Elmer

My hood is stuck closed on my 65 396. My hood latch has always been a little stiff, but I keep it lubed. Now when I pull my hood release , the cable does not appear to move and the hood is not releasing. Can anyone tell me how to get it to release or how to access the cable ??? :cheers:

Elmer in Dallas

magicv8

Pull off the lower splash shields, get a flashlight, and trip the driver side latch. If you have a BB car with the wheel well panel access to the battery, that entry might be a better view of the latch.

KJLVette

Not sure if this is the same thing Dave is describing, but it is available on the Tech Tips page:

How to open the hood on a '66 when the release cable breaks -- 1 of 1
Date Published: 2001-06-16

Submitter's Name: Charles Collier
Email Address:
Corvetteforum.com Member Alias:

What can be more startling than to pull the hood release cable on your mid year corvette and nothing happens?


Never fear, there is one cable running from the release lever (under the dash) to the release mechanism under the hood. There are hood latches on both sides of the hood so assuming the the cross-connecting release cable is still intact (if this cross-connect cable is broken, only one side will release) the car can be jacked up on the drivers side and there is a small triangular panel held in place by three bolts.


When you remove this panel (most of them are removed and discarded anyway), you can reach up into the engine compartment and manually pull the hood release on the drivers side which then will release both sides of the hood.

I got lucky when I had the same problem, my hood at least opened after the cable snapped.

Good Luck
Kevin

Kid_Again

..you have mail

DZVette

Looks like it's pretty well covered here but you might look at this earlier thread (http://forums.corvetteforum.com/zerothread?id=191657). Hope I remember this if my cables ever give out. I do know that you can see the trip lever on the drivers side fairly clearly from under the car (though mine is a SB). Magic's point about pulling the battery access panel makes good sense though. I've never had the one off of my AC 65 but I imagine it should give a pretty straight shot to the lever. Good luck.

magicv8

I have given this piece of advice before: I took a 2 foot piece of stranded steel cable (like light weight bicycle hand brake cable) and tied one end to the latch lever - then threaded the cable through the "firewall" grommet that the Corvette hood release cable passes through. Tie a loop in the end under the dash. If the hood release cable breaks, I'll pull the loop.