Izzy Does It

I enjoy looking under the hood of my 944s to temporarily escape the realities of life and identify any potential problem that is on the horizon with either of the beasts. However, it has caused me some headache of late....literally. The hood struts on my S2 are weak after 20 plus years of service. Consequently, the hood can be counted on to drop on my head whenever I am lurking under it (expletives aplenty). Well it's time for another Do-It-Yourself from yours truly. To that end, I purchased a set of Lift-O-Mat original equipment manufacturer hood struts.

Safety first: (1) Disconnect the battery. (2) Place cardboard and or/or padding around the entire edge of the hood to prevent damage to windshield, as well as the hood, in the event of contact with one another. (3). Use a section of wood to hold up the hood while you remove and replace the struts.

I started with the passenger side strut mount but it really doesn't matter which side you start on. I began by inserting a small screw driver into the retaining c-type clip located on the bottom half of the strut mount (closest to the engine compartment). Pry outwards and remove te clip from the strut. Using a somehat larger screw dirvie, gently pry the lower strut socket from the ball that it attaches to.

Next up is the upper part of the strut (attaches to the hood strut bracket). The upper part of the strut is held in place by a push type expandable pin. Take note that it is four-sided. Two sides can be squeezed together to facilitate removal - the other two sides cannot be squeezed together. After identifying the correct two sides, use needle nose pliers to gently squeeze the sides just enough to take the pressure off, push the pin outward then pull it out from the opposite side.

Installation is the opposite of removal but for one thing: DO NOT REMOVE THE C-TYPE CLIP to the new struts when installing them. Instead, pry the clip just enough to relieve the pressure on the clip, so you can push the lower strut socket onto the retaining ball allowing the clip to lock the strut in place.

During installaion, I did encounter one hurdle that was easily resolved. After installing one half of the strut mount, I could not align the other half of the strut to its mounting point - I was unable to compress the new strut to fit by hand (that's a good thing). I needed added wiggle room, so I decided to loosen the hood latch bolts (removal isn't necessary) to free up some movement (a 13mm closed end wrench will work). Before doing so, I scribed the two hood latch bolts with a mechanic's pick - this will help you orient the original position of the bolts, so your hood closes correctly when you complete the strut installation and retighten the bolts.

I only needed to loosen one side - the side that I initially started on. That also gave me the additional play needed to complete the installation on the driver's side strut. After installing both struts, I aligned the hood based on the scribes that I made and retightened the hood bolts (nice to have an extra set of hands for this but it can be done alone - just take your time). Check your hood to ensure that it is aligned and closes properly. Congratulate yourself on a job well done and remember; chicks dig guys that can turn a wrench. No more headaches!

Eurisko

This was easier than expected. Those pictures REALLY helped a lot. Took me like 10 mins total to do both sides. Thanks for being thorough!