I thought it best to write a new topic on this subject, instead of mentioning it in my other post, CMC Assembly notes and pictures. I am sure most, at some time, have had problems with adjustments to their hood latch and pull cable mechanism.
In my case, the bottom part was already on the body with rivets. The top pin latch had to be installed. The body is not perfect, so there are only so many things one can do, for perfect operating and locking hood. One, never egg shape the holed where the aluminum hood supports pivot under the dash. A method VW used on the Beetle was the factory slotted the hood supports, so one could adjust each side, in and out, as needed to align the hood with the body. On the speedsters, I see in the assembly manual only to drill the 5/16 inch holes and not make them slotted for fine adjustment of the hood to the body, so I followed the assembly manual.
The body I am working with and hood are not made perfect, so I used the T mounting brackets, which bolt to the under dash cross bar to adjust the hood where it fits on the body as best as possible. Then, I drilled the four holes and bolted the hood support bracket to the car frame. The hood looked close enough with fit in the body.
Next, one does the hood latch parts. Put the hood latch on, the hood ( body already had it's part) and did a good job of getting the pin to line up with the catch in the lower latch part. Ran the pull cable, using common replacement Choke pull cable I bought at O'Reilly Auto Parts and once I cleaned out the copper tubing, got that through to the latch mechanism, you see under the body.
I cut off the too long pull cable and attached it to the pull mechanism on the lower latch parts. Actually, with the open body and mine was off the floor pan ( chassis) I had plenty of room to attach that pull cable. Tested the knob and pulling of the cable and all seemed good.
Next, checked the alignment of the pin, which goes into the lower latch parts and it was lined up. Closed the hood and the safety catch worked, but hood did not lock down. Problem was the pin in the upper latch part , even with threaded out, as far as possible, would not engage the locking mechanism in the lower latch part. Longer pin was needed and looked impossible to make one to match the factory design. I do not have a machine shop in my garage, so came up with this idea.
There are metric thread extenders, which allow you to join two studs together. Like a threaded Union for studs. Available at most hardware stores, in the specialty section of Hardware. I only need about 1/4 to 3/8 inch longer pin for it to lock the hood down, so cut off some of the extender and joined the pin part with a short 8mmx1.25 pitch , 35 mm metric stud. As the picture shows, this is easy to do and with some trial and error, adjustments, got my hood to latch down and lock down and release okay. The only problem was my body parts are not made good and I had to compromise how far the edge of the hood was 'UP' away from the body, as there was no other way to get it perfectly down on the body, all the way. The hood remains lined up side to side and clears the body by the windshield and the hood supports work good, no binding.
Only a perfectly molded fiberglass body and hood should allow perfect fit, but mine is close as it is going to get. So, the objective was to have the hood lock and pop up without curse words involved. I hope this simple hardware part and you need to buy the metric stud or buy a 40mm long 8mX1.25 bolt and cut off its bolt head, then you have the needed extension stud, which goes up into the upper hood latch threads. I left mine loose, as the pin is close, but with some wiggle room, it goes into the receiver better. I put a locking 8mmX1.25 nut on the extension stud, going through the slot, once cuts for access to hardware, in the hood. That allowed the pin to move a little bit to help it line up with the receiver hole, yet not fall out.
Posted more pictures of progress on the hood, mounting the batter and hood prop bar in the continuing topic - CMC Assembly and Pictures progress, my other post. I hope some of my creative engineering feats help someone with their hood alignment problems. Ideal, I think we should make slots in the aluminum hood supports, not just drill two holes in each one. That might be needed in your hood, to correct any alignment with the locking pin in the latch. And/ or extend the pin length.
