| Norman4 | -- 06-05-2012 @ 9:34 AM |
|
On my 1941 Ford Deluxe business coupe,if the under dash hood release mechanism fails or breaks, how does one gain access to the engine compartment? Thanks, Norm
|
|
| nelsb01 | -- 06-05-2012 @ 9:58 AM |
|
You should be able to work with a very long screw driver and sliding it between the grille bars use it to pry the latch to one side. Those old cables dont last forever, and I have seen this technic work, although it may take a time or two.
|
|
| Norman4 | -- 06-05-2012 @ 10:24 AM |
|
Thanks for your very prompt response. Would it be practical (or possible)to attach a auxiliary wire to the hood latch that could be fished from behind the center grille and pulled to emergency hood release? Thanks, Norm Norm
|
|
| 42wagon | -- 06-05-2012 @ 10:29 AM |
|
This topic has come up before and others have suggested making an emergency release cable that could be run through the inner fender or some other way. This could be pulled in the event the main cable failed. I had planned to do this but realized that the 42 grille would allow you to stick a very long screw driver through and push on the latch if ever the cable failed. It would appear that this method will work for any grille that has openings near the top such as the 41. Otherwise plan on making up the emergency cable suggested by others. Ted
|
|
| supereal | -- 06-05-2012 @ 10:29 AM |
|
That's the way we do it. Fasten a wire to the release arm, and form a loop on the other end that hangs down inside the grill where you can hook it in case the release cable breaks. The most common place to break is where the clamp on the inner wire of the cable is located.
|
|
| Norman4 | -- 06-08-2012 @ 12:57 PM |
|
OK, I carefully investigated and tried the suggested procdures for opening the hood should the dash knob hood release cable wire fail (break). On my 1941 Ford, the screwdriver trick will just not work for me. There is no way I could get a HORIZONTAL pull or push on the hood release catch arm located at the front center underside of the hood with the hood closed.The only way I can see to do it is to rig an auxiliary pull cable attached at the hood front end to the catch horizontal pull catch arm and the other end have a knob under the dash or at least through the firewall into the passenger compartment.Has anyone actually first hand succeeded in opening a 1941 Ford hood when the release cable mechanism has failed.If so, please tell me how. Many thanks. Norm Norm
|
|
| oldford2 | -- 06-08-2012 @ 2:39 PM |
|
Bob,How do you "attach" the wire to the arm? Do you drill a hole in the arm? Then the "wire loop" hangs down behind the grille? Thanks John
|
|
| Cougarracing | -- 09-11-2018 @ 2:55 PM |
|
On my 1941 Roadster I removed the left lower grille. Driver side. 4 Phillips screws. Reached my arm up and felt the latch lever. I manually turned it and had someone lift the hood and it opened. I tried the screw driver through the grille to no avail first. Found this much easier. Dave
|
|
| woodiewagon46 | -- 09-12-2018 @ 7:48 AM |
|
It happened to me when the body shop that painted my car didn't realize the pull wasn't hooked up and closed the hood. I now carry two wooden wedges or shims, used by carpenters to install doors and windows and a 1" wide piece of 16 gauge sheet metal about 12" long ( you can also use a very thin, long screw driver) wrapped in tape. Use the shims to hold up the hood and slide the push stick in and push on the lever. Works every time. Shims and push stick take up no room in my tool box and comes in handy if you need it.
|
|
| Kpyto71 | -- 08-20-2026 @ 7:56 AM |
|
Digging this back up as I have the problem with my '41 Mercury.... My grill has pretty thin fins... is the principle to open the same? Or, am I going in between the bottom of the front of the hood and the "plate" where the hood latch mechanism is attached? Does anyone have pictures they could share? I'm stuck... replaced the bracket under the dash (origial broke, and I got a replacement), and after putting it all back together, I closed the hood, pulled the lever and nothing happened... I'm locked out of my engine compartment... thanks in advance for the help!
|
|
| woodiewagon46 | -- 08-21-2026 @ 6:46 AM |
|
What I have done is use a wood shim like carpenters use when installing a window or door, to slightly open the gap between the hood and upper fender. That enables you to shine a light in the gap to allow you to use a long slim screwdriver to push the lever that the pull wire is attached to. This was just discussed on the A.A.C.A. site. Mercury is quite different as the Mercury has a cover over the latch mechanism. If you are a member of the A.A.C.A. you can see it on their site.
|
|
| Kpyto71 | -- 08-21-2026 @ 10:58 AM |
|
Hi Woodie... I tried your method and you're right... the cover on mine doesn't allow me to do that... but, but did work... On my 1941 Mercury 8 convertible, there is a pan under, and forward of the radiator. 5 bolts hold it on... two on either side, and one on the bottom middle. The bottom middle has a nut welded to this pan, so taking it off was easy, the 4 on the outside were bolts (head on the inside) with lock washers and nuts to the outside. Because of that I was able to remove the nuts and washers, push the bolts inside, and then drop the pan out. That gave me easy access to the latch from the underside. Where did I go wrong... when I put everything back together I had tightened the last cable holder (that's mounted on the underside of the hood latch mechanism plate) with the cable too far forward. Because of that, when I pulled back, I was actually hitting the sheathing on of the cable, and unable to fully open the latch. I loosened it up, and voila... everyhing was perfect... even did a little adjusting to make it better than it was. Hopefully someone else will find this helpful!
|
|
| EFV-8 Club Forum : | https://www.earlyfordv8.org/forum |
| Topic: | https://www.earlyfordv8.org/forum/viewmessages.cfm?Forum=18&Topic=4750 |