Gas Lifts Write-Up. This is what you will find:

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Cory Bates
6 years ago
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1 Gas Lifts Write-Up When you open your package from Dev the contents will look like this 6 brackets and two ball studs. The ball studs are for use in the frunk and they have a metric thread so they can bolt right in to a threaded hole that Toyota was kind enough to already provide. Cut the nylon cable tie that holds it all together and,,, This is what you will find:

Turn the pieces over and you will find identifying information for each bracket on the back. The next photos are for the 2 brackets you will use in the frunk.

2 Turn the pieces over and you will find identifying information for each bracket on the back. The next photos are for the 2 brackets you will use in the frunk. There are only two brackets for the frunk (and 4 brackets for the engine compartment). F=Frunk and D=Driver s Side and P=Passenger Side. (Please note that these instructions are for left hand drive cars. If you live where they drive on the proper side of the road, please keep this in mind and reverse the nomenclature). So here is a picture of FD and FP from the top side and...

3 ... here is a picture of FD and FP from the back side. Make sure that you do not accidentally rub off the identifying lettering on the back side of your brackets. If it starts coming off, get a Sharpie pen and put it back on so you don t get lost in the install process.

4 The next set of brackets (BD and BP) are for the engine compartment and these two brackets will get installed on the side of the engine compartment near the tail lights.

5 The last set of brackets will be installed onto the engine bay lid and they are marked ECD and ECP

There are a few pieces of hardware that you will need to purchase separately to complete the install of your brackets/gas struts. Four gas struts which you can purchase on-line from McMaster.

6 There are a few pieces of hardware that you will need to purchase separately to complete the install of your brackets/gas struts. Four gas struts which you can purchase on-line from McMaster. You ll need two for the frunk and two for the engine compartment hood. (see list below). Please note that McMaster refers to these as Gas Springs with Ball-Joint Fittings which I am sure is the proper name for these parts. However, throughout this write-up they are referred to as Gas Struts. I purchased mine from McMaster in March of 2012 and the price shipped to my door for all four struts was just under $ Here is the web link: Just type the part numbers in the "find box" and you will see the parts. 2 30lb 20" gas struts for the frunk, part # 4138T lb 15" gas struts for the engine hood, part # 4138T553 You will also need to supply the following nuts and bolts:

6 Nylon locknuts size 5/16-18. You can use regular nuts and use lock tight to keep them in place. Personally, I like the nylon locknuts so that s why I went with them.

7 6 Nylon locknuts size 5/ You can use regular nuts and use lock tight to keep them in place. Personally, I like the nylon locknuts so that s why I went with them. You will need these nuts to attach the balls studs that came attached to gas struts you ordered. You only need 6 because your kit included 2 metric ball studs that you will use in the gas strut installation in the frunk. 2 M6 1.0x20mm hex bolts* to attach BD and BP to the rear engine compartment (near tail lights) 2 M6 1.0 Nylon lock nuts* for the bolts listed above. You don t have to use nylon lock nuts. I like them because I trust them to not work themselves out from road vibration. (* You don t actually need to use these metric nuts and bolts you could use SAE, if you want. I personally prefer to keep everything on the car metric whenever possible -- because it s easier for me to apply the right size wrenches/sockets when everything is uniformly metric.) Grease. You will lose some of the grease that was in the ball sockets of the gas struts when you take the ball studs out to install them in the brackets. I just used some wheel bearing grease from past brake jobs and smeared a small amount inside the ball socket with a Q-tip to replace the grease. See photos below.

If you want to paint your brackets to match your car s color, it would be a good idea to wash them and use a scotch bright pad to scuff the surface before you prime and paint.

8 If you want to paint your brackets to match your car s color, it would be a good idea to wash them and use a scotch bright pad to scuff the surface before you prime and paint. I use Tide detergent in a bucket of water because Tide is great at dissolving residual grease and crude left on parts in the manufacturing process and it is great for prepping the surface for paint.

9 From this point forward, you will notice that the once shinny aluminum brackets are now painted 040 Super White to match my car. I also painted the nuts and the bolts for a more factory finished look to the whole project. Before we go any further, here are the tools I used to do this install:

Metal ruler/straight-edge 2 blue painter s tape 1 masking tape Black Sharpie pen White grease pencil Square Knife with a sharp blade Hack saw Phillips screwdriver Two ½ combination wrenches 10mm

10 Metal ruler/straight-edge 2 blue painter s tape 1 masking tape Black Sharpie pen White grease pencil Square Knife with a sharp blade Hack saw Phillips screwdriver Two ½ combination wrenches 10mm wrench and socket (and I also used a 10mm deep socket) 12mm wrench and socket Blue Lock Tight. (not pictured is a file used to smooth the plastic after cutting the frunk surround to accommodate the gas struts). Let s get started. Open the frunk

11 And remove the frunk plastic surround. You ll first need to remove the cover for the spare tire and then remove the little push pin trim holders. You ll do this by gently pushing in on the pin in the center of the fastener...

