[Gydyup]

Getting ready to put the CS fiberglass deck lid and end caps on the car. I asked Mustangs Unlimited if the stock springs were too stiff for the glass deck. They said that the Torsion springs need to be moved to the "last notch" to take some if the resistance out of the springs.

They are pretty tight in there, how do you do that without whacking or losing a finger.

Made a lot of progress the past week. Sandy and no work equals garage time. Got the driver door skinned and mock hung. Dont waste money on the Eastwood door skinning tool. Bought it thinking it was worth the time save straightening the edges after dinging it with dolly, wood block and hammer. I still had to hammer and dolly a lot, and it still needs a lot of smoothing.

I will try and update making progress before I head out to Kansas this week to shoot some Pheasants!

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

You do it very carefully with a pair of These style vice grips.

Or you wear some nice leather gloves and simply lean in and swap holes. Not a lot of whammo to them when hinges are up if you're careful.

 

[dennis112]

I too use clamp vise grips on them, but mine are the run of the mill plain 10 or 12" ones. If you clamp it "head-on", you will have decent leverage to move the rod around.

 

[KULTULZ]

The SHELBY MUST used no springs. It only had a prop rod. The springs (even if tension lessened) may damage the deck lid. And the CS lid is longer than the SHELBY (LEVERAGE WHEN CLOSING).

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

Good point!

 

[KULTULZ]

...r u being awfully nice here lately or is latent BUDWEISER permeating what little brain I have left?

 

[Gydyup]

Thats what I was thinking, but Must Unltd gave me that tid bit. Prop rod or gas strut seems to be the way to go. Thanks.

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

...r u being awfully nice here lately or is latent BUDWEISER permeating what little brain I have left?

You obviously didn't read my explanation to you in one of the threads were it got hot. Check my posts for the last 4 day's, it's one of them. the explanation is in there.

 

[KULTULZ]

Thats what I was thinking, but Must Unltd gave me that tid bit. Prop rod or gas strut seems to be the way to go. Thanks.

I would imagine you could try lessening the tension on the rods and see what you get. As long as it holds the deck lid up without having to put undue stress on the lid when closing.

Have you researched the CS to see how the factory did it? The SHEBLY did have a CONV in 68. I had a 67 GT-500 so that is how I remembered that little factoid.

Gas strut(s) sounds good if you find low tension one(s).

There was never a Special Tool released to move the tension arms (that I remember) but one was made using a large screw driver/pry tool. I am getting a little fuzzy on some details. 1967 was a long time ago.

 

[KULTULZ]

You obviously didn't read my explanation to you in one of the threads were it got hot. Check my posts for the last 4 day's, it's one of them. the explanation is in there.

WHEW!

I thought maybe you fell and bumped your head or found GOD or something...

 

[FEandGoingBroke]

Well.... I was unaware that God was missing so I wasn't looking, and as for falling and bumping my head... I probably do that twice a month... If it wasn't for my amnesia I'd be able to tell you for sure.

 

[Gydyup]

Did a quick google search for GT/CS trunk shots. Few I found from survivor cars on Mustang Monthly shows the torsion springs installed. The aftermarket or resto mods I found had the gas strut. So either way. Roll bars in trunk may preclude the gas strut.

Will start with the torsions and see how it goes. Get my gloves on, grab my vice grips, try to keep my fingers.

 

[mustang42782]

I always just used a socket of proper size and a long extension, slit it onto the spring and used the extension as the handle, works great for me

 

[PSIG]

For future reference, a torsion rod tool is super simple to make. Looking at the example below, you can see how there are 50 ways to make one in 5 minutes to do the same job and avoid one more story to tell. BTW - throw a towel over your trunk latch before you climb in. Don't ask how I know to suggest that.

David

The tool concept as suggested by Ford:

How it engages: