I was going to adjust my hood spring tension today because when I pull my hood release the hood does not pop up enough and I have to lift while pulling the release.

I see a slot for a screwdriver but could not get it to turn. I did not want to force it with vise grip as it does not appear to be metal.

Do these adjust? I see threads on the pin that holds the spring.

Thx

 

Nevermind did a search. I have to find the gas charged hood prop. I replaced the helper ones.

 

FWIW there is a locking ring. When the ring is turned loose a bit you should be able to adjust the tip with a big flat head then tighten the lock.

Also clean the whole area and apply white litium grease.

Lube your pull cables too...

and get a hair cut! :P

 

You need to loosen the giant lock nut to turn the pin. Turning the pin sets the depth that it goes into the latch mechanism. It has nothing to do with the spring tension. If the pin goes in too far the hood will be loose. If it doesn't go in far enough the hood will not pop up when the release handle is pulled (it binds on the latch or won't latch). You can check it by pushing down on a corner the hood while it's latched. There should be a TINY amount of play. When you push down, the hood hits the rubber bumper at the rear of the latch. When you let go, the spring pushes up until the latch catches the pin.

Sometimes you can get a better release by moving the pin in relation to the latch. The pin should go into the center of the latch. The factory recommended method is to put white grease on the latch and see how the pin wipes away the grease, which shows which direction to move the pin. I saw a post where the guy put masking tape on the latch and grease on the pin and lowered the hood until the pin touched the masking tape.

You can buy a GM hood latch upgrade kit that has heavier springs (the springs are no longer available separately). I have seen these kits for $189, so I decided to live with lifting the hood while pulling the release handle... If you are able to somehow find the heavier springs, they have larger diameter spring retainers, so you need those too.

 

DON'T MESS with the Hood PIN/SPRING ! ! !

Thats NOT your problem.

Those springs are to cushion the closing and hold the latch tight so the hood is not smashed against the solid frame.
IF you start screwing that spring IN to attempt to create spring tension to "help" pop the hood....you WILL end up getting the hood so smashed down (in a bind) on the latch that you will never get it to release again. LOOK at the corners...there are a few little rubber bumper post. Those adjust. Look at the springs in the latch pins...if thosen get screwed IN,...you can "over-close" and lock that thing down forever.

Look for the fresh helper shocks and/or the gas strut. Clean and lube the cable release so its a clean release. With fresh shocks it will once again "pop"...for a while at least.

 

Thanks all!

I will try putting some white grease on and see if the pins are aligned. I will also look into the GM latch upgrade.

We used to ajust the pins out on cars so the springs would be less pre-compressed to have the hood pop up better. I mostly did this on cars with one spring in the middle. Not on a Vette.

I did replace the help shocks. I will look for the gas charged prop.

 

The springs at the latches ARE indeed there to help push the hood up and inch or so, when the latch is released. That IS their function.

The gas struts' job is NOT to lift the hood that firs inch or so, and the geometry of those lift assist rams is such that there is no possible way that they could. New lift assist rams will not help this situation.

Having said that, they don't generally come out of adjustment or fatigue so issues with the hood not "popping up" are usually related to dirty/not properly lubricated latching mechanisms.

 

I tried adjusting out the pins but it affected the level of the hood. It left a gap like it was not closed all the way.

I adjusted the pins back in some and loosened the whole assembly on the hood (passenger side) and let the hood go down slowly which moved it in the right position. I then tightened it up and it worked fine. I also cleaned off the old lube and re-lubed it.

Thanks,