The basic design does not have anything to support the forward baggage bay door in the open position. This would be a real pain, as it would mean you would have to hold the door with one hand, which would only leave one hand to deal with loading or unloading things. Some folks make a support rod, somewhat similar to the one that props the hood open on many smaller cars. Some folks use a gas strut. I liked the folding support arm that I first saw on Randy Lervold's site.

One day a few weeks ago Terry and I looked for a folding support arm in the aviation section of Home Depot. But they didn't have anything at all. They said that Lee Valley Tools probably carried what we needed. Terry likes that place, so she volunteered to go have a look. A few days later she went there and asked for two, but it turned out that there are two in each package, so she ended up with four (all their stock is in a warehouse - you fill out an order form, give it to a staff member, and a few minutes later they come back with your stuff). She had purchased lid stays, designed to support the lid of a wooden trunk.

I started messing around with them, to figure out how to mount one. At first I didn't like the bend near the end, so I tried to straighten one out, but ended up destroying it. One down, three to go. The pivot in the middle is a bit stiff, so I experimented with the broken one to see how to loosen up the joint. I then tried to loosen the joint on the second one, but overshot the mark, making it too loose to use. At this point I was glad she had purchased four of them.

I pop-riveted a mounting bracket to the door, and discovered a perfectly placed bolt on the firewall that could be used to mount the other end. I need to buy a slightly longer screw for the top end to pivot on.

The support arm just fits between the two mounts for the electronic ignition box - the arm will fold into the small space between the electronic ignition and the firewall. I didn't mount the electronic ignition directly on the firewall, as I didn't want to subject it to too much heat.