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Thread: P.J.GRADY Lift Piston feedback wanted

  1. #11
    Senior Member
    Join Date:  Sep 2014

    Location:  West Sayville, N.Y.

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    It's hard to estimate the life of a door "gas spring" (proper term) because of the effect of the torsion bar setting on it's performance. A torsion bar often needs to be adjusted when replacing the gas spring to achieve the optimum result. Temperature also has a larger affect because of the heavy weight of the Delorean door compared to the hood and sunshade applications.

    Based on my experience with previous versions of these parts I'm willing to go out on a limb and guess-timate the usable service life to be at least double the "typical three year" estimate. This should hold true especially if one is willing to adjust the torsion bar once or twice to compensate for temperature swings if you live in a temperate zone of the country like I do. Six years or more would be my guess but I could be wrong.

    Sorry no lifetime warranties on gas springs! Only Ed B. would be bold enough to try that and it couldn't have worked out that well. Any oldtimers remember his"lifetime warrantied sunshade pistons"? Better question is how many of you got a second pair free?

    These are high quality springs and I think my changes to the application will make them last longer, work better, and operate smoother than any previous piston on the market IMHO. I have one more trick still up my sleeve that I'd rather not disclose...maybe some other time!

    Big thanks to Patrick Conlon for taking that video of his remote door opener with our new gas spring. Besides seeing it here I just saw it on Utube.
    We be going virale babbbayyy!!!
    Rob

  2. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by PJ Grady Inc. View Post
    We've shipped a decent amount of our new lift piston kits and was hoping to get feedback from owners to see if we got it right. I'd like to know what you think of the opening rate (time to open), charge rate (too strong, too weak, just right), appearance and any observations you'd care to offer.
    While the door piston's are the main concern because ot the variables involved I'm also looking for feedback on the hood & sunshade pistons too.
    Rob Grady
    I just ordered a set and will be happy to provide a feedback as soon as I install it :-)

    BTW: I do think your updated website looks nice and easy to use.

  3. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by skill View Post
    Rob,
    Is it okay if you could set aside a Special strut set for me? Payment for the 9th? I'll definitely provide you feedback. My passenger door sags a few inches when it comes up. Thx, b
    Yes I'll hold a set for you for the 9th of January right?
    Rob

  4. #14
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    Join Date:  Jun 2011

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    Thanks for the reply, Rob. Definitely no intention to hold you to some guarantee. Like you said, I bunch of factors unique to each car like the climate or temperature the car is in or used, how often it's used or driven, and how often there is someone in the passenger seat as well as the driver's, etc.

    Even if you replaced the door struts every three years, at $100 for the set of six over those three years, that's not much different than the cost of oil or air filters. Speaking of which, with many of the wear and tear or regular maintenance items we can all decide how to alter the change out frequency. For example, I've changed my air filter every oil change even though it's not likely necessary and I've changed my fuel filter far less than suggested (not ideal, but there it is).

    What's that line about expensive toys or hobbies? If you can't afford to put new tires on it when they need it or have to be concerned about what the price of gas is, you bought the wrong hobby.

    With the relatively low cost of many of these parts, you could have as many of them as your heart desires if you just once convinced your wife/partner/significant other that you don't need to remodel the living room/paint/buy a new couch. Now there's a place to try and use some common cents.


    Sept. 81, auto, black interior

  5. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jonathan View Post
    Thanks for the reply, Rob. Definitely no intention to hold you to some guarantee. Like you said, I bunch of factors unique to each car like the climate or temperature the car is in or used, how often it's used or driven, and how often there is someone in the passenger seat as well as the driver's, etc.

    Even if you replaced the door struts every three years, at $100 for the set of six over those three years, that's not much different than the cost of oil or air filters. Speaking of which, with many of the wear and tear or regular maintenance items we can all decide how to alter the change out frequency. For example, I've changed my air filter every oil change even though it's not likely necessary and I've changed my fuel filter far less than suggested (not ideal, but there it is).

    What's that line about expensive toys or hobbies? If you can't afford to put new tires on it when they need it or have to be concerned about what the price of gas is, you bought the wrong hobby.

    With the relatively low cost of many of these parts, you could have as many of them as your heart desires if you just once convinced your wife/partner/significant other that you don't need to remodel the living room/paint/buy a new couch. Now there's a place to try and use some common cents.
    I'm pretty sure they'll go a lot longer than three years but please remember folks this price is only for the first batch of one hundred and they're about half sold out now. I was originally going to run the special for the month of December for the 100th anniversary but I didn't get the production batch until 2 weeks ago so I'll extend the sale into January but once they're gone the price will go up. The normal price will be about $140- for the set which I think is still a bargain for the quality of these "gas springs". Please no sniveling (I don't mean you Jonathan) when it's over as you've been warned and I need to make a living wage here

  6. #16
    Senior Member hmcelraft's Avatar
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    Location:  McKinney, TX

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    The door "lift pistons" are fine. I need to adjust the torsion bars some - probably one notch. I've had a set of Hervey's soft-lift pistons on the car for about 6 years now with no problems other than they were wearing out, especially noticeable, as winter temps are here. I got some new soft lift pistons from Hervey a year ago or so and they did not seem the same so I didn't use them right away and now they are really flat. So, hard to beat Rob's special. The door pistons seem to have a great dampening action. Right now, if I want the door all the way open (another 6-8 inches) I have to push the door open by hand. Not a big deal and it will stay open. The adjustment is that close.
    My goal is to get the adjustment as close as Patrick's.

    I really like the bonnet pistons and louver pistons. The bonnet now opens full like OEM and I can quit worrying so much about hitting my head when I fuel-up. They also have appropriate piston power to keep the bonnet open in a breeze. Anyone who has tried to put in fuel with a wind blowing against the bonnet knows what I mean.

