Anyone know of any way to repair these?

Mine no longer hold the bonnet up for more than 10 seconds at a time resulting in either having to work 1 handed, having the bonnet land on my head or having to prop it up with a stick.

 

You don't repair... you replace...

http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/sk...ts+%26+Mirrors

 

or hit up a local jy, if there are many 3rd gens locally. I also noticed some of the bimmer trunk/hood supports are very very similar, so if you're on a budget they might work.

 

will have to see if I can get them from JY. Im in the UK and 3rd gens are really rare so parts are hard to get. Have to get everything shipped from the States.

Hopefully will find some BMW ones.

 

Due to price and availability issues here, I have done the following:

Got myself a piece of 1/2" polycorp thick-walled plastic water pipe 130mm long........... and then cut a 10mm slot along the whole length of the tube.

When I open the hood, I slip the slotted tube around the chrome part of the hood support between the "tube" part and the bottom hinge mount ............... and hood stays up for as long as I want.

When done, you store this slotted tube on the RH fusebox right next to the fender ready for use whenever you need it ............. haven't lost it in years now

 

haha! That, sir is innovation.

 

hit Ebay dude for these things....u can get them shipped to u easily and for cheap..

 

Ever tried shipping those to eg South Africa? ............. cost plus shipping and tax will set me back the best part of $110 ...............not so "cheap" imo

 

I had replaced mine, they lasted ~2-3 years. I decided to just make a nice prop-rod out of ~1.5" PVC, goes from the ring of steel thats from the original air intake filter box, up to one of the cutouts in the hood. I made a taper on the end that goes in the hood so that it cannot pop out easily.

 

Genius.

I will do this for the time being till I can work something out better. At the mo I have a stick holding it up. Ghetto.

The prob with getting parts from the States is shipping to the UK. Not everyonne offers it and of those that do, it's hard to find a resonable charge for the service.

 

In and out of action

 

I've found another temp solution, parking it facing uphill rather than down !!!!

 

Used that solution myself for a while till I one day washed the engine bay and got water on the sound insulation material inside the bonnet (lots of extra weight on the bonnet then!) - damn thing came down on my back with that nice hook exactly on my spine - decided that's it!

 

vice grip holds the hood up pretty gud as well...i used to vice grip it on one side and it holds the hood up very well now i do it on both sides jus to be on the safe side....never failed....

 

i wouldnt trust that
holy crap i can imagine that must be painful...

 

my friend just took a hammer and bent the struts so that they physically lock when the hood is up... it's ghetto and makes the hood alot harder to lift in the first place (due to said physical resistance) but it does work.

 

Get them from JC Whitney.com