The item being reviewed is a gas shock lift kit for the 7th gen Corollas, made by Sokie Tech and purchased through Ebay. (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/93-97-Toyota-Corolla-Gas-Hood-Shock-Damper-Lift-Kit_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ42611QQihZ017QQitemZ270211924699QQrdZ1QQsspagenameZWDVW )
I always liked the gas hood lift on the old 88 Town Car I used to drive, and that thing's single strut managed to lift about a 6-foot hood for 15 years before giving up, so with two struts, a short light hood, a little money to burn, and the itch to improve something, I ordered the kit. It arrived from Taiwan about a week after being ordered. Imagine my surprise to see a quality package inside that looks like it was hanging from a display rack somewhere...
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It came with two foam-packed struts, an instruction sheet, two ball-ended screws, two washers, and two hood brackets. The Ebay auction claimed it came with more screws and brackets, but what's here is what's needed. A quick scan of the instructions revealed a bit of Engrish and generic pictures (based on the language on the sheet, it seems to have been written to replace existing gas dampers, not retrofit them) but nothing too incomprehensible. Bonus points for nice card stock and color printing.
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Once you put this stuff next to the car and test-fit some pieces, it becomes immediately obvious how things need to fit. With the hood propped up, I started on the right side of the car from my perspective, the driver's side. Of course this calls for the bracket marked L... All that has to be done here is remove the top 12 mm bolt holding the hood to the hinge, place the bracket such that the knob faces fenderward, and resecure the bolt. Once that's done, you need to remove the C-clip on the fixed end of the strut body's attachment ball...this is easy, just rotate the clip away from the body and pull the straight end out of the hole. Snap the hole over the bracket's ball, put the straight end of the clip back into the hole (and the upper hole as well) and then just reclip the little wire. Let the strut dangle while you work on the next part. It should look more or less like this--this photo is of the passenger side, as getting the bracket in under the windshield washer nozzles is a little tricky. There's not a lot of hose slack, but it can be done without too much strain.
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Once that's done, look for the hood bumper stop on the body side. This has a 10mm bolt and washer holding the bumper piece to the body, all you need to do is replace that bolt and washer with the supplied ball-headed bolt and washer and tighten everything back down again. One note, if you're using nut drivers for this they may not have a deep enough socket to accomodate the ball and also snug around the bolt head, but it's nothing a smallish wrench can't get tightened. Once you have this installed, remove the C-clip as before. You may need a helper for this next bit, as it may seem like there's no way to compress the shock enough to get the other end to fit, but all you have to do is lift up on the hood as far as you can persuade it to go. Maybe a little farther. This is about 4-6 inches higher than the prop rod will hold it, but with it up this far you can relatively easily snap the end of the strut into place on the ball and resecure the C-clip. This may be difficult to do on the driver's side due to the holes for attachment abutting the fender-side vertical facing, but it's not really THAT hard unless you've got great big ham hands which I fortunately do not. The passenger side is easier to C-clip on the bottom which nicely makes up for the increased difficulty on the top.
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I don't know what happens if you do this on the passenger side first, I didn't think it was a good idea to be working on the only supported side of the hood. Once one strut is in, the hood won't stay up by itself yet so just duplicate this process on the other side. With both struts in, closing the hood is resisted until you get it about a foot above the latch, then the upward force goes away and it'll want to drop. Opening is easy...the slightest bit of muscle assistance until it reaches that foot-two foot point, then it'll open by itself to the height of the prop rod pretty rapidly, then slowly extend the remaining few inches. I took a video of the opening in action, hopefully it's clear enough to make out.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v165/piloter/car/?action=view¤t=sokiehood.flv
Once you have everything installed and opened, it should look a little like this.
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Ease of installation, 4.5/5. You need a 10mm wrench and a 12mm wrench and at least one working eyeball. You may also need a helper or a shovel or something to get the hood up those extra few inches.
