The best gas shock/trunk opener tutorial I can come up with after 1.5 days of stress
 

Hey folks heres my gas shock trunk opening rig attempt. I'm gonna start with a writeup, though I know most of you just go to pictures and prolly don't read. In the pics, you'll see many holes that were attempts, they will be easy to cover up ...no biggy. So I wanna start by explaining what I found, why what you see is working pretty well, and how you could improve on it if you're gonna give it a go and want to try to expand on what I've figured out.

First...Understand, if you haven't played with them...these gas shocks push A LOT of pressure. Someone on another forum said to instal these, you have to bolt in on with the shocks compressed, trunk closed.... :wftlol: No way. Getting these things to push in HAS to be an act of LEVERAGE, not brute force, at least I guess if you're anywhere around my strength.

Second...the more these things compress...the more pressure is built up in them, thus when your trunk is closed, the more it will be pushed on and increase chances (probability or for sure IMO) of your trunk lid not closing flush. You want this thing to compress as little as possible. After showing my pics, I'll give recommendations on locations on how you may be able to have your shocks compress LESS, which is a good thing....Lemme just say, with no real professional knowledge or anything, that I would have been impressed if that a-holes trunk, the way he had his shocks, closed all the way. If so, I gladly stand corrected (though I'm sure he didn't install it :) ) but this is just my guess. The way he had his, teh shocks would have had to travel and compress pretty far....

Third...the straightest path for the shock is the best.

Fourth..at the end of the day, I found Scott Buwalda's Altima and copied from his experience. Just think it's fair that I mention that.

K on with the pics, huh...

Here's the closeup of how mine is mounted....

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/000_0011.jpg

First off, this is a simpler install (after all the freaking difficult L bracket holes and attchments). Two holes necessary total. You may be able to notice that attaching it this way is a very straight shot for the shock. THere is no temptation for any side to side movement.

By mounting them to the cars rear wall FURTHER DOWN (to be honest THE FURTHER DOWN THE BETTER), which I'll get into) you're minimizing how far that gas shock is going to have to compress, because it's not coming straight back towards it, it's coming back but at an angle, thus less compression, thus less pressure on the trunk lid. You can see how once you mount it further down, it would cause more of an angle thus less straight compression. The problem is, going down further than I did it brings you to the rear wheelwell. I'm not looking to go there. The more I look at it, the happier I am. Here's more pics

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/000_0014.jpg

Notice where the shocks are mounted on the trunklid. The are fully open exactly when the trunk is fully open from the spot they're mounted on the car.

Now on with the trunk closed. I think it's at a point where if you're not looking for it, you're not going to notice. I would guess the trunk lid is sitting up less than one cm over where it had before this endeavor....not bad.

Also, on top of dampening and other treatments, this WILL really help if your trunk lid is rattling loose, cause it won't be loose anymore :)

Pics closed...judge for yourself

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/000_0012.jpg



http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/000_0013.jpg

The passenger side is the one I have to work on, if anything. That was the side I did all the experimenting on, so it may just be a few mm outta wack now.

I may be able to lower those bars locations to the back wall of the car by another half inch or so. Like I spoke of earlier, that could only help.

So now obviously, you need a drill, screws, bolts, washers of appropriate size. If you're going to try to replicate this, I used an 18 inch shock. Make sure you get one where both attaching ends are simple and flat, not funky and round like some of the ones were for direct car replacements. I'd guess you could go a little longer if you were going to mount lower, but not much.....Heres a part picture and yes it is the strongarm partnumber 4449 I got it from at a local car parts store. bout 18 inches, flat mounts is what you need.

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/000_0002.jpg

very nice work man

I really don't notice a difference in hight, but I was wondering is if you tried it with out the torsion bars.
I really would like that other kid to show us how he did his shocks. Cuz if he did chime in with a guide and all I could move my box all the way back and place my amp on top on the sub box.

Ask and you shall receive. Keep in mind, this post is on the fly...out to my car...back to post w/ pics.....

I don't recommend taking out the torsion bars first, till you have the shocks in. I just don't like the sounds of that. Make sure this crap works before you possibly run into trouble. If it could happen, it will if you're anything like me when I'm installing stuff, than it will.

So the torsion bars were quick and easy to get out. Hold on to them cause when they go, they may wanna snap at you.

Also took out the metal that attached to the torsion bars and the lid..it was swinging around and getting on my nerves. so buh bye.

And the best news :) With the torsion bars off, my trunk now closes, as far as I can tell while STARING at it, 100% :)

Ding dong, the bars are gone! The wicked bars. Dind dong the wicked bars are gone!

Here's pics...now I can REALLY get to work :)



http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/000_0017.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/000_0018.jpg

The trunk now closed perfect :)

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a1...s/000_0019.jpg

that looks good Steve :D

how fast does the trunk pop open? any bruised chins yet? :chuckle:

Actually, it popps open a lot slower with the torsion bars off too. The torsion bars, plus the springs somehow added together or something.

Pop's open slow and controlled now......slicklike ;) 100% what I was looking for! Big Pimpin :)

Now the only thing that would make it look cooler is if some bigazz subwoofers were hanging there where there used to be bars :doublethu

ah interesting. looks like a nice little mod. :)

as for the subs where the torsion bars used to be...get the dremel out :D

Dremel? This aint gonna be no dremmel job.

Very little, if any rear deck metal will need to be cut. I may chip chop a little for fun....

Wood (Marine grade plywood, to be exact) will be bolted to the rear deck, and subs bolted into that, to keep it simple. And of course all airspace between cabin and trunk will be closed off.

