Hood Release Pull Cable - Broke!!

[moritz55]

First let me thank 260z ... post #9 to this link.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4519

Hello all, just wanted to resurrect this old post since I was successful in opening my front hood after my hood release pull cable broke. The sketch in post #9 to the link above is excellent. I bought a 5/16" diameter piece of 3 foot long soft metal stock at Home Depot (~$5.00). It bent pretty well in my hand vise but is reigid enough to withstand lateral force. I bent it such that it had a ~1" loop and an 8"-9" short leg with the rest being the long leg (~2ft long). See my photos....

Jacked the car up, and from the driver side close to the firewall, I placed this Loop into the wedge where the cable pull lever is. You have to feel for it a bit as it's 1" away from the firewall and 1/2" below the top part of the wedge holding the hood down. It doesn't take much to pull it outward toward the driver side of the car... and it popped the hood easily. The longest part of the job was jacking the car up and removing the Driver side front wheel.

I have rigged up a temporary pull line that I reach from below the car until I get a new hood release latch cable from MSA.

Hope this gives others confidence on how to open the hood when the cable is broken WITHOUT pulling the hood off!

Many thanks again to 260z member for this advice and good luck to others ...

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Edited October 13, 2009 by moritz55