1970 Stuck Hood

[William H.]

1970 convertible with AC. The hood is stuck. The driver side latch is free (not latched) but passenger side won't release. The hood opens from the drivers side and I have a wire attached to the pass side latch but pulling it towards the center will not release it. I have tried pulling it pretty hard. We have tried to jiggle it and take all pressure off the hood. Any ideas? Thanks if you can help.

[Bob D.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

Bill

Try coming at it through the egg crate on the right side. Remove the egg crate from the finder and squirrel your hand up to see if you can manipulate the latch.

Bob

[Bob W.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

Bill Read some of the listed below.AS these may be helpfull.

[Roy V.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

I agree with Mr. Demmel above, remove egg crate side grill first, and you should be able to snake your arm up enough to work the cable.
regards
Roy

[Gary S.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

Good advice but wasn't there Restorer article eons ago with descriptive as well as photo advice?

[William H.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

I can move the cable and the latch fully but it will not release. Not sure why it is stuck?

[Joe L.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

I can move the cable and the latch fully but it will not release. Not sure why it is stuck?

William-------


You have not replaced any of the latches, upper or lower, or other related parts recently, have you? When you pull on the cross cable, does it return.

[Jimmy P.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

William,
If you can open up your wiper door, there is a plastic plug on the right side firewall, right behind the male hood latch. You can push it through and stick a tool that some guys have made or maybe a long screwdriver through to push the latch release. Here is a photo of it from my 73. You will have one on the same place on your car. I've also included the picture of the tool that somebody made to do this job.
Just offering another option.
Good luck!

[Terry M.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

William,
If you can open up your wiper door, there is a plastic plug on the right side firewall, right behind the male hood latch. You can push it through and stick a tool that some guys have made or maybe a long screwdriver through to push the latch release. Here is a photo of it from my 73. You will have one on the same place on your car. I've also included the picture of the tool that somebody made to do this job.
Just offering another option.
Good luck!

One of the "big box" Corvette parts houses sells tool for this purpose. From the picture in the catalog theirs is a round rod. I believe it is Mid-America, but I could be wrong about that.

[Larry M.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

Years ago I had success by removing the egg crate grille and reaching in and tripping the latch with a screwdriver.

Edit - I just noticed that you have AC. I don't. That may make access to your passenger latch from below more difficult.

[William H.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

Joe.

Yes, it returns. The pass side latch moves freely but does not unlock the hood. I can move the latch with my hand through the pass side grill opening. The original hood latches were re-installed after the car was restored. Thanks for any ideas.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1970 Stuck Hood

Joe.

Yes, it returns. The pass side latch moves freely but does not unlock the hood. I can move the latch with my hand through the pass side grill opening. The original hood latches were re-installed after the car was restored. Thanks for any ideas.

Bill------


All I can tell you is that there is some problem with the right side latch mechanism which you already know. The left side latch most likely operated correctly and would have unlatched the right side if there was not some other problem. You've proved that by pulling on the cross cable. The left side latch did that, too, but was not any more successful than you have been by manually pulling the cable.

On thing that can cause this problem is something that I cannot see being involved here IF your latches are, indeed, original. This problem occurs when 1968-E69 upper latches are used with the L69-76 cone shaped latch bolts. In this case, the upper latch will not release from the bolt. If your lower latch brackets were removed, it's possible that they were not re-installed in the exact, original position. There is some adjustment possible with these brackets.