Anyone ever fitted a hood-prop rod?

[Jand3rson]

I was thinking about this the other day, has anyone every installed a hood-prop rod on an E30? You know, like the ones they have on cars whose hoods open the normal way? My hood shock works just fine, but even if there's a stiff wind, it will still blow it down. After being out at the autocross this weekend and having my hood up a lot while checking things between runs (while VERY windy), I was thinking that this would be a really nice thing to have. Has anyone ever done it, and if so, which one did you use, and do you have pics?

[lordofthewaters]

I don't think it'd be hard, you could probably pirate from any number of vehicles. Especially if one has rudimentary welding skills.........

[Jand3rson]

I don't think it'd be hard, you could probably pirate from any number of vehicles. Especially if one has rudimentary welding skills.........

I don't think it would need to be welded, you could just mount the hinge/base plate to a flat surface in the engine bay with self-tappers, then just paint/seal it.

[george graves]

Getto - but maybe a length of 1" diameter PVC pipe with a channel cup out of it length wise that you could slip over the stock hood shock?

No welding, cutting, tapping, ect. Easy to keep in the trunk.

[browntown]

I used a sawed off broom handle for a while. worked fine.

[Jand3rson]

Getto - but maybe a length of 1" diameter PVC pipe with a channel cup out of it length wise that you could slip over the stock hood shock?

No welding, cutting, tapping, ect. Easy to keep in the trunk.

That's not bad, George. Not bad at all.

The broomstick is a no-go.

[george graves]

Thanks!

Either that of a 1" piece of bar stock. Cut a slot as show, and tap for a thumb screw on the end. Slide it onto the shaft and tighten the thumb screw to limit the shocks travel. But it might mar the hood shock and ruin it.

--------------|
.....___..........|......|XXX|
....|....|.........|/////|XXX| <-thumb screw
.....\....\........|.......|XXX|
-----\....\----|
^bar stock

Sorry for the ASCII art.

(You can make almost anything out of crap from the hardware store.)

[backtrail69]

Vise grips on the hood shock. :razz:

[golde30]

i been thinking about this also, as i must have had my hood blow shut on me a dozen times over the years.

[NC325iC]

Vise grips on the hood shock. :razz:

did that for a while

[AlarmedBread]

Vise grips on the hood shock. :razz:

FTW.

[AndrewBird]

How about something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Lisle-45900-3-Piece-Telescoping-Hood/dp/B0002BC0T6

Or maybe just get a new gas strut that is stronger. All you would have to do is measure the length compressed, the length extended and then calculate the force needed. It might even say on the stock prop somewhere. McMaster has a TON of them.

[TwoJ's]

I can't visualize the shock in my head right now, and I'm too lazy to go out to the garage, so this may not work, but why not just pit a pin on the hood hinge where the to lever arms overlap? This would effectively taking the shock out of the picture. And all you need is a pin and a drill...

Plus, it won't look extremely ghetto.

[golde30]

I can't visualize the shock in my head right now, and I'm too lazy to go out to the garage, so this may not work, but why not just pit a pin on the hood hinge where the to lever arms overlap? This would effectively taking the shock out of the picture. And all you need is a pin and a drill...

Plus, it won't look extremely ghetto.

something like this mite work. i will take a look at mine 2m.

[jimsill]

on a related note, when i installed my m-tech 1 spoiler a few years ago, it totally over-powered the effectiveness of my trunk shock, which worked fine prior to the spoiler. Is there a spoiler specific trunk shock, or was mine just on the verge of dying when i installed the spoiler?