Hard time keeping it up?


Simon

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 19, 2013
1,230
Houston
For those of us who have aging clamshells and have a hard time keeping them up, O'Reilly's has a solution and it is forever, as long as you are here.

I have been using Stabilus shocks(OEM fitment) for 5yrs on my GT until one of the lower mounts cracked. I went back to O'Rielly and they replaced it.

 
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Simon

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 19, 2013
1,230
Houston
C2C5C1C6-94B7-4449-8E09-C27880D90D38.jpeg
 

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extrap

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Jul 16, 2020
1,751
Gainesville FL
Careful!

Your shoe's untied.
 
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GT Tech

Ford GT Team Alumni
Aug 13, 2006
678
Kingman, Arizona
I recently installed the Cooltech front and rear lifts on 4 of my client's GTs. In a word, GREAT parts. As an added bonus, the rear ones pop up the liftgate enough to get your hands in to release the safety hooks. Great job Kendal.
 

nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,176
That referenced gas strut is not a great fit for the GT. If you measure the length from ball socket to ball socket, you will see that the struts are 14mm shorter than the OEM struts. While 14mm may not seem like a lot, it translates into about 4" less of an opening when the clamshell is fully opened. Pragmatically and aesthetically, it is a big difference.

We contracted Stabilus in Germany to make the correct gas strut = both dimensionally and with the exact spring force as OEM. While keeping it up is important, length also matters, LOL. Just sayin!

We have both front and rear replacement gas struts for the GT in stock and ship the same day as ordered.

https://www.cooltechllc.com/7-ford-gt-parts-accessories

Keep in mind that the price shown is the price per PAIR for the gas struts.
 

Simon

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 19, 2013
1,230
Houston
Good information! Honestly I have not noticed that.

Kendall why does one need to change out the mounting brackets with your set up?
 

nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,176
Good information! Honestly I have not noticed that.

Kendall why does one need to change out the mounting brackets with your set up?

It was admittedly a long journey to get the right gas struts for the GT. Length is more important than I had originally thought as well. In one iteration we were short by only 6mm and thought it was OK but it translates to quite a difference in clamshell opening. We went back to the drawing board! Ford has some car assembly best practices that bled through to the GT. (If you remember that early 2005 cars had metal clips hiding the body line on the upper part of the clamshell... hiding exposed body lines was a best practice.) Another best practice was to speed assembly and prevent errors. The lower ball is an 8mm ball and the upper ball is 10mm - thus insuring that the springs would always be mounted rod-side down. Note: This is always the correct orientation for a gas strut.

The GT clamshell struts have a particularly high charge and use a larger diameter rod. Stabilus highly recommended a 10mm ball-end. More importantly, to get the right length and preserving the full (OEM) opening height of the clamshell, the cylinder is a few mm longer. While this is great to achieve full opening, at the minimum (fully closed) length, you should still have a couple of mm of rod length exposed for maximum longevity. The GT lower ball stud is in a nutsert and easy to un-thread. We include a small bracket that moves this location fractionally rear-ward to accommodate the longer cylinder and on that bracket we have a 10mm ball stud.
 
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Simon

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Feb 19, 2013
1,230
Houston
It was admittedly a long journey to get the right gas struts for the GT. Length is more important than I had originally thought as well. In one iteration we were short by only 6mm and thought it was OK but it translates to quite a difference in clamshell opening. We went back to the drawing board! Ford has some car assembly best practices that bled through to the GT. (If you remember that early 2005 cars had metal clips hiding the body line on the upper part of the clamshell... hiding exposed body lines was a best practice.) Another best practice was to speed assembly and prevent errors. The lower ball is an 8mm ball and the upper ball is 10mm - thus insuring that the springs would always be mounted rod-side down. Note: This is always the correct orientation for a gas strut.

The GT clamshell struts have a particularly high charge and use a larger diameter rod. Stabilus highly recommended a 10mm ball-end. More importantly, to get the right length and preserving the full (OEM) opening height of the clamshell, the cylinder is a few mm longer. While this is great to achieve full opening, at the minimum (fully closed) length, you should still have a couple of mm of rod length exposed for maximum longevity. The GT lower ball stud is in a nutsert and easy to un-thread. We include a small bracket that moves this location fractionally rear-ward to accommodate the longer cylinder and on that bracket we have a 10mm ball stud.
Thank you for the detailed explanation.
 

PeteK

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Apr 18, 2014
2,267
Kalama, Free part of WA State
I’ve had Cooltech’s improved struts on my car for a year, and they are still “keeping it up.”
 

steved57

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Mar 29, 2008
1,941
kilgore tx
I just ordered a set from Kendall
 

steved57

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Mar 29, 2008
1,941
kilgore tx
I just ordered a set from Kendall
In fact just changed them out this morning - on the rears I removed plastic panels right above the lower brackets to make changing the lower brackets out easier plus I have the GT Guys cold air intake and while in there cleaned my K&N air filters
 

NorthwoodGT

GT Owner
Jun 12, 2009
1,215
Michigan
Kendall knows what he's talking about. I've tried tons of after market lift shocks thru the years and nothing is correct. length, ball socket size, pressure and diameter. Kendall put the work in to get it right. I would never trust some after market part where the clam shell might slam down on some kid's head looking at the engine with a slight breeze. you have any expensive car. quit trying to cheap out on aftermarket crap. it's not worth it.
 

Steve Schneider

GT Owner
Dec 16, 2010
131
Hi Kendal hope you are well

Just to be sure for $129.00 the price includes BOTH gas struts? Can I get them sent to Toronto Canada?

TY
Steve
 

nota4re

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Feb 15, 2006
4,176
Hi Steve! Yes, pricing on the gas struts is per PAIR. You can purchase from the website (easiest) but I'll likely have to make a small add'l charge to get them to Canada.
 

steved57

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Le Mans 2010 Supporter
Mar 29, 2008
1,941
kilgore tx
Installed mine on Sunday Kendall and they work great so Thanks for doing this !!!
 
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roketman

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 24, 2005
7,994
ma.
They are great! The hood and clam shell shocks!
The cheap out thing kills me! I see it all the time at the track. Spend fortune on a track car, driving a Porsche and than buy the cheapest helmet to product the most important body part!
 
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SYCO GT

GT Owner
Mark II Lifetime
Sep 9, 2006
4,974
California
Ron, that reminds me of Bell Helmets motorcycle ad campaign / slogan for years. I'm sure you probably recall this.Bell-Helmets-10-Head-Helmet-Decal-Sticker-Drag.jpg
 

roketman

GT Owner
Mark IV Lifetime
Oct 24, 2005
7,994
ma.
Ron, that reminds me of Bell Helmets motorcycle ad campaign / slogan for years. I'm sure you probably recall this.View attachment 66880
That’s brilliant!!’