Ok what hood struts are the best to use ,would like to stay away from drilling and who has the best price.........Thanks

 

I've got the CDC hood struts which are identical to the MRT hood struts. Only difference is MRT sells them for $10 more but they come powdercoated black as opposed to CDC who sells them in a stainless steel finish. No drilling required for either set.

Here's a few links where you can get them.
http://www.mrt-direct.com/2005/Pages/hoodprop.php
http://www.classicdesignconcepts.com...splay/666.html

 

http://www.mcmaster.com/
search for 1097. I ordered two 4138t55 with 50lbs of force and made my own brackets. Worked out pretty well.

 

Still learning-- does a hood strut make a difference in keeping the body alined over the years or does it have another function such as cosmetic?

 

A hood strut gets rid of the need for a prop rod. Gives you better access to the engine bay, looks nicer, and when you pop open your hood it will go up on it's own. Here's a few pics. (click to enlarge)



See how the hood is now supported by the struts?

 

Leo do you think the stainless looks better under the hood or would you go with black powercoat...........

 

I bought mine from MRT, with the black tubes and un-painted or coated brackets. I painted them myself to match the car, and it looks great. Now my only problem is that I have a much heavier aftermarket hood that the struts can't hold up. I spoke to Scott Hoag at SEMA, I just haven't gotten the new hood weighed yet to get new struts from them.

Here's a pic of my painted brackets.

 

Jay thanks for the idea and pic looks nice I was thinking of getting the stainless steel and then buffing it out to a shiny finish then replace the 10mm bolts with stainless steel bolts...... ps the struts will do a good job then at holding the stock hood up???????

 

As you can see from the last of the three pics I posted above I bought the stainless steel finish from CDC. After a few months though I decided to paint them to match my car. I also removed the CDC decals. You can see how they look now in the first two pics I posted. So I'd vote for painting them to match your car. I'm sure jayguy can tell you what paint to use to get the closest match to VB.

 

Thanks a lot Leo_06GT, I had it all wrong. Also I was hoping something of that nature existed, I think the prop rod looks cheap and is in the way. Now I will take the advice being passed around and purchase a hood strut myself.

 

Nope it's purely cosmetic. It just replaces your prop rod.

Your welcome .

 

Yes, the struts hold the stock hood up just fine. My hood is a stamped steel one-of-a-kind though, quite a bit heavier than the stock aluminum hood.

The paint I used was color-rite touch-up paint, I bought an aerosol can of the VB and another of clear coat. < http://www.expresspaint.com/ > they have all the factory colors.

I put a couple coats of each on, just a few minutes apart, and made sure I got pretty good coverage. Only problem I've seen is on the aluminum strut tower brace, where I painted the end brackets, it's peeling off (didn't do a good enough prep) and the bolts are chipping from being removed/replaced, so I'll have to touch them up some day.

 

Jay you might want to buy yourself a set of bolt caps. I got mine from TacoBill who bought them at his local Kragens. They're only a couple of bucks and are great for covering up those chipping bolts.

Picture of the packaging and a pic of them installed.

 

Here are some other hood struts I found.
http://www.redlinetuning.com/QL-FORD-MUS-05+.html

 

Only problem with those is they cut into your space for working in the engine bay. Another negative about the redline struts is that you have drill into the hood and fender panels. The MRT/CDC struts are not in the way at all.

 

I found these hood struts on ebay has anyone used them yet price seems right pictures look like there pretty decent any feedback from anyone that has installed this product........Thanks Link below.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Musta...spagenameZWDVW

 

Hey Glenn, I like your approach better, do you have pics of this?

Thanks.

 

FWIW - I have the Redline struts and they work very well - the hydraulic assist from the 1/2 way up is nice too. Leo, off topic, I really like your shaker set up...can you post a few up close pics of the hood trim ring area and the shaker with the hood closed? From a distance the trim ring doesn't even show on your black....I'm wondering what it would look like on the Vista Blue

 

I have the CDC's. I love them, only problem when installing them, both were marked drivers side and I installed the wrong one on the wrong side and had to move them. When done I loosened the bolts and shifted the hood to realign it, carefully raised the hood and tightened the bolts. Whole job took about an hour including moving the brace to the other side.
Also when installing I proped the hood with 2-2X4s.

 

Yup - I've got them. Not fitted yet but quality seems fine and price is great