With all the advancements made under the hood of the newest Mustang, for some reason Ford still chooses to hold that up with an old-school prop rod. Thankfully, it’s an easy problem to fix. Today we’re going to show you how to install this Redline tuning no- drill hood strut kit on our 2013 Gotta Have It Race car. The kit comes with two strut assemblies as well as the four mounting brackets. What makes this unique is it uses all factory mounting holes as well as mounting hardware requiring no drilling, and no removal of your hood hinge bolts. For this installation you’ll need a 3/8 ratchet, a 10 mm socket, and a 1/2-inch socket. We’ve got to use this one last time.

The lower bracket’s going to mount to this fender bolt right here. The uppers go in this existing hole in your hood. This is the upper mount. Basically, you’re going to want to loosen it up to the point that this washer is still hanging on, but has enough space so we can slide it through the hole. We want to put it through on an angle, and then pull against the hood while you tighten it up. We’re going to get it just hand-tight for now, and what you’ll want to do before you actually tighten it up with your wrench, you’ll want to slide it toward the outside of the hood as far as possible, and then tighten it down. This will keep the strut from interfering with your shock tower when your hood is closed.

Now we’re going to remove our fender bolt, install our bracket. The brackets are not side specific. If your car still has the factory air tube that goes from the cold air kit to the firewall, there’s going to be a bracket that’s going to mount right here. You’ll have to take the bracket off the top studs and move it to the bottom to clear that stud.

Our last step is to install the strut itself. We’re going to place the end of the strut over the ball on the end of the bracket. We’re going to make sure the body of the strut is facing upward keeping any condensation out. Just place it over and press it into place, and then you’ll want to repeat the process on the other side. Now for our last step, we’re going to remove our factory prop rod, and our installation’s complete.

We’re going to try out our new hood struts, pull it up about halfway and then just let it go. It will slow down at the top. That’s what Ford should have done when they built these cars. Installation is pretty straight forward, should take you no more than about 20 minutes. You’ll be back on the road in no time.

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Overall Rating: 5/5

• 5 Stars
• 16 Reviews
• Write A Review