Second Hatch Strut?

[Jetaway]

The recent thread about a torn away hatch hinge piece got me thinking. The same thing happened to my 1972. Not many data points, but from the thread I got the impression that the driver's side is more likely to fail. I suspect that a driver's side fail may cause the passenger side to fail quickly as well because it probably is creating unusual stresses on the other hinge, and thus accounting for the dual weld reports.

The only difference between the sides that I can determine is that the single hatch strut is on the driver's side. Wouldn't seem that such a relatively small pressure could cause a break, but metal does fatigue and given enough time and flexing, any metal will eventually break apart.

I've neither done much with metal nor welded a thing in my life, but it wouldn't seem to be a big project to add a second strut to the hatch. Weld a piece of metal shaped to hold one end of the strut to the body and drill a couple of holes in the hatch to receive the struct plate seems to be all that is needed. Is there some complication that I'm overlooking in my ignorance of metal and welding?

A second strut would also do wonders for the lifespan of the struct cartridge, I would think.

Chris

[5150 will]

I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult, but you'd need to get two struts that were made to be used in a two strut system (like the later s30). Or, you may be able to get the strut setup from a later car and have all the necessary brackets and struts. Just some random thoughts...

[Zs-ondabrain]

See? Now that's too funny...

Went to the Grocery store today, come out with a few bags, pop the hatch and oad the groceries, shut the hatch like normal and here a loud "SNAP" sound... WTH was that? so I pop the hatch and the bracket is just floating between the body and the plastic panel.

So now I gotta reweld the damn thing back on. But not before I have to tear it apart to do it. So I guess you could say "I feel for ya"

Dave

[manny1973]

Mine came apart a few months ago. My concern is trying to weld it back on. The car has recently been painted and I'm afraid that spot welding the hatch mounting bracket will mess up the paint. Mine came apart at the body mount by the rear wheel.

Do you guys think spot welding it back would be ok to do without hurting the paint on the car body?

[ZCurves]

If any of you earlier model guys want to go to the two strut setup, I have the inner mounts on my old parts car - First come first serve. If you live in Houston, come a get em. If you live else where, just pay postage. PM me to connect the dots.

[Bonzi Lon]

manny1973, yours is now the 6th 73 that has had the bracket welds fail. From my own records over 5 years. The spot welds appear to be small / weak at all points. Mine failed in 79, rewelded during refurbishment in 06.

The only paint damage will be on the rain gutter under the weatherstrip. The inner welds are on a peice of metal about 1/2 inch from outer body. Mine never got warm there, wet rag for caution, but the gutter area was toast. Dis-connect battery before welding.

2 struts? -- Been there, done that. -- Didn't work. -- The way I did it.

I removed another bracket from a 71, it was welded in better than the 73 by far, reversed it on the passenger side, with the pivot same distance, which makes them off-set, then the plastic won't fit without a trim. Drilled, made a bracket for the hatch attachment.

At the time, I didn't know the 280Z strut was a lower pressure. I installed both 240Z struts. Fail! :stupid: Very hard to close and about takes your nose off when opening. :tapemouth The bracket must of been off a little bit as it made the passenger side lift 1/4". :mad: Said bracket was removed and is now unreconizable.

So, back to original design, welded solid and always close the hatch with my hand right above the strut attachment.

Bonzi Lon

[tlorber]

Bonzi, I'll put my '73 on the list as the 7th car. My strut bracket was held on with 2 screws. I'll have to figure out whether I'll weld it or just bolt it back on.

[manny1973]

Bonzi, Thanks for the info. I thought I might drill a couple of small holes and bolt it on instead of welding but now I'm not sure, might have to get it rewelded. I don't have the equipment to do my self so would have to find someone.

What do you guys think about just bolting it on.

[tlorber]

The cheapass screws that were holding mine on seemed to work ok.

[Jetaway]

manny1973, yours is now the 6th 73 that has had the bracket welds fail. From my own records over 5 years. The spot welds appear to be small / weak at all points. Mine failed in 79, rewelded during refurbishment in 06.

The only paint damage will be on the rain gutter under the weatherstrip. The inner welds are on a peice of metal about 1/2 inch from outer body. Mine never got warm there, wet rag for caution, but the gutter area was toast. Dis-connect battery before welding.

2 struts? -- Been there, done that. -- Didn't work. -- The way I did it.

I removed another bracket from a 71, it was welded in better than the 73 by far, reversed it on the passenger side, with the pivot same distance, which makes them off-set, then the plastic won't fit without a trim. Drilled, made a bracket for the hatch attachment.

At the time, I didn't know the 280Z strut was a lower pressure. I installed both 240Z struts. Fail! :stupid: Very hard to close and about takes your nose off when opening. :tapemouth The bracket must of been off a little bit as it made the passenger side lift 1/4". :mad: Said bracket was removed and is now unreconizable.

So, back to original design, welded solid and always close the hatch with my hand right above the strut attachment.

Bonzi Lon

Just the kind of complication I was hoping for. Well, not hoping, but am glad to find out about. Makes sense, a single strut would need to have a much higher pressure to lift the lid than dual struts. Put two high pressure struts together and you could launch small children from the back. (Not recommended by the NHTSA.)

Okay, this is possibly the stupidest idea ever posted on this forum, but what about using two worn-out single struts? I've got a pair that were removed fairly quickly after failing, so they shouldn't have lost a great deal of pressure, just enough to not counter-balance the weight of the lid.

Or, possibly a somewhat saner idea. Use a pair of 280Z struts. I'm assuming that the body side mounts for the struts differ between the 240Z and 280Z, but it might be worth the effort to remove the old strut mount and weld in a new pair positioned for the 280Z struts.

Chris

[Bonzi Lon]

Once you get the plastic covers off and look in there you will be able to make a decision. I have not seen (paid attention to) the 280 strut bracket to see if they changed altogether or a mirror image was made for the right side. Maybe someone has a pic? I found out placement of the bracket is critical.

A buddy of mine had a portable mig, took him about 10 minutes, cost me a 12 pac.

Bonzi Lon

[tlorber]

Bonzai,

When your friend welded, do you know where he put the welds, and how he accessed them? I welded my hinges this morning and was looking inside the car. I feel like I will be frying everything only to get some marginal tack welds on there.