See Seamus’ prior posts....he has some lingering disability from a stroke and typing is difficult for him. I think he is asking how to release the hood latch on his Mercury when the release cable has broken.
First thing is to remove the Grill. Then you can get to the latch arm where the cable attaches. As I remember it's quite a tight space and I made a kind of hook out of an old screwdriver to pull the latch arm with. I'm pretty sure I still have that tool being I had to use it on my 51 Ford about 4 years ago. I'll get some photos for you tomorrow morning.
To refresh your memory this is the latch installed and the cable fastens to that little short lever sticking up. Not much to get a hold of and you must pull it horozontal to get it to release. It's a Bitch at best. Note the wire wrapped around it. So this is what I made to get the job done. I will explain that piece of tube further on. The reason for the Fancy hook is so that it stays in place while your pulling sideways. Getting in there as I remember really sucks. In this case Size really does matter in that space is very tight and angle of pull is difficult. This will give you something to work from. Having someone push down on the Hood to unload the latch jaw really helps unload the spring tension. Being this happened to me more than once I tied a wire on the latch arm with that little piece of tube and left it hidden behind the Horn some 30 years ago and have never had to remove the Grill again, or for that fact use the back up wire to open the Hood. The piece of tube is so the wire don't cut into your finger while pulling. P.S. My 51 Vicky also has a back up wire being I also got to remove her Grill shortly after I finished it up. Hope this helps ya.
The Jalopy Journal
