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Hood latch cable broke


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Jeromio, JTR recommends unbolting the hood from underneath and then very carefully lifting it just enough (from the front of the car) to get to the cable & latch under the hood. You just bought yourself some headache. Bummer.

 

Davy

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Yes, I did that to a bud's V8Z one day. Luckily we were in his driveway.

 

Like DavyZ said, undo the hinge to hood bolts and lift front of the hood carefully. Try getting a really long screwdriver or something to move the latch arm that the cable hooks to toward the left side of the car (do this from the side of the hood on the left side). Oh, if it's a RHD car, do it from the right icon_wink.gif.

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i did the same thing, one day i went to open my hood, and i pulled the dang hood release cable all the way to my shoulder trying to open that sucker!! what i did is a little bit wreckless but worked regardless, i bent up the driver side inspection lid where it meets the hood, opened it, slid my arm through, very painful might i add, and opened the latch, only to find it all messed up bent and broken, went with locking hood pins after that, and invested in a battery shut off switch...

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Guest jcp240z

I had this happen to mine.

Easiest way to get it open is to take it to a lift. From underneath you can reach up on the drivers side with a long (36") scccrew driver or pry bar. You go in at a slight angle and can catch and pop the arm the cable pulls on. Took only 5 minutes once I had it up.

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I got it. Drove it up on some ramps. Tried using a long screwdriver, but I couldn't angle it enough to pry the latch. Ended up using a smaller one and shoving my hand waaaaay up there. Took awhile cuz I couldn't see what I was doing. But, I got it.

 

Now I have to replace the cable.....

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Guest Anonymous

quote:

Originally posted by Drax240z:

Nice idea fairlady. Hope it never happens to me, I'd never get the 28" pythons in there! (haha)

 

I donno, I think I'd keep my python out of a Z's access panel. Sorry to hear your only 28" keep working at it.. icon_razz.gif

 

 

Regards,

 

Lone

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Obviously Drax has no troubles with hoodlatches since he can just use his python whenever this issue arises, without even getting out of the car.

 

Sounds like walking from one place to another might give him trouble though....

 

icon_razz.gif

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  • 15 years later...

Like I said before in my post over 15 years ago (#11 above), if you just get a 16 - 18 gauge solid wire, you can hook it to the hood latch lever and then route if into the passenger compartment or over towards the driver's side of the engine compartment, near the brake master cylinder, and then down near the frame rail. I did have a hood latch failure since my post above and all I had to do was reach up under there, find the wire and give it a good pull with a pair of pliers and the hood popped right open, no problem. This is certainly a lot easier than converting to hood pins.

 

Mike MIleski

Tucson, AZ

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  • 4 weeks later...

Mike - I'm not sure if I took this advice from you or not - that was a long time ago.  I used 2 stranded 12 gage wires twisted together and did as you said - they hang down to firewall on the driver's side.  They use the bracket for the gas pedal linkage on the firewall as a "pulley" to change the direction of the force from vertical to horizontal.  Blue insulation on the wires means they are hardly noticeable.

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