Front Hood Shox; Don't Always Hold The Hood Up As Expected, What's Wrong? Options

[eyesright]

Yup, the Camp 914 hood shocks hold the front hood up only on the last few inches on mine. They do a good at that so I haven't been dissatisfied. I think I installed them properly and have since wondered if they might be better engineered to attach to the forward hood bolt instead of the rear hood bolt. Maybe I'll remount them that way some day as a trial. This car is still in the garage so its a low priority. Craig, correct me if I installed them wrong.

However, at the fender mount they overstress and bend the spring anchors so I added some reinforcement as you can see in this photo.

[AndyB]

I have the popular front hood shox kit on my 914 but I have issues with it. The shox do hold the hood up in the garage quite well. But in the environment with wind, it fails to hold the hood up. The geometry seems off as if the hood is pushed down an inch or 2 it loses all shock resistance and falls very rapidly.

I find it embarrassing to have to put a length of wood to wedge the hood open while I fuel but even more embarrassing to pump with one hand and hold up the hood with the other.

These are new shox. Just purchased and installed a few months ago.

I think I've installed them correctly. If the hood is pulled down a couple of inches, it flies down with no resistance. The kit seems well designed but the geometry seems off. The shocks on my 911 front hood provide resistance no matter how open the hood is.

Question then: What do I have to do to eliminate the "falling hood" syndrom? Add the original spring? Did I do the installation wrong? Help!!

My car as it sits. The gas station I stop at always has wind blowing the hood closed. The wooden stand is absolutely necessary with this shox kit. I've gotten hit too many times with a falling hood while refueling.




Here's Camp914's installation. Mine is the same as this.



Here's how Sir Andy solved the hood shock. The geometry here looks better than mine.



Here's another shock (I think it's a shock) solution.

Yeah I tried following those kit directions from the above discussion name place, but copies of installation direction don't exactly help. My front ones are still in their origional package. After the disappointment in the rear shocks I didn't even bother with the front ones.

[porschetub]

I have the popular front hood shox kit on my 914 but I have issues with it. The shox do hold the hood up in the garage quite well. But in the environment with wind, it fails to hold the hood up. The geometry seems off as if the hood is pushed down an inch or 2 it loses all shock resistance and falls very rapidly.

I find it embarrassing to have to put a length of wood to wedge the hood open while I fuel but even more embarrassing to pump with one hand and hold up the hood with the other.

These are new shox. Just purchased and installed a few months ago.

I think I've installed them correctly. If the hood is pulled down a couple of inches, it flies down with no resistance. The kit seems well designed but the geometry seems off. The shocks on my 911 front hood provide resistance no matter how open the hood is.

Question then: What do I have to do to eliminate the "falling hood" syndrom? Add the original spring? Did I do the installation wrong? Help!!

My car as it sits. The gas station I stop at always has wind blowing the hood closed. The wooden stand is absolutely necessary with this shox kit. I've gotten hit too many times with a falling hood while refueling.




Here's Camp914's installation. Mine is the same as this.



Here's how Sir Andy solved the hood shock. The geometry here looks better than mine.



Here's another shock (I think it's a shock) solution.

Yeah I tried following those kit directions from the above discussion name place, but copies of installation direction don't exactly help. My front ones are still in their origional package. After the disappointment in the rear shocks I didn't even bother with the front ones.

Strange how the maker/s don't comment,my springs work fine all the time and don't drop the hood on my head,a bad strut will do that.....I own a 944 so I know that well.

[colingreene]

its just re inventing the wheel to run yourself over.
the torsion bars and springs work fine.

[Spoke]

I did some garage engineering on the existing shox. I tried moving the passenger side hood pick up to the other hing bolt. You can see here how the passenger side has a different angle.

This changed several characteristics.

1) The hood does not open as much as with the original design.
2) One shock holds up the hood alone and provides significant pressure to hold hood up.
3) There is several inches of hood travel before the hood starts dropping.
4) The shock is compressed more than the original design.




Original hood travel is shown by how far the tape is pushed up the shaft.



