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THE AUTO BUILDER
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Hot Rod Royalty: A Gathering of The Grand National Roadster Show’s Greatest Hits
Hot rod history hit overdrive at the 2025 Grand National Roadster Show, celebrating its 75th anniversary with a killer lineup in Building 9. The big deal? A special exhibit packed with a gathering of America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) and Al Slonaker Memorial Award winners. Teaming up with the Petersen Automotive Museum, GNRS pulled together some of the most legendary roadsters ever to roll out of a garage.
RAPID TRANSIT SYSTEM
Considered a “gentleman’s muscle car,” the upscale Plymouth GTX two-door hardtop was restyled in 1970, offering cleaner side body panels along with revised front and rear fascias. The grille had a unique telephone-receiver look to it, the taillight treatment was changed, and the car was no longer available as a convertible.
Spotlighter
Billet Hood Strut Installation on Your S197 Mustang
A Simple Fix for an Annoying Problem
When you lift the hood of your 2005-2014 Mustang and engage the prop rod, do you feel a little shortchanged? Well, Steeda Autosports has developed a billet hood strut kit designed to replace those clumsy prop rods.
Author
Chris Tobin
Story & Photography
We watched as the installers at Advantage Performance Center in Riverside, California, installed the hood strut kit (PN 555-0650, $199.95) on this ’07 Shelby GT500. The kit consists of two machined 6061 aluminum brackets, a pair of rubber bumpers, two OEM-quality gas struts, the ball studs to mount the struts, and a one-page instruction sheet. It is a simple installation that took less than 30 minutes, including the time required to pause for pictures.
This is definitely a project that virtually any hobbyist mechanic can perform in his garage or driveway in an hour or less. The kit bolts into factory holes, and no drilling or modification to the car is required. It will, however, require a second person to help support the hood when the hinges are loosened and when the struts are being installed, so bring along a friend or coax your significant other into the garage.
Follow along as we install the Steeda billet hood strut kit, but remember that this is just an overview of the installation process, so always follow the supplied instructions. If you are not comfortable with your mechanical abilities, have a professional install it for you.
While relatively inexpensive, the Steeda billet hood strut kit is of excellent build quality. It installed easily, and as expected, it makes an excellent addition to any new-model Mustang. With the kit installed, the prop rod can be removed from the car altogether, as it is no longer needed. The Steeda kit also delivers a few unexpected advantages over the factory prop rod; first, the hood lifts higher, making engine maintenance (or engine showing-off) easier; and second, the hood is now square when it is opened, since it is supported by gas struts on both sides. With the factory prop rod, the hood is supported only on the passenger-side front corner, allowing the hood to twist and droop under its own weight.
Steeda developed an excellent solution for a simple flaw in the new Mustang’s otherwise excellent design. If the prop rod bothers you as much as it does some Mustang owners, check it out—you may be happy to lift your Mustang hood again.
1-2. The clear rubber bumpers have an adhesive backing and are installed on the top edge of the bracket to keep it from scratching the paint on the bottom side of the hood.
1-2. The clear rubber bumpers have an adhesive backing and are installed on the top edge of the bracket to keep it from scratching the paint on the bottom side of the hood.
3. With your helper supporting the hood, the upper hood bracket bolt needs to be removed and the lower bolt has to be loosened.
4. Next, the bracket is slid beneath the lower bolt. After the bracket is aligned, replace the upper mounting bolt and the bracket will be secured.
5-6. The machined ball mount has two different contours; the tighter radius (seen on the right side) mounts toward the fender below the fender bolt closest to the firewall, as shown.
5-6. The machined ball mount has two different contours; the tighter radius (seen on the right side) mounts toward the fender below the fender bolt closest to the firewall, as shown.
7. Before installing the gas strut, the completed mounting brackets should look like this.
8. When installing the passenger-side bracket, make sure that the notch at the top of the bracket clears the hose clamp for the windshield washer hose, as shown.
9. Before installing the gas struts, carefully lower the hood to check for proper fit and alignment. In our case, the hood alignment was still dead on, with straight fender-to-hood gaps, so no correction was necessary.
10. The gas struts snap onto the ball studs. To make it easier to install the strut, a small flat-head screwdriver can be used to slightly pull the tab on the back of the strut head.
11. To remove the factory prop rod, simply unbolt the single retaining bolt on the radiator core support and remove the entire assembly.
12. The completed installation will look like this.
ARTICLE SOURCES
Steeda Autosports
2019 Steeda Way
Valdosta, GA 31601
2281 Hammondville Rd
Pompano Beach, FL 33069
1 (800) 950-0774
sales@steeda.com
