"Passing Gas" on Deck Lids

[Rouser]

In numerous 914 photos I have collected over the years, I'm curious about one interesting modification. Has anyone seen a site or procedure for installing gas struts on the front, engine, or rear deck lids?

I'm especially tiring of the Twist-O-Matic rear (and all its associated cracking and welded mounting points) and boing-oing-oing-sounding front trunk lids. Neither makes for easy opening and lid removal during refuels and engine drops.

Would appreciate any input.

[Ian Cubus]

I just recently bought a gas strut kit for my rear deck lid from Pelican. Can you say overjoyed! After one of the plastic rollers broke I was going to replace it with brass ones. What a headache! On top of that the springs interfered with my carb filter assemblies. While placing an order with Tom at Pelican I discovered they had just gotten the kits and it has been one of the best things I have tossed a hundred bucks away on! It took about an hour to install. Don't follow the directions for mounting the trunk hinge brackets too closely. Instead of placing the brackets completely rearward in the hinges check for strut rod interference with the hinge bolt when the strut is lying parallel to the deck lid. This may differ on some deck lids but probably not by much. Good luck, Ian

[oredith]

hey Ian, got access to a digital camera?.. maybe you can write up a procedure for the conversion (is there one on the site already?, i haven't *re-read* the articles in a while)?.. the conversion sounds good, and you sound very happy with it. I'd like to see pictures.

thanks,

Jeff

[joehahn]

Could someone please email me a picture or post a picture of this project. I can't quite visualize where these attach.

Thanks,

Joe

NOTE: email = monish@ix.netcom.com

[Ian Cubus]

Hey guys I'll see if I can get a digital camera today from work and post some pictures and details. Ian

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

We'll see how this works--hopefully I can get the picture to show up here...


http://members.rennlist.com/evill/Image13.jpg

Go to http://www.rennlist.org , click on "free member websites", then scroll down the section on the lower left until you get to "evill". Ed made this setup himself; I don't know how similar it is to the one we sell.

--DD

[Ian Cubus]

Thanks Dave! That is where my strut mounted to the hinge. A small notch also had to be cut to allow the strut to lay flat. By the way who's car is this? I notice it has the Tayco or Tayco clone carb linkage. A steel or aluminum hexbar setup is a lot stronger, more accurate, and of better quality. I ran Tayco linkage once and over time the ball slowly deteriorated the pipe which unfortunately I didn't discover until several resyncs later. Just my opinion, Ian

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

That's Ed Villela from the Rennlist. He does sometimes check this BBS, so he'll probably see your note about the linkage.

Incidentally, if you're sharp-eyed you'll notice that his PCV hose is mis-routed. He says he did that just to make the photo look a little cleaner, because he didn't have the breather box mounted yet and didn't want an unconnected hose in the pic.

--DD

[evill]

Ian, the 914 in the picture is mine. I too quickly scrapped the Tayco linkage for a CB hex set up. The Tayco would not hold a sync to save its worthless life. The CB set up is probably the best available. I set it up once and it stays.(except for when Dunkle drove my 914 and somehow bent it)

Dave is correct on the PCV hose, I just tucked it down for the photo. It now goes to a breather box.