Adjusting a hood latch
 

C.L. Colbert's question on hood latches got me thinking. I've heard mention on these forums that the standard reach-through-the-grille latches are adjustable. How do I do that? Mine is pretty well lubed up, but I still have to kneel on the hood and really reef on it to make it pop.

It's only a matter of time until I bust that handle off. :-X16

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance for your help.

You may turn up a lot of good info by doing a search, because it seems that
I remember seeing some good info on this, I think that I saw something at
top of this forum on adjusting hood latch, in tips and tricks hope this helps some!


:-X06 :-X06 :-X0A6


P.S Welcome to (FTE)!

it was mentioned, but not explained
 

four-sixty-power mentions that it's adjustable in the tips and tricks thread, but there is no procedure. Anyone know how to do this?

The rest of that tips and tricks thread is pure gold however.

Hi! Long time no post on my part. I didn't realize I didn't explain how to adjust it.

Open your hood,
Look at the latch,
You should see that the assembly is held on with 2 bolts,
The bolts go to clips through big holes(I think they were clips),
When you loosen the bolts, the whole assembly is adjustable,
With it loose,
Bring your hood down without closing it,

Line up the latch on the loose part so that the angled part / will slide easy on the bent dowel on the hood and retighten the bolts.

I did this a few times on mine to get it just right. :)

It helps a lot to lubricate the hood hinges to make it easier(less resistance) for the hood coilspring to lift the weight of the hood off the latch - Hence "popping the hood" :) or as mine does - SPROOOIING!!!

Far as I can tell, the hood coilspring and bent dowel rod are not adjustable, just screwed into place

I had a project truck one time that I had just bought and closed the hood and drove it to the tire place, I went to open the hood and no way in.....would it open, the mechanic went to get his wrench to unbolt the whole latch assembly(2 bolts) and we opend the hood with the latch still secured to the hood. :)
(note: truck was missing 79 eggcrate grille insert at the time, I don't think this would work with insert in place)

Now you know how I learned :)

Perfect
 

That is outstanding. Having a hood that I can open without sitting on it will really help pick up the chicks. The rust and broken parts however will not. Oh well, one more mytery solved.

Thanks.