Hello. I have a 356 b replica. I tried opening the hood and broke latch off. Unfortunately i need to hook battery to charge so am pretty much helpless. Followed the shroud fir hood cable but cannot find a solution. Any help appreciated!
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On a lot of these replicas you can reach the front latch from under the car, although you may have to raise the front end a bit, and you may need a chiropractor afterwards.
Not so on a real 356.
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Will give a try . I coukd not find anu release reaching around. Thank you
Check to see if there is an access panel underneath. My speedster has a removable panel that allows me to reach up into the latch. If not, you can install a panel to reach the latch.
Here's page from CMC/FF build manual - suspect most are molded the same. You should be able to jack up front and reach in front of battery box to release the latches.
Thank you!
i rememember my VS had a good size hole below latch in fiberglass, stick a srewdriver up there to release..
I had this problem on my Beck back in '06 and had to cut a hole in through the wheel well. I mentioned that to Carey and shortly thereafter similar holes became standard equipment. I still refuse to refer to it as Lane's hole. 
It will forever now be remembered as “Lane’s Hole”
But that’s OK, Lane. Next time you’re in Boston we can make you an official “MassHole” with a few pints of Boston Lager…..
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Well, wouldn't you know...
My hood latch just failed, too. And I can now confirm that the latch is easily reached from under a Kirk-era VS.
Anyone know of a source for these guys:
Most of my latch is actually OK. It's just the little nylon (?) bit at the end that broke, so it no longer retains the spring.
Some research shows that these were made for 1982 and later Golfs and Jettas – just haven't found a local source yet. Bugformance no longer has them.
Anyone?
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The new Vintage Speedster people show it on their website but to get a price you need to message or call them.
Or, you can go eBay motors:
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Thanks for the help.
I did contact VM, but they're currently experiencing supply chain issues. They have the part but their hood latch shipping specialist is out with Covid, so ship time is currently indeterminate.
There are many eBay merchants purporting to ship this part (or things that look like this part in the pictures), but I have no experience with any of them, and time is of the essence here. If I can't secure the hood, the car is not drivable, and I don't want to lose more days/weeks/months of prime driving time than necessary for want of a 14-cent nylon washer. (Again, my latch is otherwise OK except for the dumb washer, even though I will have to order a whole latch just to get the washer).
So, I'm out in the garage, rooting through those bins of odd shelf brackets, fence post hardware, and cast off plumbing fittings that we all keep despite periodic protests from our wives, when I happened upon The Perfect Washer. It was galvanized steel, not nylon, but of just the right dished shape to contain the latch spring and mesh with the lower latch while allowing the upper latch post to engage with its catch. A eureka moment! After only about 15 minutes of grunting and cursing, I wrestled it into place.
Being a Speedster hood, it of course required working two hands and a wrench into a blind space large enough for one hand or one wrench while threading a nut onto an unseen bolt and working another wrench on another nut in between coils of a spring that was deliberately placed there to derail the whole process. But I am a veteran of blind idle jet extraction and replacement, so this did not phase me in the least. I slammed the hood shut in triumph and shot the whole car a defiant look. "Is that all you got?" The hood now closes and even opens properly.
I made sure my wife heard about The Perfect Washer that emerged from the bins of detritus in the garage, so I'll have the upper hand the next time she questions just why we are still keeping 'all this junk'.
Before this, I never paid much attention to how a hood latch actually works and to all the little bits needed to accomplish that task. There are probably roomfuls of engineers at places like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Porsche who have spent entire careers perfecting the Ultimate Latching Machine and more roomfuls of accountants working tirelessly to minimize the attendant production costs.
But too, somewhere in China is an engineer working to produce a latch washer that looks as closely as possible like the German original while being made of compacted sawdust and puppy dog tails.
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Look on the SAMBA for used hood latches - prices seem reasonable.
TheSamba.com :: VW Classifieds - 1974-92 MK1 Rabbit Hood Latch(es)
Note - some appear to have missing parts.
@Sacto Mitch posted:.
Thanks for the help.
I did contact VM, but they're currently experiencing supply chain issues. They have the part but their hood latch shipping specialist is out with Covid, so ship time is currently indeterminate.
There are many eBay merchants purporting to ship this part (or things that look like this part in the pictures), but I have no experience with any of them, and time is of the essence here. If I can't secure the hood, the car is not drivable, and I don't want to lose more days/weeks/months of prime driving time than necessary for want of a 14-cent nylon washer. (Again, my latch is otherwise OK except for the dumb washer, even though I will have to order a whole latch just to get the washer).
So, I'm out in the garage, rooting through those bins of odd shelf brackets, fence post hardware, and cast off plumbing fittings that we all keep despite periodic protests from our wives, when I happened upon The Perfect Washer. It was galvanized steel, not nylon, but of just the right dished shape to contain the latch spring and mesh with the lower latch while allowing the upper latch post to engage with its catch. A eureka moment! After only about 15 minutes of grunting and cursing, I wrestled it into place.
Being a Speedster hood, it of course required working two hands and a wrench into a blind space large enough for one hand or one wrench while threading a nut onto an unseen bolt and working another wrench on another nut in between coils of a spring that was deliberately placed there to derail the whole process. But I am a veteran of blind idle jet extraction and replacement, so this did not phase me in the least. I slammed the hood shut in triumph and shot the whole car a defiant look. "Is that all you got?" The hood now closes and even opens properly.
I made sure my wife heard about The Perfect Washer that emerged from the bins of detritus in the garage, so I'll have the upper hand the next time she questions just why we are still keeping 'all this junk'.
Before this, I never paid much attention to how a hood latch actually works and to all the little bits needed to accomplish that task. There are probably roomfuls of engineers at places like Mercedes-Benz, BMW, and Porsche who have spent entire careers perfecting the Ultimate Latching Machine and more roomfuls of accountants working tirelessly to minimize the attendant production costs.
But too, somewhere in China is an engineer working to produce a latch washer that looks as closely as possible like the German original while being made of compacted sawdust and puppy dog tails.
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That is a great ending. Which is why I say it is great to keep the leftover hardware and parts from anything you acquire for the house and end up not using at the moment; you might find something you can use and at no cost except for maybe a little elbow grease to make it work for your immediate purpose. That worked for me when I installed dual horns in my car; I improvised the brackets out of some leftover stock I had laying around; they're still on the car 17 years later.
Glad you got it sorted. I think my original clamshell latches had those I was going to offer them for free.
I feel better about my collection of Mercedes ML oil filter O-Rings now. Surely they’ll save me a trip to a store someday. :lol3
