The fist time I did it I was lucky enough to not have to completely remove the pin. It stayed in the hole but out of the way just enough to remove the strut. So then I put in the new strut and pushed the pin back in with a screwdriver and Re-installed clip. It went really fast.

Then I had to do it on the other car and wasn't as lucky so I had to use these:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploads8/11156764583.jpg

If you can't find one at your local tool store, try a fishing store. They usually carry these too.

I'll say it AGAIN .....


"There is so much "pre-load" on the pin that you don't need the circlip at all on the driver's side........it'll never come out by itself....

- Wil


On my particular car ( 85 Carrera) there were so many wire harness bundles in the way...they couldn't be moved at all !!

Probably true. If I remember, even with the hood pushed all the way up, I needed to compress the shock sligtly to get it in place.

After doing searches here I decided that the duct tape was a good fix. John Walker has posted many times that he just puts a blob of putty on the end of the pin to hold it in place rather than spending a half hour of shop time getting the circlip on.

Magnus ( "safe"):....others, too....

Correct....there is enough pre-load in both open and closed positions to make the circlip device superfluous....

- Wil

Telescoping magnet tool...
Will save your a$$ when working with tiny steel parts.

Today I replaced hood shocks on my 87 Carrera. I used a curved bill hemostat about 10 inches long purchased at Harbour Freight. The driver-side bottom mounting bracket was complicated by a large, black-wrapped wiring harness adjacent to the fuel tank pipe. I had to fish a piece of stiff safety wire under the fuel tank pipe and the black-wrapped wiring harness in order to pull the harness farther under the fuel tank pipe. Moving the harness out of the way gave me about one quarter inch more clearance, which allowed me to line up the hemostat-held pin with the bottom mounting bracket holes. The heavy-duty shocks I purchased from Pelican (part no. 911-511-331-01-M155) made the job much easier since the bottom anchoring portion of the shock unscrews from the shock shaft itself. Disconnecting the bottom of the shock allowed me to center and align the pinhole through the bracket and separated bottom anchor, which is much easier than working with the full length shock. Also, it made it possible to pass the pin from outside the mounting bracket to inside, which is the correct way to mount the pin. In addition, passing the pin through the bracket from outside-to-inside allowed me plenty of room to clip and secure the pin. After the bottom anchoring piece was pinned and secured, I simply screwed the shock shaft into the mounted anchor bottom, and finished the job by mounting the top of the shock at the hood mounting bracket. These heavy-duty hood shocks are German manufactured by Meyle. Their screw-off anchor bottom makes this a much easier DIY project. And you can do it right. One other thing - don't forget to remove the piece of safety wire at the fuel tank pipe.

Sounds like we used the same methods, including using a long, curved hemostat. It much easier than I originally feared.