3rd bolt should be wagon strut lengths and 4th bolt should be those kits you buy of Ebay for bonnet struts

just did my bonnet today and had no troubles i used the struts off of a vk wagon and the top ball joints from the vk, the bottom ball joints are off of a vn. great mod and only cost $22 for everything from the wreckers.

does anyone have the measurement for the bonnet struts so i can go in and buy 2 new ones?

i have just done this mod on my vh wagon.encountered dramas with the bonnet clearing the vr/s ball joints when it was closed.theres a lip of metal that runs along the edge of the vh bonnets that isnt there on vls.just had to bend the sheet metal over for it to clear.

i had a similar problem with my VL. the strut cylinders kept hitting the lip on the guard, so it pushed the bonnet up about 1cm from flush. I put a 3mm plate under the VS ball joints and its fine now.

Quote: Originally Posted by BTI355 today i fitted boot struts which i think look more professional, i used ef boot struts. the way i mounted them on the left side, was i used an existing hole on the support which i used a pivot ball thingy off a vp bonnet. than measured the length of the strut up to the boot hinge, where i used an 8 mm drill bit and another pivot as for the right side i needed to drill a 8mm hole into the wheel arch, again using a ball pivot and a nylon locking nut, so it doesn.t come loose. lastly measure the length of the strut up to the boot hinge, drill another 8 mm hill and use another pivot i also removed the orignal boot torsion springs i also removed the original boot torsion springs how come they are in a different position on each side, do they have to be drilled into the wheel arch on the other side? Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

If anyone in Vic is searching for brand new struts cheap, give these guys a go I got mine from there and only paid $27 each You can get any lenght you want and choose the strenght of the strut (ie: 250nm etc) There located in Dingley, s.e suburbs http://www.stabilus.com.au

Wow those bonnet struts look very nice. Im planing to do this to my vl bonnet soon.

Mate im new to the website and being a mechanic by trade and having had heaps to do with vl calais and commodores I thought I would check out a few tech aticles to see whether or not id joined a site full of forum floggers but I have to say I am very impressed overall with most of the articles ive read and the bonnet strut install article is spot on good work ! cheers

hey guys,just thought id share my experience with doing this mod to my vl.i used vl wagon struts and the ball joints off a vs.fitted everything up and worked a treat.bonnet closed perfectly with no unwanted gaps.very happy.after about a month or so the struts lost there compression so i removed them and got them regassed.when refitting them i noticed the bonnet had heaps of upward pressure but didnt think nothing of it so left them.after about 2 months or so i noticed that my bonnet had severely shifted over almost touching the front guard.also noticed the left hand strut had lost all of its compression again. a friend of mine who is a panel beater came round to re gap my bonnet and explained to him what had happened.basically he told me NOT to use tailgate struts as they have way too much pressure compared to bonnet struts.there fine when u get secondhand ones cause some of the pressure has been lost.but as soon as u get them regassed or brand new ones u will eventually have problems like i did. this is a great thread and has probably worked for a lot of people.this thread is the reason for why i did this mod to my car. so i am NOT bagging anyone!just thought id share my experience so it doesnt happen to anyone else....cheers

^^ I was just about to post the same thing! I'm taking my bonnet struts off as they are giving me too many problems. My bonnet is now stuffed from how strong the struts are. They've actually snapped a weld inside where the bonnet bolts up meaning that on that corner the bonnet sits way up due to not being able to tighten the bolts up fully. I've had problems with my bonnet mysteriously wandering closer to either side of the car as well. Opening and closing the gaps around my bonnet left right and centre. Hope yous don't have the same problems.

just over 2 years for me and no problems at all

I only skimmed over the thread but why do you need boot struts for the bonnet? If theres a chance of them being too strong as some have mentioned, whats a good alternative? Can you just get new VL bonnet struts from supercheap ect?

Hey man i bought this kit http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Commodore-VB-...item2ea9a68e23 (http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Commodore-VB-VL-ANNODISED-bonnet-gas-strut-kits-new_W0QQitemZ200414760483QQcmdZViewItemQQptZAU_Car_Parts_Accessories?hash=item2ea9a68e23) Just dont go by his intrsuctions as they are wrong lol. You have to put the ball joints on the 5th hole from the front window and on and the other one (on the bonnet) is the hole furthest from the front window. Took like 10mins to do both very easy.

u wouldnt beleive this in the two main wreckers of kalgoorlie i got this response....... sorry mate we dont have ANY VL's they r an old car mate and we just get newer wrecks now.......... WTF lol dam, i was wondering wat lenght the vl wagain struts are??please

Hi guys To add my experences to the mix I did bonnet struts on my daily VL. I used the following - VS gaurd mounts/ball joints - VX stationwagon struts - Ball joints from a bolt shop for the upper ones had not an issue, and here are some photos Enjoy Ben Some original photos have not been recovered yet.

Hey Guys im having issues, i went to put bonnet struts on my VL today, i got ford XF wagon tailgate ball joints, VS lower ball joint, and went to bursons and purchased some new VL Wagon tailgate stuts, ball joints were fine but the strut fully extended ends up half way between i think its the 3rd/4th bolts. is it possible they have given me the wrong struts?

what i did for boot struts. was use a au falcon sedan boot strut. one ball joint and a 98 corolla hatch ball joint with the bracket attached. and mounted it on the passenger side with the ball joint on the boot hinge and bracket and ball joint on the side of the car under the quarter window. i will try and pics up but its not letting me at the moment, it says there too big..

Quote: Originally Posted by mad_car [View Post] Hey Guys im having issues, i went to put bonnet struts on my VL today, i got ford XF wagon tailgate ball joints, VS lower ball joint, and went to bursons and purchased some new VL Wagon tailgate stuts, ball joints were fine but the strut fully extended ends up half way between i think its the 3rd/4th bolts. is it possible they have given me the wrong struts? Yea possible, let us know the part number for them and I'll tell ya if they're VL wagon ones or not. (If I remember correctly the Stabilus Part# is HC7). p.s. I did a bit of research as I found new VL wagon ones were way too stiff to use on the bonnet - my bonnet was warping from them (the wagon tailgate is much heavier than the bonnet). So I emailed Stabilus, they reckon that the VL wagon struts are about 400N (Newtons of force I guess), but they also sell the same one with a lower force of about 250N, I've still got to get in contact with someone here about getting a pair, its not high on my priority list at the moment though.

Hey guys, digging this thread up because im having some fitment issues. i have: 2 x VL wagon tailgate struts (new from repco) 2 x VL wagon tailgate ball joints 2 x VR / VS front guard joints After putting these struts on my car the bonnet is very hard to close, and wont pop open without pressure being applied over the lock (while the lever is being pulled from inside the cabin). One of the two areas it's touching is one of the gaurd bolts (the next one up from the strut brkt closer to the windscreen). The other area is the actual guard its self, right near the firewall joins on. Has anyone had this problem?? Im thinking of spacing the strut brkt with some washers hoping to raise it so it wont rub...might look crap though.. Cheers for your help in advance Danny Some original photos have not been recovered yet.