But you would think if a Monte was going to have a strut tower brace, it would be the one with the more powerful engine.

I've never seen a picture of a Monte with the grab handle. But I'm not really missing it though. If it hangs down while the trunk is open, it would probably get in my face and bother me to the point where I just took it off anyway.

The trunk lock I like. If the popper doesn't work for some reason, I can still get into the trunk with the key. Like if my battery goes dead, and I need to get into the trunk to get the booster cables. I don't want to have to pry open the backseat backrest and crawl through to the emergency release handle.

Only 1 hood strut??? Is it bigger than the two on your 03? What side is it on? Seems to me that wouldn't be very safe. And it would eventually cause your hood to warp wouldn't it?
Is there mounting points on the other side to install a second one if you want? To me that makes no sense to have two struts on the trunk lid, but only one on the hood.

 

Taz, the hood strut is on the drivers side. I guess if my trunk release fails I could always fold down the back seat and go through that way - I hope it has an emergency trunk release HeeHeeHee.

 

Do you have the mounting post for the passenger side hood strut? Or did they do like the strut tower brace and not include the mounts?

This is total crap how GM started cheaping out on stuff like that.

 

I'm not sure, I don't know if you can see it in this pic

here is the other side: