why won't my hood latch

[Tori]

I assume it's the mis-matched hood - RR to plain ole' Satellite, but maybe someone can confirm.

My car has a regular latch (and hood pins) but the latch does not catch the hood striker. The latch will work if i can get the striker to reach it, and the release works too.

The latch is moved as high as it will go. Maybe i need a different striker ? Is there one that stands farther off the hood ?

I used some grease to see how close i am to catching, and you can see it touches the catch, but not enough to capture it.

 

[jason79]

Hood bumpers to high?

 

[Tori]

That's a good suggestion, but the hood actually goes below fender height, so if that's what's keeping it from going lower, and it very well could be, the hood will be too low, and i don't want that.

I will slot the latch further if i have to, but i don't think that's the proper fix.

 

[74gtx]

Maybe you can just shim it down with washers until you can find a longer one so you don't ruin the latch??

 

[Tori]

Maybe you can just shim it down with washers until you can find a longer one so you don't ruin the latch??

Can't do that either, one of the mounts on the striker is on a vertical surface

 

[74gtx]

That sucks. I didn't notice. I'll look at mine tomorrow if I can and see if I have any good ideas for you.

 

[PurpleBeeper]

Wow.... you almost for sure have some type of mis-match. Your idea of a different striker is a good one. Cutting the adjustment slots in the latch (if that's enough) is a good idea. You could use washers on the striker IF you drilled another vertical hole lower down & tapped it. Another option would be to cut/add metal/re-weld your existing striker to make it sit down lower. "Maybe" you could put a really big glob of grease on the latch to see exactly "how much" lower you need to go? (might help) Your best bet might also be to look at some original 71 Road Runners to see exactly how they're different.... or see if you can find some online pictures and/or different part numbers between Satellite & RR latches?

 

[Tori]

Anyone here with a regular Satellite able to measure how far the striker hangs off the hood ?

And for the real RR's that have hood pins, did that mean they didn't get a hood latch too ?

 

[74gtx]

Hi Tori, Sorry i didn't get a chance to get you a picture with measurements. I'll try to get them tomorrow. I don't know about the 71s but my 74 has factory pins and a latch. Mike

 

[Tori]

Crisis overted. Took the striker off, and slotted the bolt hole on the vertical end so I could space it down.
Started with 3/16" spacer (which worked) and started to thin the spacer each time. Ended up with zero spacer but with the vertical mount slid down. (See pic) at that point the hood was still too high in the center which allowed me to move the latch back down slightly and get the hood smooth with the nose.
Guess it was all in the angle of the dangle.