After popping the hood release I must gently assist the hood up for about 1.5 feet before the gas charged lifters take over and raise it the rest of the way. So when closing I must pull/push the hood down till it reaches that height then it will free fall closed. The latching mechanism on these Mustangs is not very good and normally require a drop or slam from two feet high to shut the hood. I plan to install a new modified hood latch which will allow me to latch the hood closed by setting the hood down and slightly pressing on the hood. As a safety precaution I plan to install some FMS hood pins in case the modified latch fails during driving. The entire reason for modifying the latch and installing the hood pins is to end the pain staking process of closing this hood. After many hard closes, the paint on the front edge of the hood showed signs of cracking. I want to be able to simply set the hood down and latch it secure without having to drop, slam or push ridiculously hard on the hood.

Here is a finished shot of the hood with the gas charged lifters installed.

Click here for a video of the hood opening  (1.3 MB)

Close-up of the passengers side. I had just enough room to mount everything in there without it touching anything.

For clearance purposes, I mounted the smaller ball at the bottom, and the larger ball at the top.
(as shown in this picture)

I purchased my gas charged lifters at PepBoys and they are made by Sachs, model #SG326001. Notice how much higher and further back the hood goes, leaving plenty of room to work under the hood.

This is a 1"x 3"x1/8" piece of steel stock used as a bracket to mount the lower ball. Simply screwing the ball into the fender is not strong enough support.

I positioned four nylon inserts and marked and drilled four 13/64" holes to accommodate the four 12mm sheet metal hex screws and nylon nut inserts. I also drilled one 5/16" hole in the middle to accommodate the small ball bolt that the lifter end secures to. I used nylon lock nuts to secure the ball to the steel stock.

My lifters came with two ball and socket connections. Both lifter balls were the same size ball, but the threads were different diameters. The small  lifter ball thread was M8-1.25.

I drilled four 27/64" holes in the fender to snap the nylon nut inserts into, and one 5/8" hole in the middle large enough for the lock nut to clear the fender. It is approximately 7&3/4" from the cowling to the vertical seem you see picture where the lower ball is centered.

The highlighted area is where I place my tape measure. From the bottom of this hood edge corner, and from the front of the cowl. 7&3/4" to the lower ball center on the fender, and 22" to the top ball center on the hood.

You may notice the ball looks different here in this picture, than in the picture below right. Originally I installed the small ball in the bracket and then later found I needed to install the large ball in this bracket for clearance at the lower mount. So this is the large ball.

The larger lifter ball threads and nut were M10-1.25

This is 1-1/4" 90 degree steel bracing x 3" long. The five smaller 13/64" holes are for the 12mm sheet metal hex screws and the one 25/64" hole is for the larger lifter ball.

Here you can see the small lifter ball with a nylon lock nut. You may notice the ball looks different here in this picture, than in the picture above left. Originally I installed the small ball (as pictured here) in the bracket and then later found I needed to install the large ball in this bracket for clearance at the lower mount.

I drilled five 27/64" holes to accept the nylon nut inserts for the 12mm sheet metal hex screws and one 5/8" hole to accept the lock nut behind the plate.

Here are the nylon nut inserts installed. Some of the other kits available have you install screws directly into the fiberglass hood with multiple screws. I just felt the screws would strip out in the fiberglass over time and possibly pull out.

I drilled 27/64" holes to accommodate these nylon nut inserts.

This is the size sheet metal hex screws I used with the nylon nut inserts. These use a 8mm socket or a flat head screw driver.