Having issues with my hood not opening

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Dec 22, 2008 | 12:32 AM

AcidShizno

Thread Starter

Cruising

Joined: Sep 2008

Posts: 13

Likes: 1

From: Bakersfield area More communist than china

Having issues with my hood not opening

Hey there folks. I have a 75 coupe and I just put a rebuilt engine in it. You can imagine my extreme disappointment when I put the hood on and it now wont open. I have figured out that it isn't a latch issue, it's that I misaligned the hood a bit while adjusting it and now the passenger side wont come loose. I don't think it's the actual latch though. I think it's the assembly that the latch attaches to, with the hole in it for the pin to fit through, which what is catching it. I've tried using a hooked wire to pull on the assembly and I've tried to move the hood all around to get it to open, but it wont go any higher than maybe a half inch. Is there anyone here who has had this problem before? How did you guys manage to fix the problem without breaking the hood? I sure hope it doesn't come to that...

Thanks for any help you can give.

Lee

Dec 22, 2008 | 08:49 AM

Durango_Boy

Team Owner

Joined: Aug 2006

Posts: 24,125

Likes: 15

From: Columbia Missouri

If it's caught on the latch plate itself and not the latch release you'll be in for a battle.

Does the car have A/C?

Dec 22, 2008 | 10:53 AM

AcidShizno

Thread Starter

Cruising

Joined: Sep 2008

Posts: 13

Likes: 1

From: Bakersfield area More communist than china

Yes it has AC. That tank on the passenger fender well gets in my way of being able to reach the latch assembly very well. Does anyone have a picture of their passenger side latch assembly so I can see exactly what I'm dealing with?

Dec 22, 2008 | 02:32 PM

dobroman2001

Racer

Joined: Jan 2007

Posts: 385

Likes: 3

From: RTP NC

Quote:

Originally Posted by AcidShizno

Here's pics of my '76.... not sure if they are the same or not.

http://s189.photobucket.com/albums/z...%20if%20stuck/

Dec 24, 2008 | 01:20 AM

AcidShizno

Thread Starter

Cruising

Joined: Sep 2008

Posts: 13

Likes: 1

From: Bakersfield area More communist than china

Hey thanks man, I managed to finally get brutal with it and it popped open. The picture helped me to picture what had happened in my mind. Thanks again!

Dec 24, 2008 | 11:17 AM

djsc3

Intermediate

Joined: Mar 2006

Posts: 26

Likes: 0

My left side won't pop, what did you do to open it??? HELP PLEASE

Dec 24, 2008 | 12:09 PM

rponfick

Drifting

Joined: Nov 2002

Posts: 1,692

Likes: 207

From: Loveland, CO

I put masking tape over the receiving hole in the hood and then lower the hood lightly enough to make a imprint of the point on the body. Then move stuff around so point is in center of receiving hole. That's what I did on my '69 and '73. Not sure if later latches are the same.

Nothing like the suspense of lowering the hood, pushing it closed to latch, and then pulling to release lever to see what happens.

Good luck.

Ralph.

Dec 25, 2008 | 01:58 PM

AcidShizno

Thread Starter

Cruising

Joined: Sep 2008

Posts: 13

Likes: 1

From: Bakersfield area More communist than china

Hey DJ, do you mean drivers side? That one never gave me a problem really. But for the passenger side, as brutal as it sounds, my hood was offset to the drivers side a bit, so what I did was lift the drivers side of the hood and stuff clean rags under it, then I put a piece of thin pine between the fender and the hood on the drivers side and pryed it towards the passengers side. Remember now, mine wasn't being stopped by the connecting cable not working, mine was caught on the latch assembly housing. If yours is because you cant get the latch to move, you should lift the side of the hood that will pop up and snake a wire across the engine bay to pull on the tab for the latch.