Hood release cable

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Hood release cable

Postby RobR » Tue Oct 27, 2015 6:40 am

When I bought my Cosworth, the hood cable was broken. I have a NOS cable that I want to put in but don't know the routing of the cable. All I have is part of the cable coming out of the hood to pull on it to open the hood. Does anybody have a diagram of the routing? Or pictures? Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Rob
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby lleelduo » Tue Oct 27, 2015 8:04 am

There are 2 clips on the cowl panel that hold the cable under the hood. The cable should have a built in grommet where it passes through the drivers side cowl. it then passes under the dash to the release lever. Very straight forward. I will take a picture tonight to show you. Make sure you use some dum dum type sealer or something on the outside of the cable pass through to the cowl. Common water leak if not sealed.
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby RobR » Tue Oct 27, 2015 5:45 pm

Pictures would be great as I can't see where it goes after the clips on the cowl. Let alone where it actually comes inside the car.

Guess I'm just a Vega noob :?
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby lleelduo » Wed Oct 28, 2015 8:44 am

The cable hooks through 2 clips on the cowl (photo 1) goes around the cowl/fender seam and down the inner fender. (photo 2) You will then reach down the inner fender/cowl opening and feed the cable through the hole in the cowl/inner fender panel. (photo 3)
Look at the grommet on the cable before you install it. I may be wrong, it has been a while since I installed mine. You MAY have to feed the cable from the inside first to get the grommet to seal. but it routes the same way. I STRONGLY suggest putting sealer on the outside of the cable down through the cowl opening after it is installed, to keep it from being a water leak to the drivers floor. If the mounting clips for your cable are missing, I have the part number and I can connect you with the GM dealers that stock them.
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby RobR » Wed Oct 28, 2015 10:55 pm

Thanks for the pics, helps a lot. I'll try to attack this weekend.

Thanks again
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby RobR » Thu Oct 29, 2015 8:20 pm

Quick question: Is there a clip or something that holds the cable to the release lever? If so, what does it look like and where can I find one?
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby RobR » Wed Nov 11, 2015 12:15 pm

Finally got the cable installed and it works :th:

It is very hard to pull though. Is that normal for these cars? Just worried about snapping since it already was broken when I bought the car.
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby 283vega » Thu Nov 12, 2015 5:23 am

Try lubing the hood latch pivot!
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby RobR » Thu Nov 12, 2015 7:27 am

I did that and it might finally be working. I've opened the hood about 10 times and seems to be a lot better than the first. So I think it was just dry from sitting all these years.
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby cosvega76 » Thu Nov 12, 2015 10:38 am

Adjust the cable so there is very little freeplay at the handle. Many years ago, when I got the Vega I have now, there was a lot of freeplay in the handle and it was very hard to pull. I ended up breaking the cable at a car show a couple of hundred miles away from home.


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Re: Hood release cable

Postby NVEGAR8D » Sun Nov 29, 2015 5:20 pm

Hi, Sorry this is a bit late but i have a pic of how the cable feeds into the passenger compartment from the cowl. I might suggest tying a twist tie on the cable just before it enters the grommet to give any water a deflection from the hole to try to keep the interior dryer.
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby b_pappy » Tue Dec 01, 2015 10:31 pm

Has anyone had any success sourcing a replacement hood release cable? I found a few generic fit parts, and I believe someone (here) suggested a motorcycle shop might be able to fab one.
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby Vega2008 » Thu Jan 28, 2016 7:13 am

Has anyone had any success sourcing a replacement hood release cable? I found a few generic fit parts, and I believe someone (here) suggested a motorcycle shop might be able to fab one.



I did see a NOS cable recently sell on eBay last month, however like all H-Body parts there was only one and it sold quickly for way too much money.

If you happen to break a cable where the retaining clip mounts (just behind the round hat looking part) at the handle end of the cable...and the swaged on cable ends didn't snap off you can repair that cable with parts obtained at your local Ace Hardware store. I did this when my cable broke, and was able to make a lasting repair with threaded lamp parts. The metal tube I used is threaded on the outside, and is used to bolt it onto the release handle, the swaged on end of the cable passes through that threaded piece, nuts and washers hold the threaded part securely to the handle where the round end fits in and the retainer clip used to fit behind the lager round plastic part. I did have to trim back the plastic on my cable back about two inches from where the clip went on to secure the cable to the handle. I left the modified trimmed plastic cable part of the old cable flat where the cable wire sticks through it. This gave the new metal threaded tube a place to butt up against the modified cable end. Then I used a small hose clamp on the threaded tube end that fits up against the the plastic modified end to keep the cable from shifting off the threaded tube. Wrapped it with black tape to prevent scraping my hand up if I ever go under the dash to do anything. Cable works fine and any slop in the cable can be adjusted out at the handle where I threaded washers and nuts to both sides of the threaded tube.

I did try an aftermarket cable once before doing this cable modification, and was very unhappy with the aftermarket cable.
The handle on the aftermarket cable just didn't have the correct angle for the cable to point toward the location where it goes through the kick panel. This made the new aftermarket cable virtually unusable, it was just too hard to pull the handle to release the hood latch.

If you look at your stock handle when it is bolted under the dash board you will notice it angles the cable toward the kick panel on the left side...this keeps the cable from binding up unless the original cable gets dried out and the latch under the hood is dried out too. Make sure to keep that stuff lubed up once in a while.


Mike - Vega2008
Last edited by Vega2008 on Fri Jan 29, 2016 12:44 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Hood release cable

Postby Vega2008 » Thu Jan 28, 2016 7:43 am

Quick question: Is there a clip or something that holds the cable to the release lever? If so, what does it look like and where can I find one?


When my stock hood cable broke I did not reuse the cable retainer clip I still have.

I modified/fixed my cable as described above in the last post...if you are still looking for the hood cable retainer clip that clips the cable to the hood release handle area, I would be happy to send you mine for free.

My hood release handle cable retainer clip should be the same clip you were looking for as both our cars were built in 1975...but, I think all the cable retainer clips are the same for all years.

Let me know if you need it, and where to send it to if so.

Thanks,

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Re: Hood release cable

Postby quarte6@telus.net » Tue Dec 25, 2018 8:23 pm

merry Christmas everyone---dave here---if you find it tough to pull your hood release cable----back off on the 2 screws holding the clips to the top of cowl---who would know? the screws are too tight---back off 1/8---1/4 turn until free.---- yes there is clip on the handle. I get a pic asap ---I have a few of them----original-----having problems now supplying cables----have been cleaned out-------hmmm--not quite sure how to send an image---? my first time------
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