'59 Hood Latch.

[Ken's67]

I just got a '59 and I'm trying to work out a few of the bugs. The two hood latch are NOT keeping the hood closed. Both male latch pins have the grooves in them. When I close the hood, I can hear the grooves going into the female latches. The problem is it does not stay in the female latch. It wants to pop back up when the hood it hit or during driving. (Vibrations) Is there an adjustment or weak springs I can check?
Thanks

 

[IH2LOSE]

I have a 62 and I had this problem. I t was simply a matter of centering the male spear into the fe-male latch.

I have a service manual that covered how to adjust it, I am not sure if your 59 is the same

 

[JohnZ]

Wrap a piece of aluminum foil around each female latch and lower the hood gently until the male hood bolts touch the foil, to make sure the bolts are centered on the holes in the latches to get full engagement.

 

[IH2LOSE]

Excellent suggestion John.

I just went out to the 62 and I am centered front to back but not side to side. do they have to be center of hole side to side,they seam to work easy just a little eccentric

Another use for tin foil I learned from this forum was to mask odd shapped objects

 

[John Mcgraw]

Larry,

The cars built before 1960 have an entirely different design that yours does. The earlier cars had a plain shaft with no mushroom head like your 62. The only thing keeping the hoods shut was the friction of the female catch on the male pin. These things work kind of like a caulking gun, the female catch digs into the shaft, and the upward movement of the shaft is just supposed to make it grip tighter. Unfortunately, they didn't work that good, and the design you have is the style used by most cars to this very day. At least 59 cars had annular rings around the pind to aid the grip, on early cars, the pin was completely smooth!

I have gotten in the habit of pushing in on my hood release handle before closing the hood. There is just enough bind in my cable to keep the latch springs from putting enough pressure on the pin to hold it. I have worked on lubricating my cable, but pushing on the handle is the surefire way to make it stay shut.

Check out these 2 pics, and you can see how it works.
http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/339303/P0001393.jpg

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2003-8/339303/P0001396.jpg

Regards, John McGraw

 

[IH2LOSE]

Thanks John.

Your engine bay looks spectacular, I guess the best way to describe it is "sanatary" neat and orderly

Excellent job.

 

[JohnZ]

At least 59 cars had annular rings around the pind to aid the grip, on early cars, the pin was completely smooth! Regards, John McGraw

Yup, that drove me nuts on my '57 (plain pins); I replaced them with a pair of '59 grooved pins, and had no more problems. Couldn't be seen in judging, as the spring-loaded sleeve on the pins covered the area with the annular grooves.

 

[Tom Bryant]

Ken,

Have you listed your car in the 1959 Registry yet?

Tom