Gas Struts/Springs For Hood/Bonnet

[lotos]

Thanks - still no reply to my email from a few weeks ago. Wonder if he'll now reply or if I should email again..

[Elanlover]

E-mail him again. Nolan's a good guy - he'll reply. Unless you are getting spam filtered. if you don't get a reply let me know and I'll talk to him.

[lotos]

Got a reply, so hopefully I'll be livin' large in Strut City before too long

[novacaine]

Anyone know if this kit is still available? Or does anyone have a kit they would like to sell on to me

[Elanlover]

See above 2 posts. They should still be available.

[novacaine]

Yeah I saw those post. I emailed them a couple of weeks ago but haven't had a reply yet

[Elanlover]

Look above 5 posts.

[novacaine]

They might take a while to get back to you, but they have plenty of these kits left

Not to bad for $118 CAD (~£65) including postage,

[Jeemy]

While this is live. The bonnet on my Elan has been sitting up for at least 6 months, if not a year. I have a little clean every time I get a break from the nightmare that is work right now.

The struts are just as good as new. The company aren't great at answering emails but when I ordered mine after waiting a week, I picked up the phone and it was dealt with in 5 minutes.

Just call them. Details once again:

Nolan Fehr
LS Technologies
303 103rd Street
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
S7N 1Y9

1-866 427 4659
(306) 683-5000 (if the 800 number doesn't work in your area)
info (at) lstechnologies.ca

The cost is $75 CDN plus shipping and any applicable taxes/duties.

[lotustonybassplayer]

well after a year of walking past this kit (it was in my porch along with some more parts to be fitted ) i fitted it today first of all the bonnet brackets had to be fitted with the 'ball' facing inwards, otherwise it fouled on the body and could not shut the bonnet. bottom bracket fitted with the ball facing outward. the new brackets were fitted on top of the existing hinge brackets. my way of fitting the rams which took 5 seconds after trying the way described in the original instructions and getting nowhere fit the ram on the bottom bracket first its easier to compress then swing over to the bonnet bracket and push on, i used some silicon spray on the balls for lubrication. i will have to get some new bolts to replace the front four bolts top and bottom as they are rather short and had to leave off the washers otherwise they would not reach the fixing plate i did not have any issues with alignment or a raised bonnet line at the windscreen end

[Rob P]

Ordered a set of these just before Christmas and they arrived a week ago and are now on the car, excellent kit. I also had to install the Bonnet Brackets with the Ball facing inwards otherwise the bracket touched the bodywork on both sides.
Once fitting I had no requirements to adjust the bonnet as there was no catching or alignment issues.
I did have a few issues with the Bolts for the bonnet bracket being too short but that was quickly overcome with a visit to my box of spare bolts

[Rose Royce]

Yesterday I installed my struts following Blair's excellent instructions, with a few adjustments. Similar to some others I had to install the top bracket facing inwards because the bonnet did not close properly when I installed them with the ball stud facing outwards. When I changed them to face inward it was better. Then I installed the bottom bracket under the bottom hinge plate after trying both ways and having it under seemed to work well with the bonnet sitting properly. We installed the struts and proceeded to open and close the bonnet a few times to make the final adjustments.

Everything was going well but the bonnet was sitting higher on the left side (as you are sitting inside the car) especially near the headlight pod. At one point we pulled the handle to open the bonnet but it did not open...in fact the handle does not come back as far as when you normally open the bonnet. We tried everything we could think of, including removing the inner fender and pulling and jerking the actual cable between the firewall and where it disappears up into bodywork near the motor. We turned on the headlights to see if we could have more access, but nothing works! I drove home and ran the car up on ramps and crawled under the front to see if I can have access to the cable or the latch from underneath, but everything was too hot, so I left it overnight and will have a look tonight.

I did find an old thread where someone had a similar problem, but at that time there was no solution which solved the problem and the last post dated back to 2007 I believe. Does anyone have any ideas...at this time I am completely stumped. I will talk to my car buddies and am reaching out to the LEC community for suggestions.

This was part of my TO DO list to have the car in prime condition for my upcoming trip to Princeton NJ for LOG 36 in early August. The only thing left is new front brake pads which just arrived this morning, but I have to resolve this other thing before undertaking the trip to Princeton. Hope someone has some bright ideas

[TrevorB]

The company aren't great at answering emails but when I ordered mine after waiting a week, I picked up the phone and it was dealt with in 5 minutes.

Just call them. Details once again:

Nolan Fehr
LS Technologies
303 103rd Street
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada
S7N 1Y9

1-866 427 4659
(306) 683-5000 (if the 800 number doesn't work in your area)
info (at) lstechnologies.ca

The cost is $75 CDN plus shipping and any applicable taxes/duties.

I sent an email on 22nd July and got a response straight away stating they are still available. Nolan is sending me more details in an
email tomorrow so expect to be ordering these soon.


Trevor

[lotusflasherman]

Whatever happened to "Simplify, then add lightness' ?

[alan e]

If that's the case why fit air con ?????????

[Elanlover]

Whatever happened to "Simplify, then add lightness' ?

You can remove the hood/bonnet prop to add lightness if you like

[Rob P]

Whatever happened to "Simplify, then add lightness' ?

You can remove the hood/bonnet prop to add lightness if you like

I thought that was the whole point of installing the Gas Struts as they give you greater room to work on the engine than with the Bonnet prop?

[lotusflasherman]

If that's the case why fit air con ?????????

Yes indeed, why?. Air con in an open car is a most ludicrous concept so why anybody would pay extra for it when ordering is completely beyond me. Bad enough having it on my Eclat Riviera that has a targa roof panel, but going abroad with a full boot there was nowhere to put the roof so only time I used the air con. The heat exchanger leaked Freon after being hit by a stone and was replaced but never refilled as the compressor started shearing bolts that held it on the alloy block so AC on that more trouble than it's worth so would never buy an M100 with AC.

[lotusflasherman]

Whatever happened to "Simplify, then add lightness' ?

You can remove the hood/bonnet prop to add lightness if you like

That's silly, because it has a purpose ... but what about something like this ? - www.ebay.co.uk/itm/5x-Carbon-Fibre-Rods-3mm-x-1000mm-R3-1000-13-75-free-p-p-/351786528665

[lotusflasherman]

I thought that was the whole point of installing the Gas Struts as they give you greater room to work on the engine than with the Bonnet prop?

In 21 years of owning M100's I've never found the prop gets in the way, but have only done minor mod's and servicing. If I was doing anything major I'd probably remove the bonnet for a bit more 'daylight' and access anyway. It's only 4 bolts and unplug the washer tube. The Eclat has a big forward hinged bonnet supported by one gas strut but a slight wind closes it, emulating a guillotine. 3 bolts to get that off and access to front of engine so much better with it removed.

Word of warning for the Gas Strut owners - at a pub meet an owner was showing me how access is better with gas struts fitted and caught the back of his head on the bonnet 'safety hook' that the prop normally keeps you away from. The word was a bit stronger than "Ouch!"