Hi,
This weekend I was pondering the remote release on my bootlid. Small third button on the remote unlocks and uncatches the boot for easy access.

The background to this is that my previous car (Pug 607) had a remote powered boot which was awesome! Imagine walking up with bags of shopping and the boot opens up wide via remote.

Now I got thinking that since the Stilo uncatches the boot lid when you press the release button, is there perhaps a way to power or spring load it to open up properly?

A neat solution would be coil springs on the dampers but I think they'd have to be very powerful to work given their angle of leverage.
Other alternatives maybe a spring somewhere else or a spring loaded strip.

Interesting project or duff?

Cheers

Moogs

I wouldn't stand too close though mate - it would chin you.

Sounds like an interesting project if you've got the time and the relevant know how to pull it off, would be worth looking into the mechanism involved in doing it on the cars that have it

LOL. Could also be used to help you clean upstairs windows: Park near by, lean on boot, go, and suddenly you're on the roof!

I was just about to post that (what Matt has writen).

So many ways to do it and most will be inpractical.

The Negotiator said:

I was just about to post that (what Matt has writen).

So many ways to do it and most will be inpractical.

Click to expand...

Great minds think alike

How about these, look er good driving along. Pop the catch and up goes the boot.

Hehe, yep - I was just pricing up some Estes 'D' rocket motors, though £2 every time the boot opens, a fire hazard and sparks might be going too far.

It's one of those problems that might not even have a workable solution but it's fun puzzling it (yes, geeky engineer type I am).

But, the bottom line was that on the Pug it was bloomin ace. I miss it.

You need to fit 'something' that will open the tailgate to the point where the OE hydraulic lifters take over, :chin: .

Put a small boy in your boot, to open it accordingly

What you need is a Trunk Monkey©

Yeah but the monkey would take up too much space in the trunk and you wouldn't want that!!!! plus you have to feed it and you don't want that either, it's allready expensive enough to run a car!!!!!

Seriously though, id also love to have the boot open automaticaly; i looked at it a coulple of times and you needn't really lift it that far for the boot to open on it's own so maybe a good strong spring wouldn't be such a bad idea

Would you be able to use the same kinda thing that you use for door poppers, they might be able move the boot far enough for the existing struts to kick in.............they might not provide enough kick tho

The gas struts are not exactly strong... at the moment. I wonder if a set of coils fitted around the outside of the 'piston' part might take over from a launch spring. Can't see an electro-mechanical method being feasible but springs maybe.

You could look into building some sort of hydrolic lifting contraption that could be acivated by the same mechanism that releases the catch once you press the button on the remote... should be farely cheap and simple enough to build :chin:

Must admit when i first read the manual i thought that the boot would spring up when the button was pressed, imagine my disappointment...
If any one works this out post it up, sounds cool.
not allowed to fiddle with the wifes car, only my old landy!

could you not just find a car in a scrappy with a remote boot popper and remove the motor and struts from that?

I would also be thinking along the lines of a small 'pusher'; that pushes the lid open enough for the OE struts to take it up to the top.

Quick test would be to see how far the lid has to be opened before the struts take over, then see if a long reach 12 V solenoid pusher would be long enough (positioned carefully) and voila.

That would be the easier way, IMO

Have you heard of the RS Catalog?

I]Nothing to do with Fords!!!![/I]

It contains all sorts of magic things including buffers/shock absorbers that may be useful to auto boot opener.

fitting possible to small coil springs along bottom of the tailgate - But then not the best place if your in and out your boot!!

you need to put the tailgate under enough pressure that once its been "popped" by the remote is pushes the boot upwards enough for the lifters to do the work.

Another alterative is to replace tailgate lifters with bonnet lifters?

You can by these components, these are called gas filled struts.

You need to do some research onto the amount of pressure per square kilogram??!!

This info may be avaliable in RS book or online.

If you need any special brackets etc fabricating i would be more than willing to help.

I own a mechanical engineering business so if you have got an idea or a drawing i would be happy to try and sort something out!

That goes for all Stilo owners and possibly other fiat owners!!

hmmm.... very interestin Q