Ahoy, boys and girls!
If any of you genwon owners are like me, you've been looking for a bolt-in hood strut kit for some time. I've been wanting struts for a while but haven't wanted to mess around with drilling or riveting anything to my hood (which I understand is required for the Redline kits), and had never been able to find anything suitable.
Welp, a couple of weeks ago I was reading through a random old thread and landed upon a link to thespeedline.com; I decided to peruse their offerings and, sure enough, they've got what they claim is a simple bolt-in kit for only $32.80! I placed an order on 12/23 and it arrived yesterday, 1/6 -- not too bad for being shipped from Taiwan! Total cost was about $61.xx
Today, I did the insall and took an overabundance of photos. Let's start with the packaging and contents.
They certainly didn't skimp on the bubble wrap or tape:
Stripped and ready to open:
Contents (sweet pen, yo; it's got THREE colors, I know you're jealous):
Extensive instructions:
Bracketing hardware for one side of the kit:
Alright, let's get to the install. The lengthy list of tools required is: a 12mm and 10mm socket. That's it. Seriously. The directions say to use a small screwdriver to remove the spring clip from the ball joints, place them over the "nipple" (heh heh) on the bracket, and then replace the clip; I found that this was unnecessary, as the ball joint will simply pop right over the nipple (heh heh heh) with a minimal amount of force. So, onward!
Step 1: Remove upper bolt securing hinge to hood.
Step 2: Set bracket in place, including provided washer, and replace bolt to secure bracket to hood. The ball joint ends conveniently screw apart from the dampers, so you'll note that I've already attached the joint to the nipple (heh heh heh heh) prior to securing the bracket to the hood.
Step 3: Remove bolt from fender lip and add to your OEM-spare bucket. While the upper bracket reuses the factory bolt, the fender bracket uses a longer bolt that is provided with the kit.
Step 4a: Screw damper back to upper ball joint, and attach lower ball joint to nipple (heh heh heh heh heh) on bottom bracket. Unscrew bottom ball joint as far as may be necessary to line the bracket up with the hole; for me, it was only a partial turn.
Step 4b: This step may be easier with a second set of hands to lift the hood; I was working alone, so I improvised and used my head as a support prop. You'll need to make sure the factory hood prop is down, so that you can lift the hood up far enough to line up the lower bracket with the hole in the fender lip. Use all included washers, top and bottom, to secure the bracket. End result will look like this.
Repeat steps for the other side of the car, and here is your final product. I did not, as instructed, bother to trim the foam seal that runs across the back edge of the engine bay, I found that the dampers will simply compress it enough when the hood is closed. Don't mind my cap-less coolant reservoir, I had topped off and was burping the system.
Don't forget the victory gyro for a job well done!
A couple of things to note: One, while the brackets are labeled with L/R stickers, I found that they are from the perspective of sitting in the car and looking out; L was driver side, R was passenger side. Two, when opening the hood, you must lift it ALL the way in order to make the dampers catch; the cold (10* in the garage today) may have played a role in that during my testing and perhaps they'll catch slightly sooner once the weather warms up. You'll feel when they grab; if you let go of the hood any earlier, it will slam back down under its own weight.
Final conclusions: This kit was balls easy to install, and the quality of the parts is higher than anticipated for the cost (again, only $61 including shipping from Taiwan to Wisconsin). The kit is so-far functioning as intended after a number of test opening/closings, and gives that cleaner appearance that I was hoping for by removing the necessity to use the factory hood prop. I will try to remember to report back later with how well/long the struts hold up before shitting the bed, but for now I am quite pleased to have found a functional kit that did not require me to put any new holes in the hood or fender. I'm sure I've over-explained what is a very straightforward process, but y'all can just deal with that.
Here again is the link to the kit that I purchased: http://www.thespeedline.com/04-mazda3-5d-hb-hood-damper-lifter/
Happy strutting!
If any of you genwon owners are like me, you've been looking for a bolt-in hood strut kit for some time. I've been wanting struts for a while but haven't wanted to mess around with drilling or riveting anything to my hood (which I understand is required for the Redline kits), and had never been able to find anything suitable.
Welp, a couple of weeks ago I was reading through a random old thread and landed upon a link to thespeedline.com; I decided to peruse their offerings and, sure enough, they've got what they claim is a simple bolt-in kit for only $32.80! I placed an order on 12/23 and it arrived yesterday, 1/6 -- not too bad for being shipped from Taiwan! Total cost was about $61.xx
Today, I did the insall and took an overabundance of photos. Let's start with the packaging and contents.
They certainly didn't skimp on the bubble wrap or tape:
Stripped and ready to open:
Contents (sweet pen, yo; it's got THREE colors, I know you're jealous):
Extensive instructions:
Bracketing hardware for one side of the kit:
Alright, let's get to the install. The lengthy list of tools required is: a 12mm and 10mm socket. That's it. Seriously. The directions say to use a small screwdriver to remove the spring clip from the ball joints, place them over the "nipple" (heh heh) on the bracket, and then replace the clip; I found that this was unnecessary, as the ball joint will simply pop right over the nipple (heh heh heh) with a minimal amount of force. So, onward!
Step 1: Remove upper bolt securing hinge to hood.
Step 2: Set bracket in place, including provided washer, and replace bolt to secure bracket to hood. The ball joint ends conveniently screw apart from the dampers, so you'll note that I've already attached the joint to the nipple (heh heh heh heh) prior to securing the bracket to the hood.
Step 3: Remove bolt from fender lip and add to your OEM-spare bucket. While the upper bracket reuses the factory bolt, the fender bracket uses a longer bolt that is provided with the kit.
Step 4a: Screw damper back to upper ball joint, and attach lower ball joint to nipple (heh heh heh heh heh) on bottom bracket. Unscrew bottom ball joint as far as may be necessary to line the bracket up with the hole; for me, it was only a partial turn.
Step 4b: This step may be easier with a second set of hands to lift the hood; I was working alone, so I improvised and used my head as a support prop. You'll need to make sure the factory hood prop is down, so that you can lift the hood up far enough to line up the lower bracket with the hole in the fender lip. Use all included washers, top and bottom, to secure the bracket. End result will look like this.
Repeat steps for the other side of the car, and here is your final product. I did not, as instructed, bother to trim the foam seal that runs across the back edge of the engine bay, I found that the dampers will simply compress it enough when the hood is closed. Don't mind my cap-less coolant reservoir, I had topped off and was burping the system.
Don't forget the victory gyro for a job well done!
A couple of things to note: One, while the brackets are labeled with L/R stickers, I found that they are from the perspective of sitting in the car and looking out; L was driver side, R was passenger side. Two, when opening the hood, you must lift it ALL the way in order to make the dampers catch; the cold (10* in the garage today) may have played a role in that during my testing and perhaps they'll catch slightly sooner once the weather warms up. You'll feel when they grab; if you let go of the hood any earlier, it will slam back down under its own weight.
Final conclusions: This kit was balls easy to install, and the quality of the parts is higher than anticipated for the cost (again, only $61 including shipping from Taiwan to Wisconsin). The kit is so-far functioning as intended after a number of test opening/closings, and gives that cleaner appearance that I was hoping for by removing the necessity to use the factory hood prop. I will try to remember to report back later with how well/long the struts hold up before shitting the bed, but for now I am quite pleased to have found a functional kit that did not require me to put any new holes in the hood or fender. I'm sure I've over-explained what is a very straightforward process, but y'all can just deal with that.
Here again is the link to the kit that I purchased: http://www.thespeedline.com/04-mazda3-5d-hb-hood-damper-lifter/
Happy strutting!
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