Richard:
This was in a recent issue of MGA! Perhaps this will help.
Hood Latch Again
Don Stewart of the Greater Pittsburgh MG Club responded to my
hood-latch article in the last issue of MGA! with the following
description of his own experiences.
"I had a problem with adjusting the latch. The pin was adjusted so
that the hood sits flush with the hood surround. There is enough give
in the rubber bumpers that if the hood is slammed down, the pin will
go past the 4 inch tab and the latch spring pressure will push the
pin under the tab. This results in the hood being locked down in
place. I didn't want to adjust the pin inwards farther, because then
the hood would sit lower than the surround. If I close the hood and
just push it closed, everything works fine. For those occasions where
the pin does get caught under the lower support plate tab, I
fabricated a release tool. It is simply a 38 inch flat washer welded
onto the end of a piece of concrete reinforcing bar (rebar), as shown
in the photograph below. The washer is welded on at an angle, so it
can be slipped between the grille slats and positioned so the tip of
the pin fits the hole in the washer. With someone else (or a strong
bungee cord) holding the hood release open to relieve the spring
pressure, the pin can be wiggled around enough to be pushed off of
the tab. Even with the latch and pin aligned, the rebound of the
rubber bumpers on the surround keep the pin from sliding off of the
latch tab. I put electrical heat shrink tubing over the rebar where
it goes through the grille slats to protect them from being
scratched. If the guide tab in the lower latch support was another 4
inch longer, there would be no problem."
--
Hal Roeth
Editor/Publisher, MGA! Magazine
2 County Route 2
Berne, NY 12023
518-797-3075
Visit our Web site at http://www.namgar.com
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