Trunk lid torsion bar

movinfast

Active Member
Joined
Feb 2, 2008
Does any body know of a company that makes a gas strut replacement for our torsion bars?


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I remember a post several years ago about hinges off an earlier G body that used struts but I have no idea how you would search for it

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I did some searching and I'd you search for trunk shock there are a few posts about the setup out of 80-82 gbodies having the shocks. Most mention Cutlasses and Regals.

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I scored a NOS kit on eBay in late 2015. Managed to score part #20477735 for a good price... probably because the listing did not mention Grand National in it. LOL
It took some minor fitting and a trip to the hardware store for more fasteners, but it's in. I removed the entire torsion assy which really cleaned up the area.
 
I scored a NOS kit on eBay in late 2015. Managed to score part #20477735 for a good price... probably because the listing did not mention Grand National in it. LOL
It took some minor fitting and a trip to the hardware store for more fasteners, but it's in. I removed the entire torsion assy which really cleaned up the area.
Post some pics.
 
I noticed this thread as I have a never installed complete P/N 20477735 that I purchased years ago but never installed it. Hadn't thought about it in years and never was motivated to sell it. I bought it to allow more space to install subwoofers and an amplifier but didn't need the extra room after all. If your interested email me at deanpapageorge@gmail.com. Should be noted that my kit includes mounting plates and not just shocks as in the old ebay link referenced above.
 
Trunk.JPG Trunk.JPG Trunk2.JPG Trunk3.JPG Trunk4.JPG Trunk5.JPG

So the full kit came with the hinge brackets, triangular base brackets (the mount from both inside the trunk and the outside wheelwell to basically sandwich the wheel tub skin), all the bolts and an instruction sheet. If you go to GBody parts, you'll see the kit they're selling. Seems the eBay link is only picking up a replacement shock-- if ever I measured the stroke length and compressed length, I bet there are modern replacement gas struts that will look even better. These beasts are rather thick and take about 150lbs to begin to compress them. I squatted and basically got all my weight on one end before it started to compress. There is a lot of force that these are managing.

Pic 1. Plenty of space between wheel tubs still, though the shocks take up some space in the "upper deck" compared to the old torsion bars.

Pic 2. No more torsion bars- lots of space for speakers. LOL Those are some crappy Boss 6x9 for scale reference.

Pic 3. Hinge and you can just see the bottom triangular brace.

Pic 4. Close up of the hinge bracket. I think in the cars actually equipped with this, there is a different forward mounting point. I just chose to clamp the hinge gooseneck tightly between the brackets. No perceived movement in the past 1.5 yrs; though I hardly open the trunk.

Pic 5. In order to install the hinge brackets, I needed to remove the torsion bar inner vertical supports. I then flipped the bolts around so the bolt heads could fit between the outer vertical support and the hinge itself.

It be an afternoon to install the whole kit- mocking, cutting the torsion bar supports, drilling through the wheel well. I did this at the same time I cleaned, painted, sound deadened, insulated and carpeted the whole trunk (and interior floor pan!) so for me it was a month-long project!
 
I think it's another one of those strange GM things.... My 86 has the torsion rods, my buddies 86 has struts. Only thing that's different is his car is a T top.
 
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