Hood latch/cable mechanism help?

I'll bet a new sheath would make it more smoothly.  I wonder, couldn't a brake cable from a bike shop work just as well?

On my CMC, I installed an "emergency" cable on the rear deck lid latch.....   I used solid stainless steel welding wire fed through the original sheath...The "E" wire is routed through

a hole in the sheath (drilled by yours truly) in the driver side rear wheel well, and has a stainless washer as a handle...    Hope this helps...

Helpful, thanks. My main confusion is with the latch mechanism itself--where to attach the emergency wire on it? The original is through a barrel connector and the hole through that is exactly one wire wide. I'm trying to figure out where the second wire goes.

Doesn't help that, the way the car is arranged, I can only look at it upside-down from the top. It's riveted in and looks pretty delicately adjusted so I don't want to pull it.

Giday, Ed. Never mind for now if the cable was broken or not, but with the hood open and you can see the latch, can you move it with your hand as if someone was pulling on the release cable? If you can, then can you see a little spot on the latch where you could drill a small hole and run a loose wire though and fixed to the hole which could be led out, over and down somewhere for emergency use?

Just thinking, Lane....a bicycle brake cable would have to be "stopped" on both ends of it's sheath like a Bowden tube and it may be a pain to install those stop points. My sheath is just a metal tube fixed to points along it's length.

Google choke cable for an inexpensive cable with knob and new sheath.

http://www.rockauto.com/catalo...;a=FR42-55196-824387

You could replace it with a power door lock electric push-pull "plunger" as a backup or primary. You might have to add an actuator arm (weld on). 

http://www.parts-express.com/p...amp;utm_campaign=pla

Try these guys for cabling doo-dads:

http://www.flanderscables.com/

Also: http://store.controlcables.com/servlet/StoreFront

 Use a firebird trunk release solenoid and a push button switch  a wire would be simple to route   and a 10 gauge black wire woud be easy to hide in the wheel well  made to look like a ground wire and attach the other end to the latch, as a backup release.

   Thats a pretty big solenoid..   But it might not be strong enough without a longer lever on the latch the only concern i see  left is space under the nose for all this   it will be a snug fit

Thanks, guys. Got it done.

Well, Ed...what did you do ? All of sudden you're short on words ! And that's not yer stock and trade .  :-)

Click the link, David. Many words and pictures.

Good job, and the price is right too....   

Thanks, Leon. I got really nervous doing this job because my normal procedure with anything mechanical is to do it all wrong about seven times first, and I kept picturing myself closing the hood and not being able to open it. Ever again.

We all have our little phobias, I guess.