Problem with Hood release cable

[Deleted User]

Hi Guys i have a problem whit my hood realese cabel on my 52 hudson hornet the cabel is loose so i cant get the hood up.. Anybody have tip how tho do to the easy way to get the hood up so i can fix the cabel

Best Jan Sweden

Jon B

Hood releases were the topic of a recent discussion, maybe you can get some ideas from that:
http://openforum.hetclub.org/discussion/comment/194497#Comment_194497

[Deleted User]

Hi Jon B that discussion are about the hood pop up my is stuck because my hood realese cable is broke I can't get the hood open are it's some way the get it up
From outside ? There is no space to get under the hood in front. I have a Hudson Hornet 52

Browniepetersen

About the only way to get the hood up is to take a wrench and unscrew or unbolt the four bolts that hold the striker plate to the cross member. Often just getting them loose will make it so the hood will open. It is a tight fit but your best option. someone once told me to cut a hole in the hood--much less problem to weld it back in after you open the hood?

Jon B

A friend encountered this same difficulty with his '51 Studebaker.  In that instance, we unbolted the two lower grilles (the "shark's mouth) in order to reach up under the radiator baffle (?) which holds the hood latch.  And managed to release the hood.

You can possibly reach through the grille and up under the baffle.   The remote cable is attached the the spring latch ABOVE the baffle so you can't merely grab the lever and slide it over.  However, you will see the stud or "plunger" (fastened to the hood) protruding down through the latch.  The latch slides sideways, so you might get a screwdriver up there and pry the latch so it pulls away from the stud, and allows the hood to open.  (While you are doing all this prying, have a friend push DOWN on the hood so the tension is released, making it easier to pry the latch.)

You can see what all of this stuff looks like by going to the H-E-T website (I will assume for the moment that you've registered at the website), and looking under LIBRARY / MANUALS (old site).  Find the 1948-54 body manual and click on it.  Then go to page 67 (type "73) in to the page search; don't ask why!).  You'll find a section on the hood latch and hinge.  There, you can see what the latch looks like.  Basically there is a flat plate with a large hole in it.  When the hood is closed, the wide part of the plunger goes through that hole, and is held there by the sideways motion of the sliding latch plate.  The plate is held shut by a spring, so by putting the screwdriver between the plunger and the plate, and prying, you can force the plate away from the plunger.  Then the plunger (and the whole hood) can be raised.

Wish I could offer more help but my car is from an era long before they dreamed of having remote hood latches!

[Deleted User]

I have solve the problem I took a schrewdravier and put it back off the plunger and reach the mechanics who lock the plunger works great nothing destroy the cable was broken

RL Chilton

Take a wire coat hanger, bend the hook a bit, stick it up under the cross tie piece and into the latch hole right on the latch, and pull it, it will pop open. Look at the attached photos.

That's the way I have done it on a number of occasions on the later step-downs.  Works like a charm.