hood Release Cable Fail

[rick]

Hi Everyone,

Well, when I decided to check the oil prior to a drive, I discovered that the hood release lever had stopped doing it's job. Uh Oh.

After checking the Forum and Bill Prince's marvellously detailed description of what his solution was, I handed the car off to Darwin, the super mechanic.

Mine had separated at the juncture between the two cables where the round ball is located (near the release bracket itself) When he finally got the hood open and determined the cause of the breakdown, Darwin ended up drilling a somewhat larger hole in that ball in order to fit the two cables through and then he drilled a second bolt hole in the connector. So, the cables are back in place and tightened down with an extra bold.

The mechanic also ended up drilled a 2 inch hole in the fender well rather than Bill's 1.5 inch hole.

He thinks the cable connection will be good for a long time, but I'm seriously considering copying Bill Prince's secondary hood release lever install, the one he located in the drivers side wheel well.

It was another Lincoln adventure that ended well.

By the way, I stumbled upon Bill Prince's Youtube video of his extremely cool car museum. I'm usually the last guy to find these things but it was very entertaining. That camper trailer model is pretty cool.

Rick

[Stuart M. Cohen]

That's one of my biggest fears and I'm glad it worked out for you. I've already talked with my mechanic about having him put the auxiliary cable in this year. Gonna have it run through the firewall so it's easy to access.

[Bill Prince]

Rick,
I just happened to see your post - I have been busy and have not been on the site in awhile.

I am glad that you liked my emergency hood release, as well as my Shasta Travel Trailer model.

I just posted a video on my YouTube Channel (Bill Prince) of my new Cheat Sheet Current Flow Diagrams / Limit Switch Functions Booklet for the Ford Skyliner, which you might find interesting.

Bill

[papawayne]

when i get to it, mine will involve an S hook behind one of the latch mounting screws. The cable will just drop down by the front tire. Wayne

[rick]

Wayne, when you get a few minutes can you go into a little more detail?

Thanks,

Rick

[papawayne]

Yeah, if I don't get kicked off. The latch is attached to the cowl with two bolts. Back one out and place a 'closed' s hook underneath it. Run your cable as all others indicate by enlarging the hole where the current release cable is or drill a new one. I will use a plastic covered cable as one would use for a manual choke. Run the cable through the closed other end of the s hook, and down between the fire wall and the ground. Put a handle on it if you want, but it isn't necessary. Wayne

[papawayne]

It worked! I didn't get logged off! email me if I don't make any sense...Wayne

[rick]

Hi Wayne,

Pretty good explanation -Thanks! Tomorrow morning I'm going to go out to the garage and see if it all appears to be a straightforward solution for my '61. If questions, I will email with an included photo of the latch.

Cheers, Wayne and BTW, You're close to the border so, Happy Canada Day from all of us still-locked-down ...... probably forever, Canadians.

[Mike]

I'm.going to set something up for mine. The risk of a near 60 year old cable breaking is why my hood is rarely latched when the car is sitting around not being driven.

[George W]

It doesn't hurt to keep the hood latch mechanism well lubricated.

[action]

It doesn't hurt to keep the hood latch mechanism well lubricated.

Same for cable if not plastic coated.
WD 40 would be the choice as the WD stands for water displacing

Action

[Stuart M. Cohen]

Stopped by quickly yesterday to check out the emergency hood release. He was able to pull it through one of the holes in the firewall and it works great! Will get pictures when I get a chance, probably after we get back from Kalamazoo.

[mge825y]

Rick - glad you were able to get this fixed.

There was an article in the Nov - Dec 2020 Lincoln and Continental comments magazine about how to install a back-up hood release with photos. I clipped the article and have it taped to one of the cabinets in the garage as a reminder. It's at the top of my to-do list.

[rick]

Thank you, Mark and Stuart.

Mark, this may be a dumb question but it appears in the bottom photo that the back-up cable is heading off in two directions away from the hood release..... is the top cable simply an anchor perhaps?

Also interesting that in the photo that the hood release T-Handle is located beside the transmission pan.

Thanks very much for the post!

Rick

[mge825y]

Hello Rick - I think there's supporting detail in the write-up that may help. But, in a nutshell, the bottom picture that has the label "Back-Up Cable" shows 2 white lines that point to:
(A) the back-up cable that comes up from below, and up to the latch

(B) The tail-end of the back-up cable as it threads through the latch area where it's secured with a phillips head screw

As for the location of the pull, I suppose it could be underneath the car like Neil has proposed in his article. Or, you could run it through the firewall like the original cable.