Parodi Cigar

I am at my wits end trying to get my left hood latch to hold on my 68 C3. Does anyone have one of these hood latch adjustment tools laying around that I can have? (Or borrow? I'm happy to pay shipping both ways.)

Peterbuilt

Here's some information on centering the two parts.
You still may have to adjust the spring.

Rescue Rogers

68s pop open all the time. my right side (passenger) is usually the culprit over railroad tracks and pot holes. If you adjust the latch too much and cant get it open, find a railroad crossing, that got mine to open for me.
A friends dad had one new and his popped all the time, thats why i dont chase it anymore

I did adjust it and its better but Ive only been on 3 cruises this year

Parodi Cigar

Mine is worse than that. Hood pops open when I shut a door. I could tolerate an occasional bump in the road. I'm on a mission to fix it...

Parodi Cigar

Hey, look what I just found on Wilcox Corvette!!! A brand new item...
And they have posted instructions on how to use it to adjust a hood.

DUB

Best of luck to you in your mission to fix this issue.

I have also encountered 1968-1972's that had the exact same issue. Adjust it a hair to one side and the hood would lock down and not open...adjust the hair the other way..it would pop open.

I found that it was at the firewall/plenum mounting area on the right side. The hood pin and plate could move and flex rather easily due to age...or shear design that seems to have failed....due to numerous years of use.

Also if your hood hinges have wear/play in them..this can also be a culprit.

DUB

sullyman56

If you haven’t already bought one of the hood alignment tools I have one that you can borrow if you want. PM me for my address.

ronarndt

I fretted with this problem on my 68 convert and finally used a "belt and suspenders" solution. I have the passenger side (usually the culprit) adjusted firmly enough that it risks not opening......but I also have an emergency wire attached to the release mechanism and the wire is discretely taped to the underside of the hood where I can reach it to pull to open, if needed.

Parodi Cigar

Thank you so much for your offer! I had placed an order for the tool before I saw your post.

Parodi Cigar

I am definitely going to put that safety wire on mine. Great idea!

marshal135

Once again Great thread!
DUB you don't have a fix for this.
Your our go to guy here.
Marshal

DUB

I do have fix for it. Or at least I did some work on one that seemed to have fixed it.

The repair that I used is something that I pretty much guarantee no one would do. So...that is why I did not mention it. Because I cannot guarantee that if someone did it like I did it..that would fix the issue. But I DID say in my past post where I felt the problem was at. Which was a 'hint'.

DUB

ronarndt

There is also an access hole that you can use to put a bent rod or screwdriver through. There are a number of posts on that procedure, but it requires a little practice to know where to push when you can't see where the rod is going.

DUB

I will say that all of the cables and rods used to open a locked down hood will do NO GOOD if the hood is pinched...and actually needs to be physically moved to open it up due to it being in a severe bind.

The cable and/or rod is NOT the fix-all. But it will help IF the hood cable is broken.

DUB

calwldlife

yup.
my 68 pass side often popped up.
no biggie for me.

C376FL

My drivers side latch will pop open if I don't make sure that I push the hood release handle all the way back in. And push down hard on the hood above the latch on the drivers side. It seems to catch, and stays closed.

Lobzila

My drivers side kept popping up on mine. Just took a long time and many adjustments to get it working correctly. I put masking tape over the hole in the hood and let the hood lay down enough to put a hole where it was centered.
Good luck.

0Willcox Corvette

When you receive your tool use these instructions to get the lock aligned properly http://repairs.willcoxcorvette.com/1...ent-procedure/

Parodi Cigar

I thought I'd post a follow-up to my original post about my 1968 C3 driver's side hood latch that would not stay latched (in case anyone else might find this useful)...

Through the Forum, I found out that a 1969 driver's-side latch could be modified to work in my '68. So, I replaced my worn latch with a '69 latch. I then replaced both male lock assembly parts and the latch-to-latch cable. Still popped open.

Then an epiphany ... I removed the too-fat weather strip. Viola! Perfect function!!!!!!! I cannot make the latch pop open by hitting a bump! It seems that the too-fat weather strip was causing the entire issue!

Now .... does anyone have a recommendation for a thinner weather strip? I know the weather strip helps keep engine heat off the cockpit and also protects the firewall components from water (no a problem here in Arizona, however).

Is anyone out there running a car with no hood weatherstrip? If yes, any issues?

suprspooky

I'm happy to hear that I wasn't the only one that fought with the Latch adjustment. I just couldn't bring myself to post for help about something so seemingly easy and that I was sure would only take one more tweek. I don't think anything I've fought with on the Car pissed me off as much, I used tape pretty early in the process (due to fear of not being able to get the passenger side open ever). I'm guessing I spent a legit 7 hours over two nights to get it mostly pop free (68 Vert.) so that only the worst RR Tracks affect it now, I do have a broken rear body mount that I'm guessing isn't helping, Now I can make a tool to help when I put the fresh air hood on, thanks for sharing.