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Aux Hood Release Cable

7K views 23 replies 8 participants last post by  shoshone3 
#1 ·
"wire cable with loops in ends . . . . . . 66 cents from ACE Hardware

Installation . . . . . . 15 minutes

Having an auxiliary hood release cable when you leave work one rainy night and find your battery dead and primary hood release cable broken? . . . . . priceless!
 

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#2 ·
Great idea.

Did you get an item/SKU #?
What does the receipt say?

I'm wondering if the same can be done to the trunk release only going out the bottom?
 
#3 ·
Roadtrip said:
Having an auxiliary hood release cable when you leave work one rainy night and find your battery dead and primary hood release cable broken? . . . . . priceless!

Leaving work one rainy night and finding a broken hood release only to remember that the battery is in the trunk anyway... :D


Pretty excellent bit of kit you found actually.

I may be trotting up that way come the morrow just for a couple of them there thingies. :up:
 
#4 ·
2.5 feet of 1/16" Galvanized cable and a couple of ferrels. . . . They'll crimp them on for free. Just make sure the loop that goes on the hood release mechanism is big enough. The other side, big enough for a finger to get through.
 
#8 · (Edited)
Re-posting, this is a great topic

This is such a great topic (considering what you have to go through if your cable breaks) I'm going to re-post mine as well. Thank you for posting this John! I like your solution better and will probably re-do mine at some point.

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After reading some rather terrifying threads on this subject in the digest, I installed a hood latch release cable backup. Bike brake/derailleur cable (sheathed, though I had to cut both on one end since the cable came 71" long) from the hardware store, and a couple of cable stops.

I tried to analyze the failure points on the stock cable/assembly. The two I came up with that would likely result from wear are:

1. Cable pulls loose from set screw (set screw loose).
2. Cable snaps at set screw.

Hopefully #1 is covered by the bent loop at the end of the cable. This would probably get you one or two chances to open the hood before it pulled through. In the event of #2, you're hosed, because there's nothing left to pull on. Assuming the set screw would remain *roughly* in place (albeit loose) if it somehow became un-tight, I decided to loop around the head of the original set screw. Obviously the emergency release is just for emergencies, because repeated use would destroy the threads of (and possibly rip the head off) the set screw. Anyhow, tested and it works; a little piece of mind.
 

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#11 ·
The two ways I've read:

1. Remove the dash, may need to cut a hole in the firewall, and use Tifosi's really long screwdriver. That's a lot of work, but preferable to...

2. cut hole in hood with big saw or drill...ick.

Of course for #1 you have to know where to drill, and I'm sure it's still a major PITA. Someone once wondered if you could get there from underneath. If your transmission happened to be out, I suppose..otherwise I can't really imagine. Maybe John S's hood is different from mine, but mine is *very* hard to open. A finger loop at the end of my cable wouldn't be enough. I have a full hand loop and I have to have a rag or shirt sleeve around my fingers to pull it.
 
#12 ·
haus said:
The two ways I've read:

1. Remove the dash, may need to cut a hole in the firewall, and use Tifosi's really long screwdriver. That's a lot of work, but preferable to...

2. cut hole in hood with big saw or drill...ick.

Of course for #1 you have to know where to drill, and I'm sure it's still a major PITA. Someone once wondered if you could get there from underneath. If your transmission happened to be out, I suppose..otherwise I can't really imagine. Maybe John S's hood is different from mine, but mine is *very* hard to open. A finger loop at the end of my cable wouldn't be enough. I have a full hand loop and I have to have a rag or shirt sleeve around my fingers to pull it.

The hood latch should work easily. If it binds that much there's something wrong with the latch or adjustment.
 
#15 ·
I checked mine - the tension is all in the spring, so I'm afraid there's little I can do about it. It runs smoothly along when I pull, it's just hard. It's been fine the whole time I've owned the car (17 years now) so I think I'll rely on it the way it's been (and my backup). I think if I take the original mechanism apart to "fix" it, I increase the odds of causing a failure down the road, if my prior experience with that sort of thing is any indication.
 
#16 · (Edited)
There's always hood pins, and if you want a really sexy look, get the cables that tie the clips to the chassis :D

(or better yet, one of those spin type hood tiedowns like on the old Shelby Mustangs right dead in the middle. They even had a lockable version that used something like a vending machine key)


On a more serious note:

If you add on to the length of the arm that the existing cable ties onto, you effective reduce the leverage needed to pull the latch over. (longer lever arm creating more leverage on the fulcrum type scenario)

Downside would include more lever pull to get to the release point, and possible clearance issues with underhood components. (though I imagine 1/2" to 1" of length could be done without much issue at all)


EDIT:

Used Roadtrips excellent pic to make a side by side edit of what I'm on about.
 

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#17 ·
That's partly why I attached my cable to the set screw - less torque required, by a little bit. Also, I used a derailleur cable which is sheathed, and zip tied the sheath to the stock cable sheath, so there's no moving cable beyond the hood release in the engine compartment.

As another safety, it's not possible to tell from John's pic, but having a 180 degree crimp at the far end of the original cable might still allow one to use it even if the set screw breaks or loosens.
 
#18 ·
This is a great idea, and I need to get this done also! Not to hijack this thread but has anyone created a similar solution for the trunk?
 
#19 ·
I don't think it's as necessary - rumor has it you can get into the trunk by using a long screwdriver. Not sure if I should post the "how"...sort of conflicted about helping alfisti without helping thieves. AFAIK if the trunk release cable breaks you don't need to cut it apart or remove half the car to get in there.

Also, the common form of trunk release cable breakage is at the handle in the passenger compartment, which can usually be gotten at with a pair of pliers and opened. Ask me how I know. :)
 
#22 ·
Our cars were robbed some years ago, and the beauty of the thing was the thief (a drug-addict kid who lived down the street and was eventually caught) couldn't find the trunk release in my spider, so he couldn't get in. Priceless!! It was unlocked the whole time. Thankfully he didn't try a crowbar. My car has been through enough in its life.

To give my town a better name, this wasn't in Sunnyvale. :)
 
#23 ·
Had mine for 2 years, and in that time took my elderly mother on a few rides through the countryside during that period.

Last fall, (after she'd seen the car many times), she just found out it actually had a trunk. :)
 
#24 ·
With regard to a difficult to operate hood release, in my case I disasembled the front latch and plate in the hood. Cleaned out all the petrified heavy grease that PO's and their jiffylube maintenance programs had stuck there. Added a moderate coat of GM Lubriplate (white grease). The latch has an unusual rotating action, so get the grit out. Motorcycle cable luber, just like I used on the trunk cable. Result? One finger operation. No more hood slams either.
 
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