point. I have some of these struts on a machine I built in the 100lb each size and they are very nice and good quality that should last for many years. good luck finding what you want tho...peace
Pete
Hi Pete, I'm curios if you ever fabricated a front trunk gas strut, if so can you give me the specs.
I don't mean to hijack this or anything, but could someone recommend a strut replacement for the Rodney kit? Mine was for a car with the torsion rods and mine had to be removed for the 3800sc swap. so now the struts aren't strong enough to lift a decklid with no torsion rods.
Rodney can supply a replacement strut for his kits with different pressure ratings. I have double sets on four Mera rear deck lids and have never had one pop off but they will eventually leak down after six plus years and are quite easy to replace. Two of the vehicles have 3800 SC swaps if you are looking for a direct comparison.
I have a Rodney one on my IMSA's rear deck that has a whale tail.
