Trunk Boot Prop Rod

[Austin Healer]

Sandy, swaged as in the holes cut and you then radius lip them to add the strength.

The ones Steve did had holes the whole way around the inner skin on the bonnet and boot ( hood and trunk) and the holes went quite close to the edges of the inner skins permiter.. so I would guess there was a decent amount of weight out.

you can use dimple dies to put the radiused lip in... these are sold in sets and aren't stupid expensive....

 

[sandy]

Sandy, swaged as in the holes cut and you then radius lip them to add the strength.

The ones Steve did had holes the whole way around the inner skin on the bonnet and boot ( hood and trunk) and the holes went quite close to the edges of the inner skins permiter.. so I would guess there was a decent amount of weight out.

Yeah, that is what I though, just wanted to make sure. No way to do that unless you pull the inner panel completely out. I have the tool and a couple of sizes, but don't think it would really get out that much weight. I might cut one hole in some sheet metal of the same gauge and see what it weights and then see how many I could get out of the structure.

Going to get in the garage today and see what I have in tubing and get some parts from McMaster to see how it might work.

Really don't want to add anything that will have tension to lift the deck lid up. I'm OK with muscling it up now and again, but just need it to say up when rods are in place.

Sandy

 

[sandy]

you can use dimple dies to put the radiused lip in... these are sold in sets and aren't stupid expensive....

I have a couple of sizes of them, but would have to pull the inner structure out to get behind. Have to look again to make sure I'm thinking right but getting lazy these days...

 

[michael-king]

Yeah, that is what I though, just wanted to make sure. No way to do that unless you pull the inner panel completely out.
Sandy

I think when Steve made the bonnets and boots he had the skins off as he added alloy skins

 

[sandy]

Found some shifter rods that may work. 3/8"×24 will work in these. 1/2" od. Have to make a bracket for the deck lid, looks like I can do it in the area I'm thinking.

Parts ordered from McMaster.

See how it all goes.

 

[sandy]

Just a follow up on lightening up the deck lid...

I cut a hole in as close of thickness steel I had. Used a hole saw to get a sample.

Was going for a 1.25" hole so used a larger hole saw. Down side is the drill leaves a hole upside is the slug was still larger then 1.25" so looks like it will even the weight out a bit.

With "exacting precision" I roughly get 65 holes around the inner structure.

Weight of the slug was 10g or .35oz so with 65 of them you get roughly 23oz or 1.4lbs

You could get more aggressive in size but not really worth it IMO.

The big point for me is what is the chance of me not batching up my lid trying to drill 65 holes 😀

As you can see I had no intention of doing any real work on the Tiger today...

 

[sandy]

Getting off my rear end after wasting time to figure out how much cut holes weight, back to business!

Working on the prop rod early as a FedEx truck showed up with my McMaster Carr order today. Must be trying FedEx due to the pending UPS Strike. Order was supposed to be delivered Monday. Nice!

Using the length of the shifter rod which has 3/8x24 threads tapped in both ends, I got the quick release coupling, stainless of course. They were somewhat expensive, and if I didn't have the pre-tapped rod already I would likely go with 5/16 sized hardware as the 3/8" stuff is pretty much overkill. But hey, I'm OK with that as the trunk lid will not hit me in the head due to hardware failure 🤡

I had to make a stud for the ends, had some stainless rod from McMaster show up in the order too for that.

Made a bracket for the bottom of the mount, which is in the rear of the frame, these are 1/4x28 tapped, except for the rear hole where the weldnut un-welded when put in a bolt to keep the threads from getting gooped with paint. Works better as I can now have some less accurate drilling since most of this is eyeball stuff.

Bracket is about 3 to 4 inches (remember I mentioned eyeballing stuff) of 1/4" thick aluminum channel 1" as I recall. After drilling a couple of hole for the mounting to the chassis I drilled a couple of 3/8" holes for the ball mount in 2 places. Why not, can give me a bit more flexibility on where the rod ends up and it's angle.

On to the top mount, my first though was to place it right in the corner where their is a semi-flat patch that I could beef up with a plate and liberal use of rivnut. After looking at it I may just get another pieces of the aluminum angle and Rivnut that to the hood (see pics below). Would be easier I think but not sure, have to check the 'ergonomics' of how hard it's to release with the short 1" angle bracket on the top. The bottom is easy, but will make sure.

That all the fun time I had today as this was a secondary project, I actually got the trunk area painted, will post pics on that in another thread.

Happy Motoring!

 

[IvaTiger]

You could just run a bungee from the trunk lid over the roof and hook it onto the front bumper 😊

 

[sandy]

You could just run a bungee from the trunk lid over the roof and hook it onto the front bumper 😊

I could do that to the rear bar on the roll cage, nothing short of genius, fool proof, no prop bar. Where was this idea 2 days ago

 

[IvaTiger]

I could do that to the rear bar on the roll cage, nothing short of genius, fool proof, no prop bar. Where was this idea 2 days ago

Great idea’s always come after the fact

 

[sandy]

I forged ahead to finish it. Came out nice...

Went with the second mount option as it was simpler.

Used a couple of Rivnuts for the bracket.

Worked well and removed the 2 sping and hinge assemblies.

 

[sandy]

Great idea’s always come after the fact

Just testing the secondary trunk support Just needed on to do the painting without the rod. This is a good option, a couple of rubber straps with hooks around the roll cage did the trick!

 

[sandy]

Made an updated and shorter prop rod that I could fit into the trunk. Did it similar to the way that Joel's gas cylinder was done except for a rigid rod. The shorter rod allows me to fit it easier into the boot of the car. Caution precision drilling ahead... well not really but it helps...

 

[michael-king]

Sandy. As you will be aware the boot (trunk) lid is heavy AF .... once the springs are off its about the same leverage as the bonnet (hood) and look how sturdy the hinges are for that ..the cast hinges on the back are prone to cracking if they carry load... just a heads up

 

[sandy]

Sandy. As you will be aware the boot (trunk) lid is heavy AF .... once the springs are off its about the same leverage as the bonnet (hood) and look how sturdy the hinges are for that ..the cast hinges on the back are prone to cracking if they carry load... just a heads up

It is what it is I guess. The longer rod has more of the weight on it it seems, but would have to think about it to see if more of the weigh is on the longer rod vs. the shorter, as well as the angle. Just have to pick of a set. At some point I thought someone made a set in stainless or were just stronger, but haven't looked in a while. Might have been Sunbeam Specialties, but can't remember. I think I do have a spare set, it's either that or some gas fillers, who remembers these day! Thanks for the heads up as well I'll keep an eye on them. One thing I did notice is that the lower fastener is hardly threaded into the hinge, I replaced mine with a longer stainless screw.