Has anyone replaced the stock springs on the MK2 Boot with gas struts? If so, I would sure appreciate hearing about it and would love to see some images. Thanks!

 

I did give this a brief look before, my thoughts were that you need to make a mount point that is down along side the fuel pump for any benefit at all, if they are up near the shut point, they would only assist when the boot is a fair way open (look at a vehicle that has a rear door like the Jeep Cherokee), great to hold the boot open, but no assist to lift from closed.

The mount would be taking up boot space to be any use, so I ditched the idea, I wanted the boot to self open when you popped the catch so It was dead in the water for me. Others may have done this and made it work, so would be great if they do have a working solution.

 

Lin, I did manage to replace the boot lid hinge springs with gas struts, though it's still a work in progress. In order to maximize clearance/fuel capacity for my fuel tank I cut down the double hinges which cost me the spring feature. I started with one strut on each side running from the seat bulkhead to the hinge, which didn't provide enough lift. I then added an additional strut on each side as you see here, which provides a little more lift than needed - the final solution will be somewhere in the middle I suspect. I like the feature since the XJR has an internal electric release for the boot as well as a remote release on the key fob. The struts also lift the boot lid to its max height which the springs never seem to do. The only problem with the struts acting on the hinges is they raise the boot lid at the front corners when shut - the fix required lowering the pivot point of the hinge on the bracket. Hope that makes sense, and best of luck with your project.

 

Doug,
You have accomplished exactly what I am looking to do. My real objective is to be able to open the lid farther which you have achieved. Of course, I have more questions but I will email you off-line. Thanks for sharing!
Lin

 

Brilliant as ever Doug, any chance you could post a section sketch showing relative positions etc. ?

 

I to have done the same thing as you doug,will post some pics,

 

DaimlerMK2,
That’s great. The more pix and info the better. Thanks.
Lin

 

Lin and Jon - sorry for not responding to this thread earlier. As I mentioned above I had to eliminate my boot lid springs to clear the fuel tank, so this required 4 gas struts to lift the lid. Since you'll be retaining the springs it should be a simple matter of adding 1 or 2 struts running horizontally from the rear seat bulkhead to a midpoint on the arc of the hinge. I used the engine and boot lid struts from the XJR simply because I had them - the shorter boot lid struts are the horizontal ones and measure approximately 15" overall with an 8" cylinder. Because the seat bulkhead is angled I think any strut in the 12" to 15" length range will work - it's simply a matter of where you locate the bracket on the bulkhead. With 2 vs 4 struts I'm thinking you shouldn't have the problem I ran into with the boot lid lifting at the front. If it does you should be able to simply shim the hinge down on the tub - hope this all makes sense.

Here are a couple of pics of my installation - at some point in the project we'll fabricate some proper aluminum hinges. I think the 10mm ball stud and ball stud bracket are standard items for these gas struts and should be widely available. Maybe we can get Dave the Daimler guy to post some pics of his installation?

 

Thanks Doug, that's very helpful indeed.

 

Doug, I have responded twice to thank you. I am signed in. I don’t know why my posts are not showing. The info on the horizontal struts was particularly helpful.

 

sorry for being late with this,

 

Nice fitting, what size tank have you finished up with? Sorry if this has been addressed elswhere.

 

DaimlerMK2,
Thanks for sharing those images!
Lin

 

DiamlerMK2,
It appears that you welded in a steel plate between the two arms of the hinge. Was that done to add extra strength to the hinge for the strut brace, and to keep the hinge from twisting?
Lin

 

Nice job, thanks for the pics DaimlerMK2

 

robman 25,i don't know as yet
I will need to work that one out,

 

Hi Lin
yes that's about it,
the strut will push the hinge up and make the boot lid stick up,
so I had to slot the holes and re aline the huge to make the lid sit right,
thanks,