Help!! Emergency hood release won't work

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rainman
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Help!! Emergency hood release won't work

Post by rainman »

My hood release cable broke. I attempted to open the hood and the handle and entire cable pulled off in my hand. I had the cable and latch replaced last summer at Bakers. I called Steve and he sent me a replacement cable the next day. Now I need to get it on the car. This was 5 weeks ago.

Today I come home early from work since it was the first warm, dry day in weeks. I read all of the threads on the procedure, read the 5 short steps in the MM, read the 66 procedures, and then went to work.

I pulled the tire, inner fender, found the hole, inserted piece of rebar, and fished around for over an hour with no success. I put the tire back on and drove the car to the local shop to see if I could attempt the 66 procedure from underneath. At the garage I search for a long time with the shop manager. You can't see the latch from under the car on a 62. Something must have changed because there is a box under my latch that makes access from the bottom impossible. I can see where the cable would pass to the latch from the bottom since I can see the sheath. The problem is that my entire cable pulled out from the latch.

Has ANYONE successfully opened a hood on a 62? I don't want to go another summer without the car. For all the money I have into the drivetrain, I want to enjoy it.

Frustrated once again,
Ray
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briven95
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Post by briven95 »

Yes, it has been done, but it's not easy. It happened to my car while at the transmission shop. It took the mechanic quite a while, but he did get it open following the procedure in the MM.
AFTERWARDS!!!!, we realized what the cable hanging under the middle of the dash was, which was an emergency cable put on by the previous owner, DOH!
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rainman
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Post by rainman »

I'm sure it has been done and is possible. I'm hoping someone on this forum has done it and can offer a helpful hint. I'm just stabbing around and I've lost confidence that I'm doing it right. I'm going to try a to find a way to grab the latch, but I don't know what I'll use. It is hard to do blind.

Does anyone have a picture of the latch?
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Post by black63lincoln »

this just happened to 67bendel.. check out this post and maybe pm him... 67 might be a little different though but he got his opened

http://www.thelincolnforum.net/phpbb/vi ... od+release

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Post by toddallen »

Here is a picture of the latch with a view from the side you are working on (drivers side), the leftt steel gold section is fixed, the larger gold section on the right hinges rearward to release the latch (with the cable and ball retainer):

Click on images for larger pictures:

Image



Here is a view of the latch on the hood and how it mates:

Image

As per the manual, make sure to mark the rod you are using 15 inches from the end with a piece of tape, to make sure you are getting the right distance into the engine compartment.

This brings up an interesting point, the only instructions are for a 61 and 62, on my car I see no hole to use for access, and they talk about the hole in relationship to the heater, which the 63 does not have on the drivers side- so how does one access a 63 latch?
1963 Linc Convertible
1963 Linc Vert parts car
1968 Mustang FB
2009 Cadillac CTS
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rainman
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Post by rainman »

follow up...

The hood is now open. I took it to the local garage again this morning to see a guy there who works on all the old cars that come in. I explained the procedure and he had it open through the fender in about 30 minutes. He used a very long screw driver and a twistable fiber optic light to see what he was doing. Somehow he fit in there with the tire one. I'm a little to big to have pulled that off.

Thank you for the pictures and links to pictures. They were a great help in my guiding him to success. I'm sure he would have figured it out anyway, but I want to be involved somehow.

-Ray
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Post by black63lincoln »

This brings up an interesting point, the only instructions are for a 61 and 62, on my car I see no hole to use for access, and they talk about the hole in relationship to the heater, which the 63 does not have on the drivers side- so how does one access a 63 latch?
id dont know but we better come up with a plan before one of us falls victim.. :shock: :lol:
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Re: Help!! Emergency hood release won't work

Post by ReijerLincoln »

My cable should be replaced. I think I'll find what I need at a bicycle shop (steering hand brake cable).

In the mean time I took the precaution of fitting a piece of metal wire (wrapped in electrical tape) to the release mechanism, stuck it through a hole in the firewall and attached under the dash.
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Dan Szwarc
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Re: Help!! Emergency hood release won't work

Post by Dan Szwarc »

I've tried following the directions for opening the hood on my 69 Sedan and concluded that the brake booster was in the way of opening the hood through any hole in the inner fender. Same for my 66.

Popping it from underneath is the way to go. Then install a pull cable for backup.
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Re: Help!! Emergency hood release won't work

Post by papawayne »

My "extra" cable clips to the latch mechanism for easy removal and just dangles down beside the transmission...never had to use it, but once you've tried the MM procedure you'll never want to do it again. At shows, i just unclip it and stick it somewhere out of sight...the clip part was not my idea, I'm pretty sure I read it someshere right here on the forum. Wayne (63)
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