Though no one asked I feel a few other comments are in order (I've
mentioned them before without the pictures. )

It's a good idea to attach any struts to a strong point on the
poptop. In this case I already had a rack mount, which has a
reinforcing plate on the inside (invisible in the photos.) That helps
spread the load of the lift.

On the lower mounting point, the place chosen was just about as far
forward as I could make it (it doesn't look very far forward, and
there is a reason for that.) The gating factor here was the existing
mechanism, which folds up and would occupy spaces further forward. I
also needed to ensure that there was clearence between the gas spring
(strut) and the existing mechanism. It was a tight fit using the
parts and mounting cups that I had.

When I initially set it up, I used 125 pound struts. These were
woefully inadequate and in fact I couldn't even tell if they were
installed. I believe I also had on hand 150 pound struts, but again,
those simply weren't enough. The 250's were the highest rated I could
get in this model. I wouldn't have minded something a little bigger,
but them's the breaks. Just encourages me to pack light....

Other folk have stated that they thought I would have mounted them
the other way (with the lower mount point further forward). I
considered that. But I tried it this way, on the theory that if it
didn't work, I could still switch to the other method with only the
cost of a hole in the poptop hinge to show my work. As it turns out
this was quite adequate, and I didn't pursue the other method.

On Feb 3, 2007, at 3:18 PM, Kim Brennan wrote:

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> <http://homepage.mac.com/kimbrennan/PoptopAssist/index.html>