Boot Lid - gas strut?

[rbgosling]

Has anyone tried replacing the boot lid springs with a gas strut?

My springs are (not unusually, especially for the larger-spoilered SE) inadequate. Last Resto Show Tony kindly donated a spare spring, after one of mine actually broke, but it’s still totally ineffective.

On my Spitfire, several decades ago, I replaced the boot prop with a gas strut, and it worked a treat. I’m tempted to look into it as a little job for the Resto Show in 3 weeks time. But if someone has already tried this, it would be helpful to hear their experience.

[Alan_M]

Can’t remember who it was that’s done a modification to the springs - might have been Andrew Harris.

[Alan_M]

One thing that some folks have done is to just slightly deepen the notch in the hinge the roller drops into when the boot is open.

[Dwaynem884]

plus one on deepening the grove. Solved it for me!

[rbgosling]

Right, I'm giving it a go, and my experimentation will be on display for all to witness! I've got a couple of short struts, and I'll be bringing them to the Resto Show at the NEC next week. I have a couple of ideas on how to do this, let's see what happens...