I have just made up a kit containing two gas charged hood props and mounting brackets and hardware for the FB. Mine are setup so as soon as I pull the hood release in the car the hood slowly and gently opens up by itself and stops in the stock FB position. Surprisingly the hood is quite easily closed.
I just found it kind of a neat, clean and modern setup.
Will anyone want to buy this kit? If so what kind of pricing would you want to pay, realistic estimates will be greatly appreciated!!!!!
No pics yet, im tired

 

heh... this would really help with my '79 and it's Passenger side hood prop rod.... lol

stupid thing...

 

and the car is left hand drive? thats wierd.

As for the original post, its hard to say how much I'd pay for something like that, how much would each kit cost you to make? take that number, add a few dollars and there you go. After the experiences I've had with hoods and gas struts (trans am) I personally wouldn't buy one, but it does sound like a neat idea, i'm sure there'd be a small market for them.

 

Interesting, I kinda like it seeing as I thought about doing this on a friends car myself. Although, I need to get some new struts for my rear hatch first .

~T.J.

 

Take what it costs you
add 15%
Post it

And when my Visa is clear, you can count me among the buyers
Jon

 

Yeah, it's left hand drive. I was told that the first xxx amount of '79 models came with the passenger side prop rod (right hand side), as they didn't figure out that if the driver was on the left side, perhaps they should put the prop rod on that side? Then someone clued them in for the next production run

That's what I was told anyways... and yes, it's completely stock.



As far as the dual prop pistons go, I don't think it's be as much of a problem with an RX-7, with the lighter hood. But yeah, on a TA, or Camaro, I understand. That's where the hood "prop hockey stick" came from

 

2 new struts about 40 bucks. Mounting brackets about 10-15. Your time making them worth about $20. So I would pay about $75 for it. Can we see some pics? I'd understand if you wouldn't to (run to home depot hehe), but I'd wanna see how tough or flimsy the brackets are first. I was going to do this for fun also, so I might as well take a shortcut.

 

One of the details they must have forgotton about when making the left hand drive model.
hehe, I prefer vise grips to hold the TA's hood open

 

Question,

What happens if the hood is un latched while driving?

No a likely situation but it somehow happened to me? cuz cars with shocks usually have that safety latch.

But it's a cool idea

 

Hopefully youre driving fast enough the wind over the top of the hood will keep it closed .

~T.J.

 

yeah, sometimes when i am driving hard i will pop the hood afterwards, like on my way home. this helps in bringing the temps back down.

 

Since the hood is hinged at the front it is very unlikely that it will go up, but then gain, if the gas shocks are strong enough...scarry...
Nevertheless, I'd like to see an installed kit before buying, but I do think it's a cool idea.

 

So what happens when you slow down to fix it?

 

Ok then I will just use a gas strut that is strong enough to hold the hood open but not powerful enough to overtake gravity and lift the hood from the unlatched position. Much like all strut equipped hoods anyway.

 

guess I will have to get a fiber or kevlar hood if I want the hood to lift Then ? sounds silly to me to pop the hood to get it to cool now after hard driving. if its got a overheating issue you need to upgrade the cooling system. J I would think you could have both types, struts that lift and struts that just hold the hood(at least while they are new).

 

YA!

 

you could just make an rx2 like hood prop that locks itself up, and not worry about fancy stuff. anyone have pics of an rx2 prop?