As promised, an update on the hood gas spring. The returned gas spring made it back from Bansbach being recharged to handle the additional weight of the Line-Ex that was applied to the underside of the hood by Garys Body Shop. As requested from Bansbach, new specs were required from me to them to make an accurate calculation. The hood hinge end was set on saw horses, while the front was left overhanging, a length of wood setting on a scale at the middle of the hood supported it and the poundage read, which came in at 36lbs. The hood was then mounted to the body and additional gas spring mounting dimensions were recorded. A "to" scale drawing

was then drawn up. That, and billing info was faxed to Bansbach along with mailing the gas spring. Once received, their engineers reviewed it and emailed their own rendering for my approval. Not surprising their dwg. was similar to mine, along with a graph for calculating. How they calculate, is over our heads, but hey that's their forte. $47.96 later for recharge and shipping it showed up at our door. Bansbachs service and communication was great once I got past the fact that my emails were going to their spam folder and ultimately not read. Once I actually contacted them by phone that got resolved. Once installed it worked like it was supposed to, using only a little effort to lift before the gas spring took over. It is worth mentioning that there is a right and wrong way to install  gas spring. In this application it is advantageous to mount it with the rod down. This way the oil in the cylinder lubricates the seal and more importantly provides a dampening effect at the end of the stroke eliminating a sudden stop and reduced stress on the hinges and mounting points.