Anyone switched to gas strut for 308/Early 328 front hood?

So, owners of 308s and early 328s know all about the problem where a ham-fisted person might try to close their front hood without first pressing in the little ball on the looks-like-a-gas-strut-but-ain't strut. I was always so paranoid about mine that I'd never walk away from the car with the front hood open when other people were around.

When I bought my car the previous owner had told me that someone had bent the front hood, but he'd had it fixed, and it look perfect to my eye, very nice. And all through my ownership I've taken care not to have someone bend it.

However, when we moved to Italy, the car had to stay behind for a while until we obtained residency. I stored it at a local Hagerty garage space in Redmond and the guy running the show there was excellent and attentive, and all was good.

Then, when the time came to arrange shipping, I wrote detailed notes to the shippers to ensure they didn't damage the hood, since they needed access to disconnect the battery after loading the car into the container. And sure enough, when the car arrived in Italy the hood was again bent. It's not the biggest deal in the world to have it straightened and repainted again, and I'm sure the fine craftsmen at the local carrozzeria will make it perfect again, but really I'd like to prevent this from happening again.

It turns out that Maranello Parts (and presumably others) sell a replacement strut for 308s and early 328s that's a real hydraulic strut, so that might be the ticket, it's part number 62380500/A.

Ferrari part 62380500/A - Gas Strut (0150N) | Maranello Classic Parts (ferrariparts.co.uk)

However, I have a question for anyone who's made this modification: the original ball type hood strut imparts no force on the hood during opening and closing, but a gas strut does. It seems that the 328 hood doesn't have a lot of strengthening built into it to resist these forces, so I'm slightly worried that using a gas strut might itself result in the hood becoming bent, just by it having to overcome the force of the strut when opening and closing it.

Late 328s used a gas strut (on the opposite side of the engine bay), but it's not clear to me if at the same time the hood was strengthened to deal with this extra opposing force.

So, has anyone switched to the gas strut for one of these cars, and were you pleased with the result?

 

I have ‘em and they’re great. Don’t even think about it, just do it!

 

Are you sure that part you linked to isn’t for the engine lid struts?

 

Wow, that sounds promising, cheers.

 

No, that part is definitely for the front compartment hood.

 

Just as a cautionary note, I have a 328GTB with the same push button hood stay, and ASSUMED some dummy tried to lower the hood without pushing the button. BUT I'm addressing the crack in the tubing of my hood, and the hood hinge pin on the drivers side is absolutely frozen. I can barely get the hinge to move. So CHECK for free movement of the hinge and spray lubricant into the pin. It's really quite inaccessible, and i haven't managed to remove the pin yet. I will get it out, but it's really fighting me. Very little room and it's tucked up under the front body panel. The hinge is aluminum, the pin is steel, very little clearance and the two metals become one.

 

It's unfortunate that right where the hood stay attaches, there's a hole in the tubing of the hood. These purposely drilled holes insure the hood collapses in the event of a head on crash, rather than have the hood go through the windshield. This series of holes, severely weakens the hood at this highly stressed location. Maybe as long as you ALSO don't have the additional strain of trying to overcome a frozen hood hinge, the gas shock may be okay. BUT the hood tubing is an accident waiting to happen, if the gas shock is much stronger than necessary. I'm machining some tubing to install in my holes near the hood stay, which I'm going to weld in. This will strengthen the hood at this weak spot, but not totally make the hood so strong that it won't buckle.

 

Thanks for this information Brian. Luckily, my hood hinges are very nice, completely free. I might purchase the gas strut, install it, and then see how much force it applies to the hood as I open and close it to get a feel for it. I might do this before I have the hood repaired.

 

There really is no problem with the original equipment other than the fact that it "looks" like a gas strut so someone who doesn't know can easily make the mistake and push on it. As for replacing it with an actual gas strut I'd be uncomfortable with that because you still have to exert force on that point to overcome the pressure of the strut and close the hood. Given the location of the mount, the long lever arm and the fact the hood is aluminum I'd just rather never place any stress on that point and just be extra diligent to never let anyone unfamiliar with the car operate that function.

 

I would not do it because a gas strut always applies a force on the hood and even more when the hood is closed. As kcapilot said, the hood is aluminum. Allowable stress for aluminum is significantly lower than that of steel.