Boot Lid - gas strut?

[rbgosling]

Has anyone tried replacing the boot lid springs with a gas strut?

My springs are (not unusually, especially for the larger-spoilered SE) inadequate. Last Resto Show Tony kindly donated a spare spring, after one of mine actually broke, but it’s still totally ineffective.

On my Spitfire, several decades ago, I replaced the boot prop with a gas strut, and it worked a treat. I’m tempted to look into it as a little job for the Resto Show in 3 weeks time. But if someone has already tried this, it would be helpful to hear their experience.

[Alan_M]

Can’t remember who it was that’s done a modification to the springs - might have been Andrew Harris.

[Alan_M]

One thing that some folks have done is to just slightly deepen the notch in the hinge the roller drops into when the boot is open.

[Dwaynem884]

plus one on deepening the grove. Solved it for me!

[rbgosling]

Right, I'm giving it a go, and my experimentation will be on display for all to witness! I've got a couple of short struts, and I'll be bringing them to the Resto Show at the NEC next week. I have a couple of ideas on how to do this, let's see what happens...

[rbgosling]

OK - I tried it, and I'm very happy with the results.

I ordered a couple of generic gas struts off eBay - 250mm long, 50N force - the lightest available, they go up to 1000N. A mere £16.81 delivered.

https://ebay.us/m/xJ0vOC



First thought was to fit them so they d be hidden in the rim with the lid closed, attaching to the boot lid by the spoiler-mounting bolt. However, it was soon apparent that this would not put them at a good angle to push on the lid.





So, I switched to fixing the inboard end to the bolt holding the boot hinge to the lid, and the outer end to the flange on the car body. This gave a better angle. The only modification to the car was a 6mm hole drilled through the flange (not too low, to avoid any risk of water draining into the boot).









The result is very good - the boot lid self-lifts from about half-way open, and holds very securely in the fully open position. It is not at all too stiff to close again. I have left the existing springs in place, the springs and struts work well together to give an appropriate force. No doubt with stronger gas struts the springs could be eliminated, and maybe only one strut required rather than two. I'm happy with two weaker struts, as this minimises the load into the fibreglass of the surround.

When open the struts are not visually intrusive, or at all in the way of accessing the Excel's generous boot space.