12 ... and then just lift out the entire fastener.

If I counted correctly, there will be 18 of these little fasteners that you will need to remove before you can easily remove the frunk plastic surround.

13 If I counted correctly, there will be 18 of these little fasteners that you will need to remove before you can easily remove the frunk plastic surround. I have found that these little fasteners easily break, so you might want to stock-up on a bunch of extra pins. Here is a great source for these pins: You might want to order a bunch of TR127 or TR288 pins just so you have some on hand. They are also used elsewhere throughout the Spyder. Mr. T wants a fortune for these little critters, so you might want to stock-up. I think I broke about 4 of them on this project so I just ordered 100 of the TR127s and 60 of the TR288s for safe keeping. Okay, now back to the gas lifts project. Once you have all the fasteners out, remove the frunk surround plastic. It looks like this leaned up against the wall of my garage.

14 Measure ¾ back from the head light tab notches on the sides of the surround. This is where the white grease pencil, the straight edge and the square come in really handy.

15 Then measure 5/8 along the side all the way to the back of the surround, like this:

17 Measure the same for both sides of the frunk surround and then get out your trusty hack saw and cut straight and even. Left side:

19 Right side: Next we will prepare the frunk for installing the brackets and ball studs. This is where you will use the 2 blue painters tape, Sharpie pen, 1 masking tape and the sharp knife. With the frunk closed-up tight, place strips of the blue painters tape across the hood and onto the fenders and bumper.

20 Take your straight edge and sharpie pen and draw a line across the hood and fenders/bumper. Doing this will give your reference marks that you will need later to make certain that you have positioned your frunk where it is supposed to be after installing the brackets.

21 Take your sharp knife and carefully cut the tape in the center of the gap between the frunk and the fenders/bumper. Once cut, do not roll the tape s cut ends under the frunk leave them hanging out so they visually match-up.

22 Once you ve got all 6 sections of tape sliced, it s time to open the frunk and put tape on the hinges and lid with alignment lines to use as reference to make certain that your hood is aligned like it was before we started this process.

23 The next photo is a photo of what this alignment tape looks like on one of the hinges in the frunk. Once the tape is installed on the hinge and lid (both passenger and drivers sides) use your knife to cut the tape between the hinge and the lid so you can realign everything after the brackets are installed. This is probably the most important step for ease of realignment after the install. Do not skip this step. I will talk about this step again in the write-up, showing the use of regular masking tape on the engine hinges/lid so you will see what it looks like using just regular masking tape, also. Did I mention this is probably the most important step for ease of realignment? I m not kidding. Do not skip this step. Okay. You are now ready to start the hardware install process.

24 Look for this 10mm fender bolt. There is one on the passenger side and one on the driver s side right behind the headlight. Here are close-up pictures of each side:

26 Use your 10mm socket to remove both of these bolts. Now you are ready to install the two ball studs that came with your kit. Here is the hole where the first one goes

27 This is where the deep 10mm socket comes in handy. You can just use a 10mm open or box end wrench, but I had a 10mm deep socket, so what the heck...

I painted a fender washer white and placed it under the ball stud before installing in order to cover up the ring of darkness left by the head of the bolt that was removed.

28 I painted a fender washer white and placed it under the ball stud before installing in order to cover up the ring of darkness left by the head of the bolt that was removed. Use a little drop of Blue Lock Tight on the threads of the ball stud just before you screw the ball stud into the hole where the fender bolt was removed. Installed, the ball studs will look like this:

29 Next we will install the brackets.

30 Did you put tape with alignment marks on the hinge and lid yet? I might have mentioned earlier that this is probably the most important step in making certain that you will be able to realign the lid the way it was before you started the install process. Using this method will help you keep the alignment of your frunk exactly where it is supposed to be after you loosen and retighten the brackets. (So you don t get confused by this picture, this is actually a picture from this same process that you will use when you install the engine hood brackets). Okay... I hope you get the idea. Now back to the frunk. Look for the two 12mm bolts that hold the frunk hood to the factory brackets. There are two of these bolts on each side. In the photo below we are looking at the passenger side and the black tube is for the window washing

31 fluid. Do not loosen these bolts yet. This photo was just for reference. The next photo is of the install of the bracket labeled FD. First remove the lower (closest to the driver s seat) 12mm bolt and use that same bolt to install the FD bracket, Use a drop of Blue Lock Tight just before inserting the bolt. Tighten it only until just about snug (so you have some room for adjustment. Then you will remove the upper bolt, swing the FD bracket into place and reinsert the 12mm bolt to tighten the new FD bracket to the existing factory bracket.

