Finally had time to post pics of my depressurized polished hood struts. Both on and off the car Oh and I forgot to mention that I have an aftermarket hood, which is why I did it. It is fiberglass and it looked like it was starting to warp ever so slightly

http://camaropics.50megs.com/struts.htm

 

looks good did u buy them like that or do it yourself

 

This may be a stupid question, but what is the point of that? I think it would me much easier to just use the stock struts instead of having to stick those pins through them every time you want to have your hood open.

 

Perhaps, but then with that setup you never have to worry about the hood coming and smacking you in the back of the head because they loose preassure because of age. About the only good thing about the struts being preassurized is it makes it easier to open the hood.. My opinion. they should have stuck with the spring loaded type like on 2nd gens... never ever had a problem with those.. even after front end collision...

Oh and those things look pretty nice IMO.. Good job

 

I could see someone doing that mod on the cheap if their struts failed. IMO I like the strut design its simpler but yeah it would eventually wear out.

 

Actually I have an after market hood which I failed to mention, and the pressurized struts were starting to warp the hood ever so slightly

 

yeah I did, took about 2hours for both. I keep polishing them every day until they turn almost chrome like

 

I did that also on my turd gen if you look close you can see the hair pins in the strut rods

 

Megalis, nice job and I understand your point on why it was needed. slowdrive,

 

i polished mine a few years ago i have a aftermarket hood never had any warping on my hood to this day

 

Agreeded! That car is the furthest thing from "turdy" you can possibly get.

You're lucky.
I noticed that upon closing it, when you pulled it down to fast it would seem to flex a little to much. Also since it was going to the audio shop and I am getting a cam put in it shortly, everybody else is going to yank down on it like if it were OEM. Before something terrible happens I figured I needed to take care of it.

 

By the title and not seeing the pic, I thougt why not just take them off. After seeing the pic that's a great idea, gonna' try it on my 3rd gen I've hau three sets of struts on my hood and none lasted longer than a month, if that.
Is there a safty procedure when drilling?

 

I would were goggles just to be on the safe side and drill slow, if you do that the air will come out little by little. You will also need to let all of the fluid inside drain out after drilling. I used a 3/8's bit by the way. good luck

 

I agree they put way to much stress on the hood. When i first was test fitting my SS hood i was sure that my hood would break/crack if i kept the stock hood struts on with the hood. They just have way to much pressure to work with the light weight, weaker hood.

 

aren't the struts steel? and will soon rust first time it rains?