The hood struts for my sedan and Mario’s ST arrived so we installed them last night. Overall it was a very straight-forward procedure and no permanent modifications to the cars were required. One wiring loom had to be slightly repositioned so it wouldn’t get pinched but the instructions show that. We actually tucked ours under the plastic shield on which they sit, to really keep them out of the way.

One bolt from each fender is removed and a ball-stud is installed in its place. For the upper end of the strut, the bolts holding the hood are removed to add a bracket and are then fastened down again. Realistically this can be done by one person but we took the chance to install these together, so one could help hold the hood and realign it while the other tightened the nuts.

A small c-clip holds the bottom of the strut in place while the top snaps on. Because the fit is so tight with the hood closed, the bumpers on the sides of the hood are removed, and a small bit of clear film applied below where they sat. The final step was to remove the hood prop and put it away.

We had actually installed mine first but I started with the pictures of Mario’s since I had somewhat of an ‘in-progress’ shot of his install.

Next, some touchup paint will be applied to a few spots, such as around the ball-studs because their washers are smaller in diameter than those from the bolts they replace. I also plan to touch up the bolts on the hood to hide the marks from the socket.

I’m very happy with this purchase already and would put it as a must-have for these cars. Actually, any car.

Thanks (again) to Mario for ordering these and dropping them off!

-Bill