32 Here is a shot from the passenger side with the install of the the bracket lebeled FP. I removed the alignment tape for the sake of this photo. Do not remove any of the alignment tapes until you are certain that everything lines-up the way it is supposed to line-up.

This picture shows first installing the lower bolt. Once the lower bolt is reinstalled slide the bracket over, lign-up the holes and reinstall the upper 12mm bolt.

33 This picture shows first installing the lower bolt. Once the lower bolt is reinstalled slide the bracket over, lign-up the holes and reinstall the upper 12mm bolt. Make sure the lines you drew on the masking tape (placed on the factory brackets) line up perfectly before your final tightening of bolts so that your frunk hood is positioned perfectly. Also remember to use lock tight on the 12mm bolts so they stay put. Here is what the bracket looks like installed on the driver s side:

34 Close the frunk hood and check your blue tape alignment lines to make sure everything is perfectly aligned. If the lines don t match-up on the tape, adjust the frunk lid/hood at the brackets until everything lines up perfectly. Do not move on to the next step until the frunk lid/hood is exactly where it is supposed to be. Tighten the 12mm bolts and then move on to the next step.

35 Next we ll install the gas struts. There is a little wire keeper located in the ball socket at the end of the gas strut. You remove that keeper by pushing the wire cage away from the ball end and once it is loose, you slide the wire keeper out of the hole. Do not lose that little keeper. Once lost, I have no idea where you will be able to buy a replacement.

Use brute force (if you have strong fingers) or use some pliers to hold onto the ball stud at the wide end of the gas strut and pull straight out. That will remove the ball stud.

36 Use brute force (if you have strong fingers) or use some pliers to hold onto the ball stud at the wide end of the gas strut and pull straight out. That will remove the ball stud. We won t need that ball stud for the install because we will use the metric one that we installed into the fender earlier. When installing the gas strut, install the fat end of the strut to the metric ball stud in the fender. I forgot to take a photo of this when doing the install, so here is a picture of what it would look like with the frunk surround plastic reinstalled:

37 Remove the ball stud from the skinny end of the strut ball socket and install it into the brackets -- one for the driver s side and one for the passenger s side. Use a 5/16-18 (half inch) nylon lock nut to secure the ball stud to each bracket. Note that the ball of each stud (driver side and passenger side) face inwards of the frunk and the SAE nut faces away from the frunk. This will make more sense when you look at the reference photos below. This is where you will need the two ½ (SAE) combination wrenches because the struts that you ordered have SAE not metric ball stud threads and that is why you are using the 5/16-18 nylon lock nuts. Once the ball studs are in place in the brackets, it is time to install the skinny end of the struts. Push in on the piston end of the strut (to collapse it a bit) and install the ball socket (located on the piston end) onto the ball stud in the bracket. Remember to reinstall the wire keepers into both ball sockets at the both ends of the gas struts. Here is a photo of the installed strut on the driver s side. Note that the ball stud and ball socket are on the inside of the bracket in the frunk installation. Here are several photos to show you positioning of ball studs and ball sockets.

Once everything is aligned and tightened, it s almost time to reinsert the modified frunk plastic surround. First you will want to remove the old prop rod that was used to hold the frunk lid up.

42 Once everything is aligned and tightened, it s almost time to reinsert the modified frunk plastic surround. First you will want to remove the old prop rod that was used to hold the frunk lid up. It will come out fairly easy. You ll have to turn it and pull it a little. I wish I could explain it in words, but I can t figure-out how to write about it in a way that makes sense and it really is fairly easy to remove. I have confidence in you that you will be able to figure this out on your own. I mean, after all, even I figured it out. Okay. Once the old prop rod is out, reinstall the now modified frunk plastic surround and replace all those little push button fasteners. Before you close the frunk lid, check to make certain everything (like tools) are cleared out of the way and then slowly lower the frunk lid checking to make certain that everything clears easily before closing the lid completely. When I did this step I found that I needed to trim a little more plastic away from the passenger side frunk surround. My cut was too shallow by about a 16 th of an inch. I used my knife to slowly trim away a little plastic at a time, then reinstalled the surround and repeated the process for checking to make certain that everything was working properly and nothing was obstructing a clear path for the frunk lid to close. All clear and it worked perfectly. Take your time on this final step so if something is in the way, you can clear it out of the way to make certain that you don t damage your frunk lid. Here are photos of the completed frunk install.

The frunk install takes the longest and is probably the scariest because of having to cut the frunk plastic surround. I am not mechanically inclined. I took my time and it turned out great.

