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I have a 1985 C4, and the hood weighs a fricken ton. My hood's factory with scissors prop a piece of bad design. I want to update but unsure of how to exchange the hood prop with something different, maybe innovative from a newer model? I kid you not this front of the car is heavy as hell. I once believed the idea was to strip the weight in a corvette? Any thoughts or possible advice/direction would be deeply appreciated.
Welcome to the forum. The early c4s like the 85 has two lift cylinders at the front of the hood. While they are not the best when they are new they do provide some assist to raise the hood. The scissor prop does not assist with the hood raise at all. The later c4s had a assist cylinder mounted on the drivers side under the hood. There used to be a kit available to change the early c4s over to that type. It is as far as I know that kit is no longer available new. You could possibly source one from a c4 salvage yard.
I replaced the two lift cylinders on my 84 and they did provide some assist for about 8 years and then they lost the ability to assist. They cost me about $6.00 each.
here is a pick of a 84 which has the same assists as your 85. The two cylinders are just inside where the headlight motors are mounted.
Lifting the hood is a pain, but keeping it there is another issue. I spend a lot of time with my vette, and there's always room for improvement, not fixing, but upgrading. At 67 years, my gym days are past, but other than your useless input you covered nothing I was posting for.
Very clean engine, nice. I replaced the assist cylinders, but getting the hood up is not my problem. I realize the scissor prop is not there for assisting, that's not my query. I don't like being under the hood with only the scissor prop.Thank-you for your input, I'll check salvage, but at this point I'll design my own, something that I can trust that won't squish me if it let's go.
You complained about the weight of the hood. I apparently failed to see that what you meant and not realizing your advanced age, was you were afraid the support would fail and crush you. I bad.
I don't like being under the hood with only the scissor prop. . . .at this point I'll design my own, something that I can trust that won't squish me if it let's go.
Is there something wrong with your hood prop? It should lock into position at the center joint if it's working properly, so even if you bump it, the hood prop will not collapse. To release the lock, it should require that you lift the hood slightly before folding the prop.
THE car