Value, 3.75/5. Yes, it was $72 shipped, but I always had my doubts about the durability of that prop rod in any sort of windy environment. I KNOW this won't come down on my neck the next time I have to prop up the hood in 30+ mph winds. The hood opens more easily, wider, looks perhaps just a bit unique, and should last for a long time.
I always liked the gas hood lift on the old 88 Town Car I used to drive, and that thing's single strut managed to lift about a 6-foot hood for 15 years before giving up, so with two struts, a short light hood, a little money to burn, and the itch to improve something, I ordered the kit. It arrived from Taiwan about a week after being ordered. Imagine my surprise to see a quality package inside that looks like it was hanging from a display rack somewhere...
It came with two foam-packed struts, an instruction sheet, two ball-ended screws, two washers, and two hood brackets. The Ebay auction claimed it came with more screws and brackets, but what's here is what's needed. A quick scan of the instructions revealed a bit of Engrish and generic pictures (based on the language on the sheet, it seems to have been written to replace existing gas dampers, not retrofit them) but nothing too incomprehensible. Bonus points for nice card stock and color printing.
Once you put this stuff next to the car and test-fit some pieces, it becomes immediately obvious how things need to fit. With the hood propped up, I started on the right side of the car from my perspective, the driver's side. Of course this calls for the bracket marked L... All that has to be done here is remove the top 12 mm bolt holding the hood to the hinge, place the bracket such that the knob faces fenderward, and resecure the bolt. Once that's done, you need to remove the C-clip on the fixed end of the strut body's attachment ball...this is easy, just rotate the clip away from the body and pull the straight end out of the hole. Snap the hole over the bracket's ball, put the straight end of the clip back into the hole (and the upper hole as well) and then just reclip the little wire. Let the strut dangle while you work on the next part. It should look more or less like this--this photo is of the passenger side, as getting the bracket in under the windshield washer nozzles is a little tricky. There's not a lot of hose slack, but it can be done without too much strain.
Once that's done, look for the hood bumper stop on the body side. This has a 10mm bolt and washer holding the bumper piece to the body, all you need to do is replace that bolt and washer with the supplied ball-headed bolt and washer and tighten everything back down again. One note, if you're using nut drivers for this they may not have a deep enough socket to accomodate the ball and also snug around the bolt head, but it's nothing a smallish wrench can't get tightened. Once you have this installed, remove the C-clip as before. You may need a helper for this next bit, as it may seem like there's no way to compress the shock enough to get the other end to fit, but all you have to do is lift up on the hood as far as you can persuade it to go. Maybe a little farther. This is about 4-6 inches higher than the prop rod will hold it, but with it up this far you can relatively easily snap the end of the strut into place on the ball and resecure the C-clip. This may be difficult to do on the driver's side due to the holes for attachment abutting the fender-side vertical facing, but it's not really THAT hard unless you've got great big ham hands which I fortunately do not. The passenger side is easier to C-clip on the bottom which nicely makes up for the increased difficulty on the top.
I don't know what happens if you do this on the passenger side first, I didn't think it was a good idea to be working on the only supported side of the hood. Once one strut is in, the hood won't stay up by itself yet so just duplicate this process on the other side. With both struts in, closing the hood is resisted until you get it about a foot above the latch, then the upward force goes away and it'll want to drop. Opening is easy...the slightest bit of muscle assistance until it reaches that foot-two foot point, then it'll open by itself to the height of the prop rod pretty rapidly, then slowly extend the remaining few inches. I took a video of the opening in action, hopefully it's clear enough to make out.
http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v165/piloter/car/?action=view¤t=sokiehood.flv
Once you have everything installed and opened, it should look a little like this.
Ease of installation, 4.5/5. You need a 10mm wrench and a 12mm wrench and at least one working eyeball. You may also need a helper or a shovel or something to get the hood up those extra few inches.
Value, 3.75/5. Yes, it was $72 shipped, but I always had my doubts about the durability of that prop rod in any sort of windy environment. I KNOW this won't come down on my neck the next time I have to prop up the hood in 30+ mph winds. The hood opens more easily, wider, looks perhaps just a bit unique, and should last for a long time.