45 The frunk install takes the longest and is probably the scariest because of having to cut the frunk plastic surround. I am not mechanically inclined. I took my time and it turned out great. If I can do this, anybody can do it. Next we ll move on to the install of the brackets and gas struts in the engine bay and lid. This will be much easier and a lot faster than the frunk. Installing the Engine Compartment/Hood Brackets The actual install process will be pretty much the same for the engine compartment/hood brackets as for the frunk. Put painter s tape on the hood and fenders, mark them with a straight line and cut the tape with your knife to give you reference marks for realigning the hood once the brackets are installed. Tape and mark the factory brackets on the hood for reference marks. Now you are set to begin the install process. BD and BP will be mounted in the engine compartment along the top of the fender lines. To refresh your memory, this is what BD and BP look like:

46 And this is what it looks like when they are installed first the Driver s Side:

47 And next the Passenger side:

48 Just like with the frunk installation, there is a bolt to remove that you then use to install the bracket. But there is also a hole already in place (thanks to Mr. T.) that you will need to use to install the second bolt to securely hold the bracket in place. This next photo shows you the place where the bolt and hole are located on the passenger s side. It will be the same on the driver s side

Mounting the bracket with the bolt you removed is no problem. Installing a second bolt through that hole... problem. But nothing that you can t easily address.

49 Mounting the bracket with the bolt you removed is no problem. Installing a second bolt through that hole... problem. But nothing that you can t easily address. This is where you will use one of the M6 1.0x20mm hex bolts to attach the bracket through that hole. I found it beneficial to unscrew the two Phillips head mounting screws on the tail light assembly so that you can gently swing the tail light assembly out a few inches to get your hand inside the fender-well and hold a M6 1.0 nylon lock nut in place. Then insert the bolt through the bracket and fender hole into the nut and tighten. Here is a photo of the tail light gently moved aside a few inches:

Once you have removed the two Phillips head screws that hold the tail light assembly in place, the only other thing to know is that there is a small plastic finger on the lower outside edge of the

50 Once you have removed the two Phillips head screws that hold the tail light assembly in place, the only other thing to know is that there is a small plastic finger on the lower outside edge of the tail light assembly that will hold the tail light in place. You can remove the tail light completely by moving that little plastic finger out of its socket. If you do so, be very careful that you do not break that little plastic finger. That could get expensive. Anyway, by swinging the tail light assembly out just a few inches, you should have plenty of room to get a hand in there, to hold the nut so you can thread the new bolt. Tighten up bolts on the bracket, install the ball stud replace and screw-in the tail light assembly and that part of the install is done. Here are a couple of photos for reference. Note that the ball studs face in towards the engine and the gas strut s thick end is attached to the ball stud in the brackets on the fender.

Next, install the last two brackets, labeled ECD and ECP. These brackets will install on the engine compartment hood using the existing bolts that currently hold the hood to the hinges.

53 Next, install the last two brackets, labeled ECD and ECP. These brackets will install on the engine compartment hood using the existing bolts that currently hold the hood to the hinges. Here is where these brackets need to be placed. Also, please note the position of the ball stud is facing away from the engine compartment. You will notice in these photos the use of regular masking tape that has lines drawn on it to be used for aligning the lid to the original position after the brackets are in place. If you are only installing brackets to the engine lid and you skipped reading the install instructions for the frunk, go back and read them now so you will know and understand the importance and process of using this tape process for alignment of your engine bay lid after installing the brackets. Do not skip this step as it is probably the most important step in the entire install process. Gee that statement sounds familiar. Okay... here are the pictures. First the Driver s side:

55 And then the passenger side:

56 Attach the gas struts and check your work. Here are some reference photos of the completed install.

Before you pull the tape off and test the hood to make sure everything works right, check to make certain that you also did these steps (identified in the write-up for the frunk). 1.

59 Before you pull the tape off and test the hood to make sure everything works right, check to make certain that you also did these steps (identified in the write-up for the frunk). 1. Add a little extra grease to the ball sockets to make certain everything is lubed properly. 2. Make certain that you replace the little wire keepers after reconnecting ball studs to ball sockets. 3. Check alignment of the engine compartment hood using reference marks made earlier on hood hinges and around fender/hood enclosure. If the lines don t match-up perfectly, loosen the bolts and realign the hood, then tighten. 4. Fat end of the gas strut connects to the bracket on the fender and the skinny piston end of the gas struts attach to the bracket on the hood. 5. Remove the old engine hood prop rod. 6. Prepare yourself for lots of oooohs and aaaaahs when people see how cool your frunk and engine compartment hoods raise and lower so easily with your new gas struts.

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS GRILLE GUARD RAM 1500 PART # 5058/5058-2

INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS GRILLE GUARD PART # 5058/5058-2 PARTS LIST: Qty Description Qty Description 1 Grille Guard 8 12-1.75mm x 35mm Hex Bolts 2 Upper Frame Mounting s (for trucks without tow hooks