I believe you're right as to the handle being held on by the "barbs" or upsets in the shaft. That said, I don't know of a good way of removing it other than to put the shaft in a vise and begin twisting and pulling the handle until it's free. You may or may not be able to remove the handle without damaging it.
Once it's removed, you might be able to attach it to the new cable assembly with epoxy. I've never tried to attach one in this manner, so I don't know if it will work or not, but I would think it would hold if you're not overly aggressive in pulling the hood release.
What I have done to reattach the handle is to take 2 pieces of flat stock steel, approximately 3/4" wide X 3/8 to 1/2" thick and clamp them edge to edge. Then, center punch the two pieces at the edges where they join, drill a hole thru both pieces at the center punch mark. The hole should be 1/16" smaller than the outside shaft diameter of the handle you're about to attach.
Remove the clamps from the flat steel stock, slip the handle on the new stem, and place the drilled flat stock pieces on each side of the handle stem. Place in a vise and clamp the flat stock around the handle stem. The clamping action of the flat stock will sufficiently upset the handle stem such that the handle is secured to the stem. At least it worked in my case.
There may be a small amount of metal squeezed out at the junction of the two flat stock pieces, more appearing to be in the nature of a "flashing" due to the smaller size of the drilled hole in the flats, but it can be readily removed with a file and with a little touch-up paint is undetectable behind the handle.
This was my solution, worked for me, and should have taken pictures to facilitate the explanation, but you can e-mail me if you need further info and I'm able to help. I did mine before I found this forum, so I had no need for pictures at the time.
Best Wishes
rlm:cool
