[DeTomaso] Front hood latch hard to close

[michael at michaelshortt.com]

I recently had the same problem and I too tok a pair of monster pliers and
bent the striker rod, it helped for a few days and then the silly hood
popped up when I crossed a gutter.

The real culprit was the latch itself  was loose, check it out, it needs to
be adjusted up and raised a bit and tightened up, solved all my woes ( well
those relating to the hood anyway )..

Michael in Savannah.




On Thu, Jul 10, 2008 at 9:33 AM, clay willmott <claywillmott at hotmail.com>
wrote:

>
> When I got my car last year I had the same problem and discovered it had
> two components-the mounts and the latch were both bent.
>
> First the sheet metal brackets holding the latch are flimsy.  They can be
> bent upwards but do not seem to stay where you put them.  I was advised to
> weld in new ones but had no way to do this so I re-adjusted them with
> pliers.  I also found the holes in the latch for mounting are larger than
> the studs and move over time. Also, if you over-tighten the nuts so the
> latch does not move around you can actually bind/bend the weak stock latch
> and make it nearly impossible to close the hood.  Take the one you have now
> off and look at it from a side view and see if it is already bent.  If so
> bend it straight or get a new one.  Even a slight bend makes a big
> difference with these latches.  I used a special array of washers with star
> type lock washers to keep the latch where I wanted it and gently tightened
> it which solved the problem.  Every 3-4 months though it seems to need
> adjusting as I cant tighten it down as tight as I would like or it binds the
> mechanism.
>
> If you or a friend can weld you could replace the mount with careful
> measurement and never have to deal with it again though.
>
> PS-It seems people remove the extra external spring that helps to pop the
> hood back up as well.  My stock latch was missing this spring so I took it
> off my new one as well.  I was told removal makes closing the hood easier.
>
> Clay
>
>
> > From: matt at nwpantera.com
> > To: detomaso at realbig.com
> > Date: Wed, 9 Jul 2008 18:50:15 -0700
> > Subject: [DeTomaso] Front hood latch hard to close
> >
>  > Hey all,
> > Can anybody tell me how to reduce the force required to latch the front
> hood? I always have to give it a hefty two handed push down to get it to
> engage. Looking at the mechanism I see two return springs,neither of which
> seemingly have little to do with it. I tried lube but no help and the hood
> side prong seems to be adjusted down to the max.
> > It latches and opens ok but I feel like I'm giving CPR to an elephant.
> Must be some internal spring in there?
> > Suggestions?
> > Thanks folks,
> > Matt Wells
> > 3584
> > _______________________________________________
> >
> > Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
> >
> > Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
> >
> > DeTomaso mailing list
> > DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> > http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Making the world a better place one message at a time.
> http://www.imtalkathon.com/?source=EML_WLH_Talkathon_BetterPlace
>  _______________________________________________
>
> Detomaso Forum Managed by POCA
>
> Archive Search Engine Now Available at http://www.realbig.com/detomaso/
>
> DeTomaso mailing list
> DeTomaso at list.realbig.com
> http://list.realbig.com/mailman/listinfo/detomaso
>



-- 
Michael L. Shortt
Savannah, Georgia
www.michaelshortt.com
michael at michaelshortt.com
912-232-9390


This email is protected by the Electronic Communications Privacy
Act, 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2510-2521, is confidential and may be legally
privileged. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified
that any retention, dissemination, distribution or copying of this
communication is strictly prohibited. Please reply to the sender that you
have received this message in error, then delete it. Thank you