the only way to get my hood up is to have someone pull the relaese lever as i pull up on the hood. is there a spring missing in there or is my whole latch mechanism screwed? any help would be appreciated

 

pics of the latch please(the lower part)

 

It sounds like theres a spring-loaded release thats failing. PICs might be helpful.

 

call me captain obvious, but have you lubed everything up?

 

heres pics of my latch

another angle

and another

 

and i know, my horns are not hooked up. i had to move them to make room for the tranny cooler

 

sorry for the out of focus pics, took them at night

 

Time for a new latch.

 

Have you tried squirting silicone lube in and around the latch?

Also, you can try loosening the bolts holding the latch loop on the hood and either twisting the loop so that it is more parallel with the latch, or move it further over to the right side. If there is no play in the loop, you could take it off, and widen/lengthen the holes using a drill.

 

thanks ill try that. has any one replaced their latch before? i dont think it would be too hard but if someone has some pointers im all ears

 

could this possibly related to your tranny cooler install??

 

no, i had this problem bf the cooler

 

I also have a rusted latch. But it is not the latch in at least my case. There are two rubber adjusting "nuts" on each side of the engine bay designed to adjust the hoods height alignment (on the lip of the front fenders). On my car i adjusted them so that the hood ligned up nicely. This not only solved the hood alingment but also stopped problems with the hood not popping up properly. The rubber pieces turn to allow the hood to sit higher or lower depending on direction they are turned. Before adjusting them my hood was low and would not pop up properly when the lever was pulled.

 

hey thanks im gonna try that! my hood has always looked as if it sat a little low, hopefully your idea will kill 2 birds with one stone