So, have you ever like me worried that the front lid might due to wind blow up and then down as the rod fell out and then maybe damage the paint? And have you like me never thrown out anything DeTomaso, not even rear deck lid gas shocks that had gotten too weak?
If yes, here’s an easy modification to support the opening of the front lid. Use one of the weak rear lid gas shocks in the front! I don’t know if this modification has been done before, but I haven’t seen it.
It fits perfectly on the lower part of the lid and bolted to the underside of the front trunk area. The two bolts in the trunk area will be invisible when I put my fire extinguisher back in the floppy bracket/holder, if you don’t have that, just have the bolts beneath the carpeting. The weak part right now is the bracket on the lid. There’s not enough material to drill and cut threads, so right now it’s only attached with screws. If they start to come loose, I’ll have to weld the bracket in place, very careful with just one weld at each end and wet rags on both sides of the lid to avoid paint being damaged by heat.
It took me an hour to install after some hours online finding the right brackets and bushings. It works perfectly, better than I had expected. The lid can stay up if on the last 10 inches upwards. Beneath that, it slowly closes, no banging down. Just like the rear lid actually.
Remember that the placement of the bracket on the underside of the trunk decides how high the lid opens. Mine opens exactly like when using the rod.
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