1957 Hood release stiff

[TBBLUE02]

TB, let us know how removing one spring works.

It might be a couple of months before I put the T-Bird in cold storage. The process looks a little more complicated than I originally thought. I'm enjoying the car during the short warm weather we have in MI.

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[ron56]

After reading all the comments about the stiff hood release issue, which I also had. I thought I would try a small experiment. It seems to me that the spring P/N 16700A is much stronger than needs to be. I took a blunt tool as not to leave a stress mark and bent both ends of the spring straight wire ends in the middle. I would say that now the force required to pull the hood release is in half and much smoother. I don't see any downside.

 

[TBBLUE02]

After reading all the comments about the stiff hood release issue, which I also had. I thought I would try a small experiment. It seems to me that the spring P/N 16700A is much stronger than needs to be. I took a blunt tool as not to leave a stress mark and bent both ends of the spring straight wire ends in the middle. I would say that now the force required to pull the hood release is in half and much smoother. I don't see any downside.View attachment 24206

Thanks Ron 56, Looks like my idea will work and is easier to do than I thought. The best things I tried so far are to loosen the hood spring bolts a full turn and greased the heck out of all contact points. Those actions helped a lot but the hood release cable is still hard to pull.

 

[willcarterdc]

After reading all the comments about the stiff hood release issue, which I also had. I thought I would try a small experiment. It seems to me that the spring P/N 16700A is much stronger than needs to be. I took a blunt tool as not to leave a stress mark and bent both ends of the spring straight wire ends in the middle. I would say that now the force required to pull the hood release is in half and much smoother. I don't see any downside.View attachment 24206

Interesting! But I’m having trouble following your description of exactly what you did, so two quick questions:

1. What tool did you use to do this?
2. Could you possibly re-post the picture with the areas that you bent circled? I can’t clearly ascertain from the picture exactly what you did, and I’m having trouble figuring out exactly what area “both ends of the spring straight wire ends in the middle” is describing.

Thanks!

 

[ron56]

The tool I used was a scrap piece of 1/4 inch aluminum square rod and I ground a radius on one end. Then with the latch assemblies removed from the car I took the tool with a hammer and bent the straight end of the spring inward to relieve some of the tension on the wind up of the spring. In the photo you can see where the black paint has chipped off of the now not straight wire end. I did this on both of the straight wire ends of the spring. This will unwind some of the spring and reduce it's tension. See attach picture of a Unmodified latch spring.

 

[Ward 57]

Thanks Ron 56, Looks like my idea will work and is easier to do than I thought. The best things I tried so far are to loosen the hood spring bolts a full turn and greased the heck out of all contact points. Those actions helped a lot but the hood release cable is still hard to pull.

Is the release hard to pull when the hood is unlatched? May be a dumb question but it could be part of the problem. I mean who pulls on the cable when the hood is released?

 

[willcarterdc]

Is the release hard to pull when the hood is unlatched? May be a dumb question but it could be part of the problem. I mean who pulls on the cable when the hood is released?

Mine is indeed hard to pull when the hood is unlatched. The issue with mine is the spring tension, not the latch tension.

 

[RickTbird]

Hood hard to open release handle needs to be pulled quite hard .
Pulled handle off cable last night trying to release hood!

Remove the cable and soak in transmission fluid for a few days.

 

[Ward 57]

Remove the cable and soak in transmission fluid for a few days.

Yes, or less intrusive is to spray PB Blaster into the cable housing as much as possible and work it in, rinse & repeat. Worked for my 'E' brake cable.