Rogue Trooper

[SandB]

O.K  A little irrelavent, but what gas struts are you guys using to support a side gull wing door???
Ours don't hold the door up!!!

Cheers Brian & Carole

[Rogue Trooper]

We used a large stainless steel piano hinge to suspend the door. Were a bit dubious at the time as to whether it would hold up but it has stood the test of time very well.

The gas struts are out of a Mitsubishi L300 but Toyota Hiace would do just as well. Bear in mind that the mounting angle of the struts is critical. If you mount them too low in the door frame the weight of the door will be too much. I think you can just see the angle mine are mounted in the last photo of my signature montage but I will try and take a few photos this afternoon for you.

[mezzmo]

Thanks Rogue, look forward to seeing them - Hey Hotrod, you're right about busy's site, it does make a great read - still cant get my head around the hinge set up properly though - maybe its just me!!

[Rogue Trooper]

Alrighty then here are some pics...

This one shows the angle of the gas struts and how we mounted them. Note the recess in the side of the door to house the strut when then door is closed...




And here are a couple showing the piano hinge. The hinge is welded to the top of the door and then the other side of the hinge is screwed to the top of the door frame. Holes are tapped and hinge fastened up with 3/16 machine screws.





Hope that helps everyone. Let me know if you need more detail on something.

[ben]

hey rouge trooper dont you get annoyed lookin at your van off the road all the time?

ben

[Rogue Trooper]

Certainly do but then I can always just shut the garage door too!!

[Rogue Trooper]

Well here's a bit of an update. Have had a few other priorities but have been spending some time in the garage when I can. Because everything is designed to be removable it takes a lot of time building brackets and mounts etc.

This first photo shows the windscreen vent panel I've made up. It takes a couple of VK Commodore plastic vents.



This next one shows one of the vents and a bracket made up to fasten the steering box to the new dash main crossmember. The steering column doesn't move much anymore.



Here you can see the bracket from hell. This holds the middle dash console to the floor. Discovered my floor isn't exactly straight so had to pack it at one end.



And here's a shot showing what it all looks like so far. Doesn't look like much but it's sure taken a few hours.



Now I have to work out what I'm going to do about instrumentation before I go any furthur as that is going to determine the finished shape of the top part of the dash. Have had a play around with a Falcon cluster and went on a field trip up to Pick-a-Part today and am now seriously leaning towards a seperate component setup similar to Joel's. Will probably work out more expensive but will give me a lot more flexibility in the long run.

[John Abbott]

Wow Rogue...There is some serious welding effort in that frame work mate.! Keep up the good work ,its funny how sometimes i think "I'll just weld up a frame for that ,shouldnt take long" And there goes a day!!!  cheers..johnno

[ben]

brilliant work bro.. keep it up!!

[BusyKiwi]

yep, looking good, nice work