Safety precaution for hood flying up besides pins?

[281pony]

after reading all the people who have their hood fly up, it crosses my mind randomly to use something incase my hood ever trys to fly up. i bought hood pins once, but couldnt bring myself to drill into the hood with my paint.

just wondering if anyone else has run a cable or something similar to catch the hood if it were to fly up?

looking for some suggestions incase it were ever to happen. maybe it will help the people out who dont want to drill their hoods also.

 

[srothfuss]

I am pretty sure you could rig a quick disconnect cable under the front bumper to 'catch' the hood if it decided to come unlatched...

 

[Daggar]

Something else I've seen used is a PIP (Push In Pull out) pin installed in the secondary latch. It's kind of a pin to get to but seems to work. You drill a hole through both pieces of the secondary latch so that when the pin is intalled, the spring latch is unable to move. You have to get the hood down over the spring latch then pin it then shut the hood the rest of the way. All it does is keep the spring latch secure if the hood comes up hard and fast enough to get by the spring pressure. It won't prevent the hood from getting past the latch if it warps enough to miss the hook though. You need to decide for yourself if your hook has enough engagement with the hood to make this a good way to go.

 

[281pony]

thanks for the suggestions.

i was thinking more along the lines of the quick disconnect cable. i havent looked at it yet to think of anything, but i was wondering where i could mount it on the hood/latch. i would want it to rise up maybe 4 inches so when i pop the hood, i can reach my hand in easily to disconnect the cable.

definately will be doing something this winter when the car is sitting.

 

[9 Deuce GT]

You just stole the idea that was going to make me rich. LOL. I have been thinking a lot about this lately. I don't think that hood pins will look good on my car when I get my cowl hood in the near future. I thought about getting a plastic coated cable that can bolt to the radiator support somehow, and have just enough length like you mentioned to slide my hand in and disconnect a latch, sort of like what mountain climbers use. (does a place like Gander Mountain or EMS or some other extreme sports retail store sell these things?) My only concern is what will ahppen to the hood latch mounting area of a fiberglass hood when it flies open a 120 mph? I know that Cervini's has a steel reinforced mounting surface, but will it hold?

 

[281pony]

yeah thats another thing i thought about.

i know on my fiberglass hood its just molded in basically. nothing steel re-inforcing it. ill make an update with whatever i decide.

i have the hood pin cables from the kit i bought still. they are steel with a coating, i was thinking of using those somehow. they have looped ends also that i could hook something onto.

 

[9 Deuce GT]

Where were you thinking about mounting them? I was thinking just one thicker cable in the center.

 

[281pony]

i was thinking in the center also, mounting is solid to somewere besides the latch. then on the latch possibly putting some kind of loop on it, then a clip on connector off the other end. so then if i pop the hood, i just open the connector and pull it off the loop.

that make sense? i havent even taken a good look at my latch yet to figure anything out honestly. i will do that later tonight.

 

[Mysterio]

I would think you'd be better off using 2 cables. Maybe a 1/2 foot out from the center on each side. That way if you are doing 120 and it flips up, you dont got all your marbles in one basket. You've got 2 seperate locations to absorb the impact. It would require more time when popping the hood, but if you're going for safety then it's definetly better.

 

[281pony]

I would think you'd be better off using 2 cables. Maybe a 1/2 foot out from the center on each side. That way if you are doing 120 and it flips up, you dont got all your marbles in one basket. You've got 2 seperate locations to absorb the impact. It would require more time when popping the hood, but if you're going for safety then it's definetly better.

another good point, im just wondering where i can mount them on the underside of the hood equally like that.

im going to go out and take a look in a little bit. hopefully something will stand out to me.

 

[281pony]

heres a couple pics of what im working with.

first, the cable im thinking of using. you can see the looped ends for connecting whatever i need to it.

View attachment 506053

and the underside of my hood, and basically nowhere to hook it to

View attachment 506056

damn camera is too detailed, i need to wash underneath my hood

 

[281pony]

ok, for anyone interested or wanting to give input. this is what i came up with. i have nothing on my hood to hook anything to. i have a latch and thats it.

so i routed my hood pin cable like this:
View attachment 506049
it runs through the center there and will be connected to make a solid loop (ziptie is for testing obviously).

it will be looped over the latch here:
View attachment 506051

i tested it, it catches and holds the hood JUST past where the latch catches it. the hood actually doesnt even completely unlatch and go over it with the cable on there. so this will not put alot of force on the cable if it were to break and suddenly want to lift.

it also sits over the piece i pointed at, which has a higher point at the front so it settles down once it goes over it. the wind will also hold the cable "back" so there is no risk of it falling off while driving and not catching the hood.

once i have a solid piece connecting both ends of the cable instead of a ziptie, im going to use this. it has a solid mounting point on the car, and the most solid connecting point on the hood.

 

[GeLsTaNg215]

Awesome idea man, I'm gonna be getting a hood soon too and was worried alot about hood pins specially with the hole drilling into the hood. I'm def. gonna look into doing something like your doing when I get my hood.

 

[281pony]

thanks, its definately not as nice as having hood pins. i didnt feel comfortable drilling into my hood though, especially the way my paint is.

View attachment 506047

it is really cheap and effective though from what ive seen/thought about. i hope im not looking over something small that could be a negative effect? im thinking of just using a ring from a keychain to hold them together as well.

once i link it together ill do some final tests with it. seemed to definately do the job though.

 

[stangbear427]

I think Chevy was onto something with the 'Vette hoods (opening backwards), too bad it makes them a PITA to work on. I like my hood pins, but I don't really want to put them on my wifes 'stang- it looks clean now. What's this keyring idea?

 

[281pony]

I think Chevy was onto something with the 'Vette hoods (opening backwards), too bad it makes them a PITA to work on. I like my hood pins, but I don't really want to put them on my wifes 'stang- it looks clean now. What's this keyring idea?

to connect the ends of the wire. i had them ziptied for test fitting.

if it ever broke, i wouldnt trust a ziptie to hold the tension. so i figure using a keyring to hold the ends together would be plenty strong enough. the first thing that came to mind when i looked down at my keys.

it goes along with the rest of my high tech idea

 

[stangbear427]

Ah. Wonder if you'll hear it rattle?