body and interior Hood Latch Bar Reconditioning

[Henryn02]

Anyone found a way to disassemble the hood latch bar, the long one with the black plastic rollers on the end that locks down the hood.  Looks like a series of pins hold the components in place on the bar.  Just looking to clean and repaint and looking for advice.

 

thanks

Henry 

[nbcbird]

The assembly is very straightforward.  The bar is held in place by tabs in the center (secured by screws in the cowl), phenolic blocks on the ends, and the locking cable.  Complete removal is probably necessary for repainting, but you need to pay close attention to the location/position of the mounting tabs/springs for proper reassembly.  I took mine out after removal of the heater assembly, so there might be a clearance problem getting it completely out.  There are many pics on the forum for reference. 

[bnam]

It's possible to get it out of the car with the heater in place.  I've removed, cleaned, and reinstalled.  I did not remove the pins though.

[Harv]

I have taken them apart, had them cad plated and put them back together. Be careful that the tool pin on the outer end is not the long one and it is centered otherwise you will scratch your new paint.

 

 

John

[BillWilliams]

Amen to what Harv says. Take photos of every connection you take apart. You will need them to reassemble the spring thing in the middle that acts like a latch and the ends. Pay attention to the angle of the little rollers. Also, pay attention and photograph how the roller goes that the cable attaches to.

 

You will need to get ROLL PIN punches to remove and install the roll pins that hold all of this together. The roll pins are split and ordinary punches want to spread the roll pin. Roll pin punches tend to hold the roll pin together.

 

 

 

 

 

I put some tape on the paint to ensure I had the roll pin correct

 

 

Edited November 20, 2013 by BillWilliams

[Henryn02]

thanks that was very helpful. Got everything apart.

 

thanks

Henry

[jgerock]

Here is the one I removed from my 69

 

Picture taken from inside the 73 without the heater box during my wiper refurbishment project.

[Russellrh72]

Hey all! Hoping to revive this thread with a couple of questions about not only the hood latch assembly, but also a lot of the latches and such.

 

I just got my 1970 sahara back from paint and now it's time to start putting it back together. The hood latch assembly, door latches, truck latches, wiper linkage/assembly, etc have as lot of over spray and general yuckiness on them from a previous respray at some point. What is the best way to get them back to something close to original shape? Should I media blast them? If so what do I them do to the bare metal? We're these parts galvanized from the factory? I have a parts car for reference on the putting things back together but I don't what to put everything back on in it's current condition. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

 

Rob

[Conserv]

1 minute ago, Russellrh72 said:

... We're these parts galvanized from the factory? ...

 

These parts were largely yellow cadmium plated at the factory. Either yellow cadmium or yellow zinc re-plating will return them to their original appearance. It’s far easier to find hobbiest — i.e., retail and not commercial-scale — yellow zinc re-plating than to find similar services in cadmium plating (due to environmental issues and controls). A few, however, have found workable cadmium re-platers and I believe it is thought that cadmium plating is more durable or enduring than zinc plating.

 

Alternatively, there are paints that simulate the appearance of yellow cadmium. See Eastwood products.

 

Regards,

 

Steve

 

[Russellrh72]

So helpful as always, Steve. So these parts actually have a yellow/gold tint to them. I thought the hood release was bare aluminum type look. Maybe I've just never seen them in the proper condition.

[Conserv]

2 hours ago, Russellrh72 said:

So helpful as always, Steve. So these parts actually have a yellow/gold tint to them. I thought the hood release was bare aluminum type look. Maybe I've just never seen them in the proper condition.

Russell,

 

On most of these pieces, if you reveal an area of the component protected from air exposure, e.g., under a washer, or screw head, or nut, or roller, you can often see whether the item was originally silver or yellow cadmium. In the case of my ‘76, which I purchased new, I also have extensive photos I took in August 1983 — when I “decommissioned” the car as a daily driver — which provide an excellent view of an un-touched car at the age of 7 years, rather than 44 years.

 

The hold-down bars varied in finish somewhat. The primary hold-down bar — running from left inner fender to right inner fender — appears to have generally been silver cadmium, as you noted above. But the “jogged ends” were sometimes silver cadmium and sometimes yellow cadmium. Both (a.) my ‘76’s original jogged ends and (b.) the jogged ends of a spare bar I purchased, removed from a ‘75, were yellow cadmium. But others have reported silver cadmium jogged ends.

 

The first photo below, one of these August 1983 photos, shows the left end of my ‘76’s hold-down bar, clearly a yellow cadmium end and assorted hardware on a silver cadmium bar. I’ve circled the yellow cadmium components with blue circles. The two Phillips head screws, however, only show yellow cadmium inside the receptacles for the screwdriver’s tip. The second photo below, taken in August 2012, 29 years later, shows how much the finish of this same hold-down bar has deteriorated over that intervening time. But, under the black plastic roller, some of that yellow cadmium tone still survives, circled in blue.

 

So, as I remove parts for restoration, I make a judgement call as to their original finish, again, based on a combination of any history or historical photos and careful examination at the time of removal. And the items go into either the “yellow zinc” bucket (for yellow cadmium) or the “clear zinc” bucket (for silver cadmium). And that’s how I handle these factory finishes.

 

And, by the by: when you get a component re-plated in yellow zinc or yellow cadmium, some pieces are quite yellow and some are almost clear or silver. Hmm...

 

And, there’s more: I find that OEM replacement parts don’t always follow the finish of the OEM parts installed at the factory. So, you have both variations at the factory and after the factory, on top of the variations in the “yellow-ness” of individual items. If anyone tells you they definitively know the finish of X, Y, or Z part, as applied to every ‘02 manufactured, well, I’m simply laughing... ??

 

Best regards,

 

Steve

 

 

 

 

 

[Russellrh72]

Again, so helpful. I think I'll just go with one and call it a day. I am actually leaning towards having all the latches and bars, etc sandblasted and then just shoot them with an Eastwood product. I have used their stuff many times with good results. My car is going to be a driver for sure, so having all of these parts plated is just not something that is important to me. I think I just want to get them to the point where they are not over sprayed with body color like they are now. They are all off of the car now following the paint and body work, so now is definitely the time to get them right....or close to right ?

[Harry Malkas]

Just found this thread  from years ago and need to know what size bolt is used on the cable roller which is at the top of the first photo.

Thanks in advance.

[bergie33]

M6x1.0x18mm

[Pinaman]

Bumping this thread for related question: 

Does anyone have the part number or know where to get the white "bushing" shown in the 3rd photo posted by Jim/jgerock

The picture shown from the underside.