The modified side shows almost all the travel used.



I moved the bottom of the shock as far forward as possible using a piece of steel from an old garage door opener. The bottom securing point was moved back about 4 inches whereas the top mounting on the hood moved up about 5.5 inches. Thus the use of more travel on the shock.

[Larmo63]

I still don't understand how this is some great improvement.

[colingreene]

because it cost money.

[SirAndy]

I still don't understand how this is some great improvement.

A lot of stock springs are tired and don't hold the hood open anymore, even on the far notch setting.

As i said before, my hood shocks have been working flawlessly since i installed them some 10 years ago.

But mine weren't from a kit. There were no kits back then. In fact, the Camp kit is loosely based on my design.
(IMG:style_emoticons/default/shades.gif)

[76-914]

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) Thx for posting that Andy. I was beginning to wonder what was wrong with mine because I haven't any issues with them. Not one, front or rear. I also, re-enforced the attach point on the fender. Makes me wonder if peeps are using the wrong shocks or incorrect attach points. Shocks are available in different force ratings, length and throw. I'm using 60# shocks on the front with a metal hood.

[rgolia]

So I guess making new replacement springs would be a very expensive proposition? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/popcorn[1].gif)

[jasons]

I still don't understand how this is some great improvement.

I have FG lids and the factory springs/torsion rods would fling those open.

[Spoke]

A lot of stock springs are tired and don't hold the hood open anymore, even on the far notch setting.

This is why I changed to shox in the first place. Getting hit on the head with the hood while fueling up convinced me to go to shox from springs.

I think I'd like to mimic Sir Andy's set up. What I did is not the best as the hood is not as high as I'd like it.

[Spoke]

Moving the hood attachment point to the hood front hinge bolt did give tremendous force but limited the hood opening angle too much. The hood just didn't open enough.

After some consideration, I decided to stay with the original attachment point on the fender and move the hood hinge attachment point somewhere between the rear bolt and front bolt. To do that I needed something which would allow me to move the attachment point between the 2 hood bolts.

I decided to move the shock attachment point 1 inch from the rear hood bolt. To allow for this adjustment, I used a piece of angle iron to mount the shock attachment to the hood.



The difference in angle of the new attachment point and the original attachment point can be seen from these pics. The shock on the passenger side has been modified.

When I did both sides, the increase in force seems quite good. Whereas before if the hood would drop 2 inches, it would start falling. Now if I push the hood down 2 inches, it pops back up. I've found I can drop the hood over 1 foot and it will stay there.

Now to test it at the gas station with the wind blowing. And BTW, I think the one shock is not as strong as the other and these are both new shocks as of a couple of months ago.

[Mikey914]

I could easily make replacement springs, but is there really a market for them? I have never had a failure.

[914Sixer]

Mark,
I feel that there would be a good market for hood springs. They all had failed. Most that are "working" have been moved up to the 3rd notch and are on there last leg.

[dlee6204]

Mark,
I feel that there would be a good market for hood springs. They all had failed. Most that are "working" have been moved up to the 3rd notch and are on there last leg.

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[ChrisFoley]

No need to make new springs.
I've successfully shortened the ends by about 1/4", which is enough to regain full lift of the lid.

[rgolia]

Chris...are you selling them or are you doing the shortening service for those of us with no hair that get pissed when the hood hits them in the head while filling up? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

[Mikey914]

Most do not have the equipment or determination to shorten as a DIY project. I'll post up on another thread to see where this goes.
Mark

[ChrisFoley]

Chris...are you selling them or are you doing the shortening service for those of us with no hair that get pissed when the hood hits them in the head while filling up? (IMG:style_emoticons/default/piratenanner.gif)

I intend to stock pre-shortened springs for exchange, as soon as I gather all my used springs.
The shortening procedure takes some skill but isn't complicated.
The few unaltered springs I measured had a significant variation in "at rest" length.
So I still need to come up with a suitable test procedure to ensure consistent good results before I sell any.

That said, I'll shorten any that are sent to me now.
Cost will be $30/pair plus $9.95 return shipping.