Has anyone tried this on a '76?

 

I don't have anything that looks like that plate on my 82 CE . I can lie under the car and see all the way up through the engine bay to the hood clip on the drivers side but rather than having to do that , I have hung a wire from the lever , down the firewall right to about the area you are pointing to. With this I can just pull on the wire and release both clips. The problem arises if the cable between the two clips breaks , in which case you can open one clip (drivers side ) but not the Pass side. There is no way on an A/C car to reach up and flip the latch as all of the A/C gubbins and the fire walll is in the way .
As L82 Shark said you can (if you can see around corners , have rubber fingers and if you are either very lucky or very patient ) use a screw driver through the grommet and pop the lever. I just had a play with the pass side latch for ten mins or so and have managed to attach a wire to the same pin that the hood cable between the two latches attaches. then I poked a small hole through the grommet and threaded the wire through it . A small loop on this end of the wire (to make it easier to pull ) and there you go , if you pull the wire in a pass side to drivers side direction ( ie towards the steering wheel) you can easily pop the pass latch.
My hood is not stuck at the moment but at least now I have some chance if the cable breaks .
I can post pics later if anyone wants them - let me know

 

Good info. I wasn't sure if my method would apply for years post 1972. it may also work on 68's&69's since they have the same hood style hood and wiper area set up. 73 and up no longer has the vacum operated wiper door as 68 thru 72, giving it a longer hood and throwing everything off on the layout for popping the hood like you can on the 68 thru 72's.

 

aaaaarghhh.. Its like a built in fail switch...guaranteed to fail, just wished I would have see this first and done the proactive repair prior to failure, now I can see why thre are so many posts on this subject. Problem is I can not see any grommett holes from looking through the wiper cowl area and there appears to be no easy way to reach from underneath. The Driver side will unlatch, just barley enough to get fingers under the hood (without cutting them off) but can not reach the cable running to stuck passenger side. HELP! Can you send pictures and walk me through it?
Thanks..

 

Sorry it took so long to reply to this - not been around for a while , my laptop decided to freak out on me so.......
Anyway the gromet is about 4.5 inches in from the edge of the hood on the drivers side in the firewall and it is directly in front of the hood latch , It will be pretty tough to reach it with th hhod closed but with a flash light , you should be able to see it - i have awiper compartment cover on mine which makes it even more difficult but can see the gromet with the hood shut. You need to get a long screwdriver a small electricians type will work best - but a long , or something similar and push it through the gromet high up (towards the top of the grommet) then fiddle about trying to feel the topof the latch and push down on the release and it should pop.
If you havent got it sorted and you still need pics - let me know and I will sort some out

 

How frustrating is this, I can barely get my fingers in and try to negotiate a little flashlight help at the same time, but wallah, finally got it. My issue was the passenger side which was even tougher, I found the trick was to remove the wiper blade arm assembly and then I found the grommet. I got it opened to reveal the stretched out cable and have now ordered new main cables as well as emergency back-up cables. Thanks to all of you who have shared my pain, keep up the great tips!

 

After the second time that I could not get the hood to open I just removed to two male hood pins. If you want to open my hood just lift it! PG.

 

My cable snapped and I had to do this 3 times thanks to two different shops I told not to drop the hood because I didn't have the new cable yet. The first time was the hardest because I didn't know what I was looking for. I don't think I have those splash shields on my 74 though. I'm right at 6 ft and any shorter would be getting hard to reach. Lay on your back just behind the drivers side front tire and reach up with your left arm. Use the brake booster to guide your hand up and around. With your arm almost fully extended, feel for the broken cable then the release bracket. At that position, finding the release lever should be fairly easy. Then, have someone push down on the hood on the drivers side right above you and push the lever. It will release both sides easily. You will kill your hand otherwise. I had to do this once without anyone helping and it was considerably more difficult. I used a battery to set on the hood about mid way to take some of the stress of the hood release so I could push the lever, but also allow it to move out of the latch a little. Hope this helps!

 

WHILE LOOKING AT THE FIRST PIC I NOTICED A SMALL BUTTON LOOKING THINGY ON THE TOP LEADING EDGE OF THE FENDER GILL. IS IT THERE FOR WATER DRAINAGE?