Bfenty

My C4's hood is pretty difficult to lift, it feels like the lift struts aren't doing anything to help me out. Is that how they all are? Or should they do a lot to assist and make it easy to lift the hood? Considering replacing mine but they look pretty small anyway, if they don't really do much to help you lift the hood it may not be worth it. Thanks!

mark970

should be able to easily lift with 1 hand. i've never encountered bad struts (all 3 of my cars have been 95-96) but i heard its common the older you go (late 80's are notorious i've heard).

Bfenty

Yeah, '85 here. I can lift it, but it takes both hands and it feel like I'm taking the full weight of it when I lift. I'm betting the struts are bad, then. I have the hood up on this car that it might be worth it to save my back a little ache.

Do you know how hard they are to install? I.e. do I have to remove the hood?

mark970

that i have no idea...if you do have to remove the hood pay attention to shims (location, count and spacing). there are MANY smart people on here and MANY with the early C4's...you will get the answer you're looking for shortly i'm sure.

hcbph

Ironically I just went to replace mine last weekend (but didn't). My hood seems heavy and even though I could lift it one armed, it took some effort.

Figuring at 30+ years the hood struts were probably bad, I bought 2 new ones. Well I took one of the old ones off, that sucker was tighter than a drum. You couldn't compress it if your life depended on it without using a big C clamp. It was just as hard to compress as the new ones are, it's not a case of rust etc - they're still good.

Getting it off was relatively easy: pull the 2 pins and washers and get a screwdriver between the strut and mount and pry it off. I tied the hood to one of the garage rafters to insure nothing came down or got broken while working on those struts.

Remember I said I absolutely/positively could not compress the strut without a big C clamp, well I could not get the strut back on the mount using the clamp. It would not fit in the area with the clamp on the strut. I ended up taking the scissors support off the passenger side so I could take the hood a little further towards the front of the car (only needed the mount to rise about another 1/4". Once I had that strut back on, put the washers and pins back in and bolted the scissors support back on and called it a day.

I probably spent at least 45 - 60 minutes trying to get that strut back on before it dawned on me to take off that scissors support. Keep that in mind if you do yours, it can be a bear getting hood struts on if you can't lift the hood a little more than 'normal'.

Hope that helps.

confab

Mine is an 85 also. One of the best mods I ever did was the 86 up (I think?) long tube strut on the DS. (Look for two 6x1.00mm holes in the hood with nutserts, DS, above the alternator.)

If you have the holes, get the strut and brackets off an 86 and bolt them on. the used strut I got is essentially shot, but that coupled with the two little ones up front is WILDLY better than the little hingey support thing it comes with.

Nokones

On my 89 I had the original hood replaced with a carbon fiber hood unit. Because of saving nearly 65 pounds of weight between the two, they (Body Shop) used only one strut. I can pick up my hood with my baby finger with ease now. On my 93 Ruby, I have damn near have to use two hands with the stock hood.

To answer your question, I'm not sure what it would be like without the struts. I'm sure lifting close to 80-90 pounds of hood without the struts would be a bitch. You better eat your Wheaties before you try it.

Kmcoldcars

My 1991 has a supercharger, which required removing the hood strut. The hood was very heavy to lift. I installed the two small struts from the earlier C4s and they made quite a difference. It is an easy job.

J W Drew

So how much did it help to replace the struts?

hcbph

Not one bit. If you take a strut off and you can't compress it then I'm guessing it's still good. I could not tell a difference between the ones I bought and the ones that were on the car already.

Maybe if yours are leaking then probably would help. If not I suspect that the struts never get enough usage in a persons lifetime to wear them out.

HAD2HAV2

Those 2 little struts help a whole bunch lifting the hood. I have a 88 and had to unhook the main single hood support and then support the hood with a 2x4 (if you do the work by yourself) The hood needs to be opened a little higher than normal to slip the struts over the pins.

Bfenty

wow-thanks guys for all the replies.

So it sounds like I may not have bad struts after all, the hood is just heavy. I've put struts on other cars (but they were bigger and had better leverage) and the hood lifted by itself once you got it to a certain point. Sounds like the C4 is NEVER going to be like that, right?

Silver85

I just replaced mine and it made a huge difference. Mine were completely shot though. It took two hands before and now can be lifted easily with one. They were pretty cheap through Rockauto.

Highly recommend a second set of hands. It makes the job a 5 min ordeal.

ValourUnbound

I typically use two hands and throw my weight into it. But I am fairly puny. I never thought something could be wrong until my friend tried to lift it and was surprised by how heavy it was. Then again, this is a very large piece of fiberglass.

QCVette

I replaced them on my '85. It made a huge difference.

It is a pretty easy job as described above. To put the new ones in I unbolted the scissor support too. Then you can open the hood a little farther and the struts go in easily.

I had my wife hold the hood a little past where the scissor would have stopped it. It helps having a person help during this stage so you don't have to worry about the hood going to far or falling shut while you are working on it.

For me it was a great move to replace them. The hood was very heavy before and it was easy after.

Good luck.

confab

I replaced by hatch struts at the same time I did the two little ones in the front.

I got Monroe brand for the hatch, because that's what rockauto had at the time. I got some off brand for the front. The Monroe work like the day they were new. Very impressed with them. But the little no name ones seem to have faded by about half.

I'd spend the money for good ones, imo. The hood was far easier to open when I first put them on, so they do help.

pologreen1

I have a '90 which is different from earlier years, but I replaced the large one, and added 2 small ones. Well worth the price. When I pop the hood it goes up kind of by itself most of the way and barely have to lift it at all. In fact I have t push hard to get it down.

Bfenty

wow, ok. So it sounds like spending the $50 or so on new hood struts might be worth it? I just wasn't sure if mine were worn or if I'm just weak lol. but yeah mine is pretty hefty be yourself to lift.

pologreen1

I think I paid like 30 for the 2 small ones and 20 for the big one on ebay

Bfenty

i only have 2 small ones. Does the 85 have the big one?