    The louver pistons have plenty of opening strength. Just a hair on the strong side, which I like and prefer, but not that heavy to close. Basically a very smooth open and close so you don't twist, and possibly damage the louvers.

    In all, I would give them a 4.5 on a 5.0 scale. The dampening in the door lift pistons seem to bleed off the opening power - which appears to require the additional torsion bar adjustment to get a smooth door open. I get nervous having the torsion bars tighter than they might otherwise need to be.

  7. #17
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    Quote Originally Posted by hmcelraft View Post
    The door "lift pistons" are fine. I need to adjust the torsion bars some - probably one notch. I've had a set of Hervey's soft-lift pistons on the car for about 6 years now with no problems other than they were wearing out, especially noticeable, as winter temps are here. I got some new soft lift pistons from Hervey a year ago or so and they did not seem the same so I didn't use them right away and now they are really flat. So, hard to beat Rob's special. The door pistons seem to have a great dampening action. Right now, if I want the door all the way open (another 6-8 inches) I have to push the door open by hand. Not a big deal and it will stay open. The adjustment is that close.
    My goal is to get the adjustment as close as Patrick's.

    I really like the bonnet pistons and louver pistons. The bonnet now opens full like OEM and I can quit worrying so much about hitting my head when I fuel-up. They also have appropriate piston power to keep the bonnet open in a breeze. Anyone who has tried to put in fuel with a wind blowing against the bonnet knows what I mean.

    The louver pistons have plenty of opening strength. Just a hair on the strong side, which I like and prefer, but not that heavy to close. Basically a very smooth open and close so you don't twist, and possibly damage the louvers.

    In all, I would give them a 4.5 on a 5.0 scale. The dampening in the door lift pistons seem to bleed off the opening power - which appears to require the additional torsion bar adjustment to get a smooth door open. I get nervous having the torsion bars tighter than they might otherwise need to be.
    Thanks for the feedback Harold but you definately have your T bars set up on the loose side as I experimented with stronger pressures and it makes the door harder to close. These are substantialy stronger than both the NOS pistons and the version I used to sell so if that's holding you back on the A rating I'd humbly ask you to reconsider. I can even give you a stronger exchange pair if that's what it takes for your 5.0 rating but you should consider adjusting your bars one notch first IMHO! Look at Patrick's video a few more times and think about. Most people if anything will need to go down a ntch with these pistons if they were ever cranked up at all. Also consider the temperature if you're checking this outdoor's or you'll be re-adjusting them in the springtime. Adjust your TB's and gimme my A. I know now I'M sniveling!
    Rob Grady

  8. #18
    Senior Member skill's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by PJ Grady Inc. View Post
    Yes I'll hold a set for you for the 9th of January right?
    Rob
    Yes! Thanks Rob~awesome and much thanks! Happy New Year! -Bri
    ¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬
    2014 La Jolla Concours D'Elegance Volunteer
    1998 Online Gamer; Everquest, AOE, R6, WOW, SOF
    1981 DeLorean, Grey, Automatic, Flap, 12k preserved miles
    1960 Volkswagen Beetle
    1961 Cadillac Coupe DeVille - *Restoration in Progress*

  9. #19
    Senior Member - Owner since 2003 Patrick C's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by hmcelraft View Post
    My goal is to get the adjustment as close as Patrick's.
    Also be aware that it can be impossible to get both doors working 100% identically. For example, my passenger door is perfect in my 65 degree garage. But my driver door is a little bit weaker and opens a bit slower as a result, as going up one more notch on that torsion bar makes it a bit too strong. So I opted to leave it a tad on the weak side rather than a tad on the strong side. Every DeLorean will be different, I'm sure. And as Rob stated, different temperatures will affect how any gas spring works.

    Quote Originally Posted by hmcelraft
    In all, I would give them a 4.5 on a 5.0 scale. The dampening in the door lift pistons seem to bleed off the opening power - which appears to require the additional torsion bar adjustment to get a smooth door open. I get nervous having the torsion bars tighter than they might otherwise need to be.
    FWIW, I was using a ridiculously strong set of Hervey "soft lift" struts before these. When I installed those, I had to back the torsion bars down a notch from the factory setting. And the doors still rocked the car when opening. I have never found another set of struts that strong...I think they were way overpressurized. For these new PJ Grady struts, I only had to readjust the bars up a notch back to where they were when they left the factory (I still had a sharpie mark on each bar and bracket from when I did the first adjustment.) So I would guess most untouched torsion bars will work fine with Rob's new struts and won't need adjustment.
    Last edited by Patrick C; 01-02-2015 at 04:27 PM.
    Patrick C.
    VIN 1880

  10. #20
    Senior Member skill's Avatar
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    Very Satisfied

    I think it was a really smart buy and awesome deal for $100 for a complete lift pistons set. I had recently bought from the dealer their set about eight months ago and the passenger strut lagged from the get-go leaving about a 8 inch difference. PJ Grady's Lift Pistons corrected this problem, opens the door all the way up smoothly, no bounce and without adjusting the torsion bar! -sKiLL

    http://youtu.be/Bw5AFzvmXmA
    Last edited by skill; 01-25-2015 at 05:20 PM.
    ¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬°¬
    2014 La Jolla Concours D'Elegance Volunteer
    1998 Online Gamer; Everquest, AOE, R6, WOW, SOF
    1981 DeLorean, Grey, Automatic, Flap, 12k preserved miles
    1960 Volkswagen Beetle
    1961 Cadillac Coupe DeVille - *Restoration in Progress*

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