Hood Strut help

[hopesmasher]

Hey guys, Im putting on a set of MRT hood struts that I picked up from Brenspeed this past weekend and the mounting of the brackets went fine but when I went to attatch the actuall struts they would not compress to attatch to the brackets. Is there a trick to these? Some sort of seal or pressure release to let the air escape so that they will compress? Some how I dont think that smashing one end against my work bench in a stabbing motion is the right way to go. Please let me know what Im doing wrong.

 

[Miracle]

Just lift the hood up far enough to be able to attach the struts at both ends. The hood will actually go up pretty far, way past what the stock hood prop would.

 

[hopesmasher]

tried that. It will not go up high enough.

 

[Kraftsman]

Just lift the hood up far enough to be able to attach the struts at both ends. The hood will actually go up pretty far, way past what the stock hood prop would.

+1 I have those same hood struts, exactly like he said. you will play hell trying to compress those struts!

 

[Kraftsman]

tried that. It will not go up high enough.

then they gave you the wrong struts, the strut length is how far the hood will go up, so if your hood wont go that high then you've got a problem.

 

[hopesmasher]

ok so I pushed the hood up far enough to get the struts to hook up it felt like it was pretty high. The struts will compres now but they come straight down and stand straight up so that the hood will not close. The struts are completely compressed and not rotating so that the hood closes. about to pitch these damn things

 

[Croft]

Are they upside down? Did you install them on the right side of the vehicle?

 

[Kraftsman]

if they are installed correctly, the logos will both be on the outside of the car and they will look like two upside down shocks. (any body have a better example?)

 

[Kraftsman]

ok so I pushed the hood up far enough to get the struts to hook up it felt like it was pretty high. The struts will compres now but they come straight down and stand straight up so that the hood will not close. The struts are completely compressed and not rotating so that the hood closes. about to pitch these damn things

also the hood will open a little farther than stock with the hood prop. maybe an inch or two.

 

[hopesmasher]

ok so I got it sorted out. Ill say that this is partially my fault and partially poor instructions. What the call "furthest quarter panel bolt" Im not so sure is a panel bolt. It is the furthest bolt towards the windsheild but it doesnt look to me like its attatched to the quarter panel. Once I moved the bracket back to that bold it worked fine. I believe that this is correct but if not it is still working. Doesnt seem like it could do any damage if Im wrong. So anyone doing this install just look for the bolt almost all the way to the windshield.
Thanks for the fast help guys. Now that its working, I think this is a very cool addition.

 

[one eyed willy]

i found some help for you!

http://mustangforums.com

 

[US-1]

http://site.mrt-direct.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/05+-Mustang-Hood-Strut-Instructions.pdf

It even has pretty pictures showing the exact bolt.