Front Hood latch adjustment 1971 911T

[TommyV]

I had my hood painted by a friend of a friend. He didn't pull my brand new frunk seal, so the buffing process left a lot of gunk on it. I pulled the seal to clean it and ever since (with no seal) the hood latches, but I have difficulty opening it. It's like the spring on the latch post isn't strong enough (without help from the seal pushing up) to push the post out of the latch. I removed the latch from the cable, cleaned it, made sure it was moving freely and then greased it with white lithium grease and reinstalled it.

After this the hood latches and would release if I put some upward pressure on it (Since I was working alone, I rigged some bungie cords under the front lip to pull up on the hood while I pulled the release cable in the car). But it was touch and go.

I decided to try adjusting the post. I figured if I shortened the post by screwing it in 1.5 turns it would tighten the spring and give it more force to lift it out of the latch when I pulled the release cable. Now, even with the bungie cords rigged, I can't get it to open. It "pops" when the cable is pulled, but when I go around and lift, it's still latched at least part way. The safety catch that you release by hand at the front is not the issue. If I push down, it latches fully again. Looking for advise.

Tom

[Silverbullit]

I've experienced this, and found that I had pulled the release cable too tightly when setting the latch set screw. Doing this caused the latch release to remain partially 'open', allowing the hood to "Pop up".
Re-set the cable set screw such that the latch release (the part that slides away when cable pulled) is fully engaging the pin.
Hope that helps.

[TommyV]

I've experienced this, and found that I had pulled the release cable too tightly when setting the latch set screw. Doing this caused the latch release to remain partially 'open', allowing the hood to "Pop up".
Re-set the cable set screw such that the latch release (the part that slides away when cable pulled) is fully engaging the pin.
Hope that helps.

Brian, thanks for your reply. My hood stays down until I pull the cable, then it pops up, but won't fully open. I did tighten the the set screw a little (moved it down the cable to tighten it) when I R&R'd the latch, but it was behaving this way before I adjusted the set screw. Any suggestions on how to get it open? I'll get my son to come over tonight and pull the cable while I lift the hood and see if that helps.

Tom

[blucille]

a couple of things.

it sounds like the latch isn't centered on the pin, best way to figure this out is to put a coating of grease of the latch (after it is very clean, and the pin, too) and gently rest the pin into the latch assembly, see where the transfer occurs.

The other, as discussed already, the latch has a safety, such that if the cable breaks, the latch will open, releasing the pin. Knowing this, now it becomes clear, if the cable is either too loose or too tight, even by a little, you won't get the desired results. With the cable fully pulled, you shouldn't see any bit of the tang that grasps the pin. If that is the case, then you have a physical adjustment task to perform on the latch or the pin assembly. The spring need not be too tight, in fact as you depress a closed hood, typically I've found it should have 1/8" of movement....if too tight it could bind against the tang in the latch.

hope this makes sense.

[TommyV]

a couple of things.

it sounds like the latch isn't centered on the pin, best way to figure this out is to put a coating of grease of the latch (after it is very clean, and the pin, too) and gently rest the pin into the latch assembly, see where the transfer occurs.

The other, as discussed already, the latch has a safety, such that if the cable breaks, the latch will open, releasing the pin. Knowing this, now it becomes clear, if the cable is either too loose or too tight, even by a little, you won't get the desired results. With the cable fully pulled, you shouldn't see any bit of the tang that grasps the pin. If that is the case, then you have a physical adjustment task to perform on the latch or the pin assembly. The spring need not be too tight, in fact as you depress a closed hood, typically I've found it should have 1/8" of movement....if too tight it could bind against the tang in the latch.

hope this makes sense.

It does make sense. Thanks for your input. When I R&R'd the latch to clean and grease, I removed the upper part that attaches to the hood and I put it in the latch and covered it with a towel so it wouldn't scratch anything and pulled the cable to confirm that it would release. Then I reattached it to the hood lightly and allowed it to center on the latch before I tightened it, hoping that would get the alignment right. There is a slight bend in the base of the upper part that attaches to the hood and while the pin looks straight, that could be what's causing the binding. Looks like I have a couple issues to resolve, starting with getting the hood open again! )

[TommyV]

Ok, over lunch I had an assistant pull the cable while I tried to get the hood to release. No dice. Next I looked at the handle (knob) inside the cab and found out it unscrews. I unscrewed it from the cable releasing all tension and now the hood won't latch all the way (as expected) but it also won't open. I suspect that sonett43 has it correct and the pin is misaligned. My next steps this evening will be to try to get a wire around the pin and pull it in various directions to see if I can get it to release. If that doesn't work I'll try to get a 10mm in there and loosen the bolts holding the upper assembly to the hood. Any other suggestions?

[blucille]

search is your friend. I vaguely remember a thread where 'the master'....most likely Ed Mayo, discussed how you can access the underside of the latch and varu=ious methods for getting the hood open.

Also, keep in mind, some downward pressure on the hood while assistant pulls on the cable can and should work wonders.

The other trick I've seen is to use side-to-side motion to try to move the pin away from the direction of the tong, to get that extra 1/8" needed to pop the thing free.

[NTW]

I always like to adjust the hood without the gas tank installed :-) Now that you are stuck you just need someone to pull the release while you wrestle the hood about by prying your fingers under the leading edge. More than likely a tug forward will get you clear but you just need to try all angles side to side and front to back until you get it open. Once you are open and aligned, report back and we'll talk about giving it more pop.

[TommyV]

I always like to adjust the hood without the gas tank installed :-) Now that you are stuck you just need someone to pull the release while you wrestle the hood about by prying your fingers under the leading edge. More than likely a tug forward will get you clear but you just need to try all angles side to side and front to back until you get it open. Once you are open and aligned, report back and we'll talk about giving it more pop.

Thanks for the input. I definitely have it unlatched now and I'm almost certain it's the misaligned pin. My theory is that the weather stripping was causing enough upward pressure on the closed hood to change the angle of the pin slightly. I did try moving the hood around side to side and torquing it, but that didn't work. I can feel the 10mm bolts that hold the latch, so, in theory, I can get a wrench on them. I'll give all of this a try and run some more searches and report back.

Thanks!

[RSTarga]

Loosening the 10mm bolts will not unlatch. At least it didn't work for me. Tape the paint areas and try and slide a hook of some type to maneuver the pin around.