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Hood Safety Latch - How unsafe to remove??

fabjunkie

fabjunkie

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This thing is in the way of a project and I'm curious how unsafe it is to remove it. Anyone ever actually have or hear of a hood popping on it's own going down the road? I know I can do pins, but don't really want to. Any other way around it?
 
fabjunkie said:
This thing is in the way of a project and I'm curious how unsafe it is to remove it. Anyone ever actually have or hear of a hood popping on it's own going down the road? I know I can do pins, but don't really want to. Any other way around it?
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When I was painting my truck I did remove it temporarily and when I was moving it from the shop to the paint booth, it poped, caught some wind and the hood folded, broke my windshield.
Never removed the damn thing again on any vehicle.
Now mind you I never had a hood pop when it wasn't removed, it's like God is trying to teach me a lesson, do not remove:dunno:
 
as a mechanic for years i would NEVER remove the hood safty . yes remove and do pins or somthing else but no safty = bad problems.

had a few hoods come up on me from bad latches not catching and safty rusted and didnt grab . also hit a dear 1 time and wished the safty had grabed the hood but the core supoort got bent so bad it missed it and hood come up at 60+ mph.

i wouldnt want this on anyone.
 
Had one pop up on my race car while going around the track, not very much fun made a good picture though.
 
I've had the hood fly open in a 1967 Cadillac convertible ... we had the top down too ... I was damn sure the hood was going to crush the windshield pillars and smash us as we watched it come straight for our heads. Lucky it "only" cracked the glass. It also ripped the hood hinges from the sheetmetal in the engine bay - pulled the bolts and reinforcing metal straight out. I chained it down and sold it a while later.

Take ... off ... the ... safety ... latch? Why? :dunno:

There is no reason to do that.
 
mine frequently pops open. I think my latch is getting sticky, because I have to close it just right for it to not pop. I've been VERY glad for the safety latch a number of times.
 
yea your hood will really be "in your way" once you hit a good bump running down the highway. leave it on so you don’t wreak into a bus of nuns.
 
Yeah that's why I was asking if there is an alternative to hood pins. It's got to come out so I need another way to "safety" latch it.
 
for my tastes i think hood pins are for race car's only.

on street drivin vehicles i think there just a waste and ugly.

whats so big that it needs to be removed ?
 
I agree with the looks, that's why I really don't want to run them. I'm adding an intercooler that needs to run right through where the latch protrudes.
 
dont forget you could shorten the latch prob a inch as its got a big gap. maby that would help.

and the intercooler has to be exactly there in same space ? no leway ?
 
I was wondering if it could be shortened a bit, but I don't think an inch would be enough. I'm trying to figure out which intercooler to run and want to fit the biggest that I can. The jump seems to be from 6" to 12" height and that latch is the only thing in the way of running a 12" height. Looks like it would protrude 2-3" into where the intercooler would be.
 
I'll be another one to chime in and say that my hood has popped open several times from apparently not shutting it tight enough, hit a bump and it pops up, latch catches it. I certainly wouldn't remove it.

If you HAD to, I would at least mount a chain under the hood like some people I have seen in the past do to prevent things from being stolen, it only allows the hood to open far enough for you to access the padlock, but then you have that thing dangling around under your hood, banging on things. :doah:but even that would only hold down one side.

I wouldn't remove it :D
 
So why not get creative and move it to the side?

I think some Jeeps had two of them mounted on the sides, maybe get some of them and do some mods.
 
As tacky as hood pins are, you can do the flusher mounted key ones. Paint them the same color as the truck. At least from a distance it will blend in.

I don't know your set-up but there's a lot of room in the engine bay for a w2a cooler. There more efficient and wont reduce airflow to the radiator.
 
How about using some 1/16" wire rope, firmly attached to the core support, and have a loop on the other end that can be clipped to a carabiner or other clip device that's solidly attached to the hood?
 
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