[Mike Bradbury]

In order to make the top bracket that mounts to the hood work with the new arms a bearing must be installed to reduce friction in the joint. the bearing is in the bracket not the arm, the arm is the threaded side and the hood bracket is the bearing and sleeve side. I took a piece of 1/4 stock and drilled a hole to accommodate my bronze bushing but I drilled a smaller hole in the angled hood bracket this is so that the bronze bushing has a surface to rest against when the bolt is tightened. From the top two left photos you can see the size and shape of 1/4 steel plate that is needed, also you get a good idea of the Teflon washers and S.S. washers I used to finish off the hardware. The next two photos show the upper bracket I made for the upper mount of the gas strut, and the last photo shows the lower mount orientation. Keep in mind that I used gas struts from the junk yard that I thought would be up to the task but sadly are not. Make sure when you are fabricating you design around the equipment that is not variable. In other words don't make your bracket just like mine and then discover that you cannot find an 80 Lincoln town car in the junk yard. search out your gas struts and design your brackets to fit them. The ones I used are around 80# I think more in the 120# range is going to work better.
A side note in the top left photo you can see the need for button head hardware so that the heads do not bind against each other when adjusting them.