1994 F-150 XL

I broke off the trim piece for the hood latch cable in the cab.

Instead of just getting a new cable assembly (F2T8-16C656-AA), I'd like to convert the hood latch to just a regular finger release through the grille. Is there a conversion part available or perhaps a modification I make to abandon the cable portion of the release?

 

I've never seen such a thing to mod the stock items, though you could go with hood pins like you see on race cars.

Also, after seeing a hood flip over the cab of a car on a Houston freeway years ago I've come to appreciate the two-step release. Just sayin.

 

I want to keep the two-step release but accomplish both steps at the grille (like my old '70 Chevelle SS, for example).

 

youll need to create and opening or protrude a lever enough to do so, and to do so i would looke for the hood mechansim and hardware for a hood like this. on my square body, it is quite a bit different than the inside hood release setup, but the hood was designed to accomdoate both, the only difference was the part that that "latches' the hood , so id suspect you could try and adapt something. Youll be limited to bullnose newer trucks because the older ones have a much different shape of hood, i suspect at least.
you cant use GM for parts because they used a pin on the hood side rather than the link-type on these hoods. Otherwise , you have the mechanism on the truck, find the cable and observe how it works, if you want to be crude you can fish the cable out , trim the sheath and solder or crimp a new end on it and then craft a handle for it but realize youre gonna need a lot of pull strength to make a right angle approach (from the front of the grille) that sharp open a hood which is under spring tension i suspect hood shocks kit would make it easier to pull a cable that close because they wont be as much pressure when mostly closed like the springs maybe, the truck will still have the 2step lever of course to prevent it from shooting open

 

ive had the wind catch my f150 hood and thrust it open while driving before, like 30mph. thankfully it was unharmed and i stopped right away. I didnt fully close and forgot it. Im guessing the lever either made way or it overpowered the catch on the secondary release

 

Problem solved

 

you even opted for the rubber finger protector! Nice touch!

 

Paint it light grey and you'll never notice it.