Given how much time I spent under the hood of the car, I figured it's about time I install hood struts on my Gen4 Camry. Here's how to do it so that your car looks like this:
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P.S. Don't look at the headlights just yet - I'm in the midst of doing that write-up, too.
As you may know, Gen4 (97-99) Camry's did not get hood struts until the mid-cycle (Geh 4.5, 00-01) refresh. However, it does have the mounting threaded nut welded in, which is partially blocked by the "Cowl Louver", aka Cowl Grill. The threaded hole in the hood is also already there, waiting for a strut. That's good news.
In order to fit in hood struts, Cowl Grill has to change. You can either:
- Modify the existing one (will probably look wrong, may leak; refer to my earlier info-seeking thread on this here), or
- Get Gen4.5 grill, which fits right in, no problems.
Here's a comparison of 2000 grilles installed vs. the removed 99 ones:
![Image]()
I managed to score a set of 2000 Camry cowl grills at a junkyard. Win. Installing them is pretty straight-forward:
1. Carefully remove (for reuse) two clips on the sides.
2. Unclip the rubber piece.
3. Passenger side one comes out easily, just unclip the clip in the middle holding the two, and slide it off the windshield.
4. Driver side one requires removal of the wiper blades (remove the nuts, lightly bang it with rubber mullet if it won't come off). Just don't forget to mark wiper blade position so that installation is easier later on.
Next, you need some struts. I got a set of struts with mounting brackets from eBay for under $40 - "Hood Lift Supports 4547" is the search term to use. Go for the ones with ball heads, as you'll need that.
Finally, you'll need to drill a hole in your car for the lift bracket lip (or whatever it's called). Measure thrice, drill once. I found it a lot more convenient to do this with the hood off the car (a lot easier to remove then hood than you might think). I chose to make mine for a tight fit (the rectangular-ish slot on the right in the first pic), whereas Toyota in Gen4.5 just has a fat round hole drilled there. Here are some pictures:
![Image]()
![Image]()
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Once the measuring and drilling is done, screw in the bottom of the strut. Re-install your hood if you haven't already, and pop in the top onto the heads, which you have screwed into the hood by now (there's only one place on the hood to screw them into. You cannot miss it). :thumbsup:
![Image]()
That's it. You're done. Hope you enjoyed this write-up.
P.S. Don't look at the headlights just yet - I'm in the midst of doing that write-up, too.
As you may know, Gen4 (97-99) Camry's did not get hood struts until the mid-cycle (Geh 4.5, 00-01) refresh. However, it does have the mounting threaded nut welded in, which is partially blocked by the "Cowl Louver", aka Cowl Grill. The threaded hole in the hood is also already there, waiting for a strut. That's good news.
In order to fit in hood struts, Cowl Grill has to change. You can either:
- Modify the existing one (will probably look wrong, may leak; refer to my earlier info-seeking thread on this here), or
- Get Gen4.5 grill, which fits right in, no problems.
Here's a comparison of 2000 grilles installed vs. the removed 99 ones:
I managed to score a set of 2000 Camry cowl grills at a junkyard. Win. Installing them is pretty straight-forward:
1. Carefully remove (for reuse) two clips on the sides.
2. Unclip the rubber piece.
3. Passenger side one comes out easily, just unclip the clip in the middle holding the two, and slide it off the windshield.
4. Driver side one requires removal of the wiper blades (remove the nuts, lightly bang it with rubber mullet if it won't come off). Just don't forget to mark wiper blade position so that installation is easier later on.
Next, you need some struts. I got a set of struts with mounting brackets from eBay for under $40 - "Hood Lift Supports 4547" is the search term to use. Go for the ones with ball heads, as you'll need that.
Finally, you'll need to drill a hole in your car for the lift bracket lip (or whatever it's called). Measure thrice, drill once. I found it a lot more convenient to do this with the hood off the car (a lot easier to remove then hood than you might think). I chose to make mine for a tight fit (the rectangular-ish slot on the right in the first pic), whereas Toyota in Gen4.5 just has a fat round hole drilled there. Here are some pictures:
Once the measuring and drilling is done, screw in the bottom of the strut. Re-install your hood if you haven't already, and pop in the top onto the heads, which you have screwed into the hood by now (there's only one place on the hood to screw them into. You cannot miss it). :thumbsup:
That's it. You're done. Hope you enjoyed this write-up.
