One strut, Two strut, Three strut, Four...

nascar03

nascar03

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Hi C5 convertible guys..
I was at a big(100+) Corvette show yesterday with the 2003 Convertible and I opened the trunk to get something out and my friend said.."Hey where's your other strut?"
I thought that was a bit of a personal question then realized he was asking why I don't have a trunk lid strut on my passenger side..!!
We checked ten other C5 cars and everyone had two struts on the trunk lid..?
My lid works fine, no opening or closing issues at all.
And the hinge on the passenger side shows no evidence that a strut was ever present.
My buddy bought this car new and would have replaced a strut if one acted up.
I thought I would ask on here if any other C5s have one or two struts..??
My car is an early 2003 having been built in September 2002.




If anyone has three than one of them is mine!!!
let me know..
graham
 
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Graham, mine was built in June 2003. It has two struts on the trunk lid.

That is just odd that it only has one but if it works it works. Perhaps yours is one of the very rare factory option "strut delete" cars.:Biggrin:
 
Weird........my friends wife is "queen of the struts"........interesting to note that your trunk lid lines up perfect and no torsion or twisting to the other strut.....
 
That's an Extremely Rare C3, thought they quit making them in 82 ???

But on my 01 C5, it has 2 struts
 
Well, now you can make fun of the other C5's around.... "What? You're car needs two struts to open the trunk? Mine only needs one." :D
 
Well Riley, looks like ours were made the same day. Perhaps a sick joke, maybe a shortage on the assembly line. Maybe someone stole it!!!!!!

Bill
 
Bill ... Are you saying you only have ONE strut..!
Pictures please.
My build date was Sept 26th/2002.
graham

Bill congrats on reaching 200 posts...:Hurray:
 
Ah, never noticed the posts. That was fairly quick, perhaps I talk too much.
Yep, only one strut Graham. I might yank em all anyway and do the whole shiny chrome thingy.
You know your a redneck when your favorite colour is ''shiny''

Bill
 

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Look at you guys! Strutting your stuff! Love it! :D

However, it would be neat to find which Corvettes have one strut and which have two! (Or which have three and which have four I guess if you're counting all of them!)
 
I started to wonder about all this strutting around business so I thought I would investigate a little further. So performing this evening we have …. sorry wrong strutting. :Nono1:

In the 2003 General Motors Service Manual (book 3) there are references to the strut(s) on the rear deck lid. What is interesting is that they only show one strut and that would be on the drivers side. Now did they make the assumption that to remove the passenger side you just mirror image the directions? The diagrams show up a number of times in the "Body Rear End" section but consistent in only showing the single strut. This would be applicable to convertible and Z06 models only.

So we have two cars with a drivers side single strut, Grahams built in December 02 not sure about the date of Bill's build. Mine has two and this car was built in June 2003. Anybody else checked? I wonder if they revised the struts and went with two smaller ones rather than one larger drivers side single unit?

Graham I am also curious if the bracket assembly on the passenger side will accept a strut?
 
Bill & Murray...
I agree.. I checked the shop manuals too and see sketches showing only the drivers side hinge with a strut.
Page 8-1357, photo #214003.


But I did find another sketch on various pages 8-1259(middle) photo #284752 showing a strut on each side...!


I could not find a written reference to strut(s) (plural)..Where did you find that..??

My passenger side trunk hinge does NOT have an upper or lower ball stud ??
And I see no evidence that a ball-stud was ever riveted to the hinge..?
I wonder if the parts catalog shows a picture of drivers side and passenger side hinge??
I might check with my parts buddies at the local dealership.






My VIN ends with ...088XX, built Sept. 26th/2002.
I sent a PM to Bill(williame3590) to see if his car was built near that time....
It would be interesting to hear from owners with 1999FRC to 2004(conv & Z06) models..
I doubt this is just an anomaly with 2003 models.

thanx....
graham... founding member of the 2003 Corvette SS(Single-Strut) club
 
Bill...
I would have thought a build date of Aug 2nd 2003 would be for a 2004 model car??
Do you mean Aug 2nd, 2002 build date?
That would then lead me to believe the 'early' builds would have one strut.
But I would still like to hear from others, and even 1999-2002 cars.
thanx
graham
 

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