Hood latches but won't pop up

[Daniel]

Hi members,
Any advise on adjusting the hood latch? First time I shut it tight, after return from body and paint, it latched properly but would not pop up. The cable works properly. Prior to installing it onto the hood,I inserted the spring rod into the receiver until it latched. I pulled the cable and whaalaa the thing shot six feet into the air and then back down on my freshly painted hood, which luckily was on the prop so it just kinda deflected off leaving a very small buff-able mar. That was just the beginning. I then bolted the spring rod to the hood, lowered it carefully to check the alignment, and pushed gently until it latched. Beautiful, until I pulled the release to open it!! Guess what, it didn't pop up like before. The release cable works just fine and I will install a back up, as suggested numerous times. That isn't the problem. Now after an hour of work I have a nice dent in the cowl from the tool I used to get the hood up. I got it high enough to get a long skinny screwdriver under it to hit the spring rod until it released. Alas, the damage is done. I'm disappointed, heartbroken, frustrated and afraid to latch it down again for fear of this happening all over again. Is there a way to test fit??
Any advise or comments greatly appreciated.

[Vinnyz]

On a complete reassembly repaint like this.....once I've dialed in the hood line gaps and closed position tolerance, next comes the latches.

By now, I've already detailed the latches ( stripped and re-plated etc.) and they are lightly lubed for use. I place the lower latch in place but just snug and the same with the upper catch.

I lower the hood several times dialing in fitment until I'm pretty sure of things and button down the bolts but still not torqued. I prove the cable will pull open the latch and close fully etc. THEN I nail down the bolt tension.

[Nissanman]

Beware and be warned!!!!
The lock nut on the hood pin MUST go inside the hood sheet metal, NOT on the engine bay side of the catch.

Hood latch detail.JPG

I went through the same agony as you did until I re-positioned that lock nut.

Most other cars I have worked on have that nut exposed but NOT the Fairlady

[C.Costine]

Beware and be warned!!!!
The lock nut on the hood pin MUST go inside the hood sheet metal, NOT on the engine bay side of the catch.
Hood latch detail.JPG
I went through the same agony as you did until I re-positioned that lock nut.

Most other cars I have worked on have that nut exposed but NOT the Fairlady

Very good information! I could see myself easily making that mistake.

[sfdaugherty]

Another tip is to leave the grill off when you reposition the hood. That way, if it gets stuck, you can undo the hinge bolts and release it without ruining your paint by prying the latch.

Shannon

[Gregs672000]

Look at the unit very carefully and note how it operates such that you know where it is still hanging up (note how it hangs on to the pin. Note how or where the pin strikes the latch when attached to the hood and note which direction it would need to go to release... to the left I believe if facing the car from the front). It may be that the pin won't release because the latch won't pull back far enough. See if you can move either the mount/latch (which has some adjustment) or the hood pin assembly appropriately (i.e. in such a way that it will allow the latch to pull back far enough to release). Also, review some of the posts on how to release the hood latch when the cable fails: As I recall there are ways of reaching to it via the wheel well using a long wood drift/stick. I also suggest attaching a zip tye or similar to the latch release arm and routing it under the dash so that you can pull on that too and hopefully get more movement than the cable alone until you are properly adjusted (and just leave the zip tye for future failures, just in case... I have one). Wiggling the hood can help some too when it is stuck. If you have replaced some of the hood rubbers (on the fenders) they can put side forces on the hood and make it hard to latch or to stay latched. On mine, they would not allow the hood to set right and I had to remove them.

I can relate to the frustration of doing damage to your just finished product. I closed my hood down on a large bolt that I had accidentally left on the radiator, making a nice little crown dent on an otherwise perfect hood that had taken hours to get right... damn it!!!! But that's life, and if you're gonna drive the car she's gonna get damage. I picked up a nice, pencil eraser sized paint chip in mine this year right on the front edge above the lettering... it happens. Sorry man...


(I re-read you post and see that you have already considered the emergency zip tye release).

[Gregs672000]

And, in keeping with the emergency zip tye deal, do a similar one for the trunk release (you have to drill a hole in the trunk floor to allow the zip tye to be accessible). At Shasta, I watched a frustrated guy and his wife have to punch out and significantly damage their trunk sheet metal in order to get into their trunk after the lock failed... he needed his medication and it was locked in the trunk.

[Daniel]

Thanks for all the reply's! I got it to close and latch properly, and the release works as it should. For any future readers of this thread I removed the spring bolt from the hood and pushed it into the latch just until it seated. Then greased up one side of a couple of small trim nuts I had with the grease facing up. Then I shut the hood onto the spring bolt ever so gently. When I lifted up, the nuts came with it showing the location that the spring bolt had to be bolted to the hood. I'm sure there are other ways of transferring the bolt locations, but this one worked for me. The bolt location was actually pretty close to the holes that were already there, so I investigated further. Apparently, the spring bolt will click into the receiver twice. Its the second click that wont release and that's what I did the first time, prompting this post. Beware!! Again, thank you for your comments. I am taking the car back for color sanding and buffing this spring as part of the deal I made with the body shop. Hopefully, they wont charge too much to repair the dent I caused from all this.
Cheers!

[Gregs672000]

Glad to hear that you were able to get it to work. I've done similar tests using "bluing" that's used to see where the cam rides on the rocker arm.
Regarding your cut and buff in the spring... when I did my car the last time, I was told to wait a week for the paint to harden somewhat before cutting and buffing. However, I had a hell of a time getting the sanding scratches out of the paint... I became desperate, it was a real nightmare. Just buffing a door took half the day. Come to find out, the newer paints on the market harden VERY fast, and the advice (which had been correct on my previous paints) to wait a week or more was wrong! It should have been cut and buffed the next day. Be sure to talk to your shop about that, though by now I'm sure it would be too late if you have similar paint. It can be done, it just takes 4x longer.
BTW, the BEST anti- swirl product I used was Eagle One Nanowax (this was in a bottle, not a spray, and don't know if the new spray version is as good or not). Even Maguire's swirl remover was failing me. The Nanowax saved me, and I still swear by it, especially on dark colors.