Technical Hood latch problem

You guys ain't right! HRP

 

If the cable isn't broke, have someone push down slightly on the hood while you pull the inside handle.

 

I'm not sure how different/similar the '50 and '51 are, but on my '51 there's just enough room to squeeze my hand up and grab the cable.

If I had a pair of pliers or similar, I could grab the cable and pull it towards the driver's side and release the catch.

Hope this helps in some way.

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Thank you for the visual pictures, I never really paid any attention to how the cable was routed when the hood was open, these photo's give me a good idea on what I need to try before I resort to removing the grill. HRP

 

Danny, I've had the same problem once.
Grabbed a piece of welding rod , put a hook in 1 end and slithered it in there and pulled the release.
If ya replace the cable, don't just use a solid cable. Just my opinion
I had a stranded cable made up. Worked much ezier. Good luck.

 

If you can get some stainless stranded cable, or even 1/8-inch stainless rod inside some brake line (very gradual bends), that works for hood cables and emergency brake cables. NEVER will break.

 

The 1950 and 1951 fords have the latch and cable in the same place.

 

John, I got my hand up in that area and felt a cable but it seems to have the spiral covering around it and I couldn't pull it.

I'm afraid I am going to have to remove part of the grill if I can. HRP

 

I stocked up on a few tubes of this for my swap meet/car show booth and haven't sold one yet. It's great for those cables mentioned, hood releases, door key locks, hinges, and especially those stressed out speedo cables. Every old vehicle owner needs it in their kit. So far, when I've suggested it to a customer either they don't know what it is or they want to argue that they don't need it.
Get it, use it, love it, and drive off into the sunset.

 

I bought a tube of that when I was building the wagon, I believe I got it at Grainger and you are right it's the bees knees!

My only problem is that no one used it before I bought the car. HRP

 

Mine was so tight you had to use vise grips on the handle to get enough force to pull it and release the hood. I tried oiling it, but it didn't help, so I just bought a new universal hood cable off eBay.

 

Her - "That's not KY!"

 

Once you get the hood open you will be able to make a tool to pop open hood with a old screwdriver. I came to that conclusion later.
I did not know these old cars had cable release until i was crossing border with a recently purchased '48 chev that had no drivetrain.

 

Yeah, get something hooked on that cable and give it a big hard yank downwards. If it's broken, you can't hurt it anymore than it already is...

 

That cable in the video looks like the shroud is missing. My 47 Linc had a spiral wire shroud all the way to the latch, with only about 3" of the cable wire exposed. Looked like an old timey lawnmower cable with the spiral wire wrap.

If the cable hasn't slipped out of the latch or the keeper, you might be able to do like I did, put a pair of vise grips behind the knob for more leverage pulling the cable. Wouldn't hurt to have someone pushing down on the hood to help get some of the friction off the pin, too.

 

Yours might look like this. Makes it hard to pull the cable by hand, since the housing is clamped down pretty good.

 

Hey, just for a goof I took a piece of welding rod and looped it around the latch, leaving it hanging behind the grille. You know what? It works! I think I’m going to leave it there. Why not? Now there’s a plan B.

I know it doesn’t help you right now, but your thread reinstated my paranoia on this subject. Thanks for that!

 

That's a great tech tip! ^^^^^ Merc's have the same system.

 

Yeah, it's NEVER been there - as you can tell by the lovely Candy Apple paint job on the wire AND the guide AND the winding shroud - the whole car was painted YEARS before my dad bought it for my grandpa, and it's always been like that. I'll replace it one day...

 

Danny, you might get lucky and be able to access the latch from underneath, and pop it open with a large screwdriver or a pry bar. I am not real familiar with shoebox Fords, so I don't know if there is a valance panel or a baffle down there, but if so, it may be easier than pulling the grille.

 

That is what mine looks like. FOMOCO used that system on a lot of makes and models apparently. I like your wire idea for a backup. I was thinking of doing something similar in case my replacement cable broke.

 

Can't help with the cable ,other than you might grab and pulldown to add another tension point as some one pulls inside. Now what might help is one of those cameras from HF for looking into hidden places. I got mine to use once and return. But I love it for so many things I kept it

 

I had a little time this afternoon to do battle with the hood and I twisted & contorted myself like a Chinese acrobat getting my arm up inside the grille, I could feel the spiral cable thanks to the photo's & video and I pulled down on the cable but it didn't release so I imagine the next step is to try removing some of the grille where I can get a pair of needle nose vise grips clamped near the latch. HRP

 

Got Grand Kids?

 

Danny, that's a good idea Matthew is a long lanky teenager and should be able to reach that latch.

 

Do not know how the red shoe box hood release works from inside the car without the outer sheathing and clamp missing. All the pullling in the world wont open the hood with the outer sheathing intact.
Anyway as said this is what it should look like , I fitted a new cable when the old one broke. Think it was a trunk release for something or other.
You can just see at the front edge of the square latch hole the small wire rope we fitted as an emergency release. Obviously the new cable was too small for the old clamp as i have wrapped insulating tape around the sheathing.

 

Some of the late Ford pickups have a short cable and leaver that releases the secondary latch on late model trucks that night make a emergency release you can mount behind the grill.

 

This was a common problem with the 49-51 Fords when we hot rodded them back in the late 50's early 60's. As indicated in an earlier post, usually we could get them open with a hooked rod. Once open, you need to do two things besides replace the cable. First, as also indicated in an earlier response add a short second cable reachable through the grill as a secondary way to release the latch. Second, as demonstrated in another thread on HAMB, add a secondary latch because these hoods were notorious for opening when you were driving resulting in the hood sailing back against the windshield and doing major damage to the vehicle.

 

John,Matthew is at FSU and couldn't make it home for Thanksgiving.

Saturday is going the be the day that darn hood is going to be opened,one way or another.HRP

 

I had to reinforce the mounting point for the handle on my project recently. You could pull the handle but it didn't let the cable slide in the sheath, just the whole thing moved and wouldn't open the hood. It wasn't broken completely off, so the motion was the same. Easy to check under the dash.