Just under two hours to open the boot.

[windym]

So today was meant to be about cleaning the Z for tomorrows meet, instead one of the boot rams decides to let go and jam.

I shut the boot to go inside to get a drink when a rather strange noise came from the boot lid. Had a look passenger side ram had broken, what to do its sharp, jammed and at one point started eating my boot loom, these rams are seriously hard to compress.

I had about 3 inches of space to work with, the boot at this point would neither close or open. I tried getting the clip retainer off the bottom part of the ram, no chance. I did not want to force the lid and risk damaging that and looking through the gap saw the broken end start to attack the loom.

So pliers/pump pliers/wrench/screwdrivers/spanners/bits of wood/broom handle and loads of swearing.................................still nothing.

I can now see the ram has gone through the loom sheath this is not what I wanted to see happen. Anyway had a think and using paint scraper,s and a couple of kitchen knives managed to get the sharp end off the loom.

With this now free I could get behind the broken end of the ram and force it down, took another 20 mins before I had the boot free but heyho, some pics.

So wrapped some tape around the loom in case then removed the broken ram, the boot closed a lot quicker with only one ram. So much so there was a small amount of testicular boot lid interaction, fortunately my cheeky boys were only rudely brushed aside.

Did a temp repair to a broken wire, will have to address that at some point but happy there was no other damage. Will see if @spurs fan in a coupe or @Synclare has a ram for sale.

Andy

 

[spurs fan in a coupe]

Not sure I've got a good one but will take a look, glad your head wasn't under it when.it went!

 

[windym]

Not sure I've got a good one but will take a look, glad your head wasn't under it when.it went!

Hi cheers, it may have knocked some sense into me.

Andy

 

[andyglym]

Crikey! That's not good mate, not seen that before.

 

[jonco]

............... not seen that before.

Agree - that's a new one - will be having a look at mine tomorrow.

There's some going on eBay ~£17 - never checked which side.

Glad the crown jewels survived

 

[Redline]

Never known a gas strut to fail like that
Reminds me of a question I need to ask on mine!

 

[hard top]

Bloody hell......

 

[Antm72]

Not the best of days but at least it got resolved always the same when the simplist of plans goes skew

 

[Redline]

Not the best of days but at least it got resolved always the same when the simplist of plans goes skew

I always seem to end up with the five minute jobs that end up being marathons :-(

 

[oldcarman]

The small end swivel cup split on mine and jammed the boot but no where near as bad as a break into the loom wiring. Took about 25 min to get it unjammed so feel your pain. Never thought you'd have to wear a cup while fixing a car but might be a good idea in future! JIM

 

[Dickymint]

Talk about 10min jobs, yesterday went to change my front indicators on the Alfa for brighter LED bulbs, first one took about 20 seconds to change but the second one is a little harder to reach but nothing major, that was until the bulb must have caught the light and popped out and fell inside the headlight! tried a magnet on a string but it was the only NON magnetic bulb in the world!
As its a full bumper off job to remove the light I persevered for a hour poking all manor of things into the light but in the end I managed with a tool I used to remove O-rings when I did my Vanos.