Lotsa fine bass, not much loss in space...and hopefully when it's all said and done, i can pop the stock rear deck panel with the stock looking 6x9 grilles on it.

now how much do u have to cut from the interior carpet in the trunk

cut the carpet? I don't understand the question I think? Hardley at all. remove it to get it done, then disconnect the strut, make a hole at that spot in the carpet, and reattach over the carpet? or if you wanna be ghetto just make a split in it...

ah, didn't think there would be that much room on the 4th gen rear deck.

that looks great man keep up the good work

Very nice job.

The trunk reminds me of my trunk right now :). A couple of trips to the beach with my kids' stuff takes a tall back there.

thats nice, ive been wanting to do something like that for awhile

how much you paid for the struts?

great job man!!!


:)

sweeeeeet! I wanna do it too. how much for the whole install?

Struts were right about 20-25ish a piece at a local autio shop, so 40-50 there, then a few nuts and bolts. call it a $50 project and you should be fine..but if you're around Maryland, I'll do it for $100 :)

I'm going to add one PS when it's all said and done, I think I could move where these shocks are mounted to the car UP a little more for a slightly more solid, quick opening. Cutting off the bars took a lot of pressure off.

may hit you up on my next trip down ;)

so you're saying you would like to move them up a bit more to create a little bit faster trunk opening?


if thats the case then an 18" might be a tad too long?

I guess theres different ways you could put it. With 18 inchers, I'd prolly mount them a little higher, yes for more trunk pressure.

The exact place I have them mounted, I feel like an inch longer, like a 19 inch gash shock would prolly be perfect.

for a shorter shock, you'd definately want to mount it up a little higher, though I feel like too short and too high could yeild trunk clsoing problems.

However, despite this "feeling", it should be noted that the trunk opening force decreased significantly once I cut out those torsion bars, so a lot of the trun lid closing issues i had MAY have ended up going away once I cut the bars out? I dont know. You should be able to replicate what I did with slight modifications to shock length and mounting position as you see fit and make it only better. Good luck!

exactly what i was thinking! thanks for being the gunniea pig on this one

if you guys had questions, you should've just asked matt. he did it on his old 3rd gen years ago.

Donno who Matt is, but he didn't answer...

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=424331

matt93se

he has four 12s in an IB setup in his 3rd gen. four focals if i recall...

Matt?!...hey that's me! but ya, Matt Blehm is the 3rd gen dude, I think..? I think he also sells bbk also. pretty innovative character...

sorry...yeah, i meant matt blehm (matt93se). he used to be a mod, but he's so busy now, he probably never comes to the audio section. i used to have his old cardomain site bookmarked but i can't find it. i think he did it on his old gxe. he's the first person i ever saw with the shocks setup in the trunk.

edit: i found both of his sounddomain sites...i cant see it in the pics of his gxe, but they're definitely in is 93se.

i hope he doesn't mind me posting his link...
matt93se's sounddomain page

it was the first time i saw it in a maxima...

real nice amps has he.

My last car had struts in the hatchback, and they went out/got weak all the time. I'd rather just stick with the stock setup and have less headache.

Heh, I guess some of us have different priorities :) Thanks for chiming in with that though...

Just saw this thread while browsing and thought I would post my setup too. Here's a couple pics of mine. I did this back in late april/early may, just never got around to making a thread. Also uploaded a small video to see how 'slick' it looks. :king:


http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...5_110_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...5_111_full.jpg
http://memimage.cardomain.net/member...5_112_full.jpg

Video:

http://media.putfile.com/100_029092

Let me know if the video doesn't work as that is my first time posting one. It's a Quicktime vid.

Just some advice/saftey tips for anyone that does attempt this:

1) If you are removing the torsion bars, please be VERY VERY CAREFUL. If possible have an assistant that can hold it while you are sawing/cutting them so there is less of a chance of it popping and smacking you when it breaks free. Almost got me.... however...

2) The trunk did get me. I was a dumbass and didn't prop up the trunk while taking out the bars. I only started taking out the first bar, but that was enough to let the trunk flop down and the latch put a nice gash in my head. Bled for a while. Needless to say I stopped working on it that day! LOL!


If anyone has any questions let me know. :)

Later,
drew

this is a great mod, does anybody know if it will be similar for 5th gens?? i wanted to do this exact thing but didnt know where to start...thanks for the write up! :)

Godsmack:

Thanks for adding that. Video didn't work for me but maybe others can figure it out?
I think i'm going to move mine up now (as far as where they're attached to the car) closer to where yours are mounted. Like you've figured out if you went through post by post, when i did this but had the torsion bars still attached, the combination made my trunk not want to close all the way. It's now obvious with them off, it's a different story.

How long are your shocks when fully extented? Does full extension occurr w/ trunk opened all the way or does it not open 100%?

A 5th gen shouldn't be too different. Check to see if the the 5th gen has a protrusion where our shocks are mounted to the car that may also be a straight "throw" for the shock when attached to the lid. Then just get an appropriate size and go....

Yeah, guys is the video not working for anyone else? You do have to have quicktime plugins installed.

I'm not sure on the length. I can get a measurement tomorrow.

They are heavy duty marine grade shocks. My dad gave them to me, he 'borrowed' them from a boat yard he used to work at. :nervous:

Full extension on the shocks, but the trunk doesn't come up as far as it used to. Who really needs it to go up all that way anyway?

drew

video worked for me

What did you guys use to cut the torsion bars?