[RLDSL]

We've got a '41 chev that's been sitting out in the mud behind the barn for about 40 years now ( to the point where a couple trees grew up into the fenders on one side, ) and we finally got it freed from it's entoombment after LOTS of monkeying around and creative use of greaseboards,
but anyway, a few years back we had suffered some vandalism on some other vehicles down there and I closed the hood on the thing.... Bad idea. Now I've found the hood release cable frozen solid. I've been spraying it and as far in as I can get with Kroil for a few months now, but even with a big set of pliers on there, I cant get that cable to budge.
Once we get this thing on the lift is there anyway to reach up in there and pop this thing or do I need to fill a garden sprayer with kroil and just saturate up under the hood and hope it soaks down in enough after a while to break something free, or ...gulp, take a sawzall to the hood mechinism and try to find a replacement or weld it back together after?
I'm open to anything that hopefully sounds better than what Ive come up with .
Thanks------Robert

 

[RLDSL]

I might add that there is nothing visible from the grill or from underneath, and Ive risked copperheads and reached up as far as I could inside the nose and couldn't find anything that resembled a hood mechanism within reach.

 

[Old Fool]

Stand car on end in a tub of molasses for a month! <jk>

I wish I had a good idea, but I dont even know what the underside of the hood looks like on that car


edit:
Thinking about it a bit more and researching the hood latch design a bit I would use the sawzall and then the welder . quick simple and done deal.

 

[RLDSL]

Stand car on end in a tub of molasses for a month! <jk>

I wish I had a good idea, but I dont even know what the underside of the hood looks like on that car


edit:
Thinking about it a bit more and researching the hood latch design a bit I would use the sawzall and then the welder . quick simple and done deal.

THat may end up being the best way. I just checked Chevsof the 40s website and I can get a replacement latch bolt for only about $30 in chrome :thumbup:. If I could find a decent picture of that latch arrangement so I could just cut the latch bolt and not the secondary safety release ( the one you pop after the hood jumps up a couple inches from pilling the cable ) , it would cut down on the fabrication. Goodness knows, we've got enough of that ahead of us on this thing .

 

[RLDSL]

I managed to find an old ad where someone was selling a grill here with a pretty decent picture of where those latches go . It looks like I'd need one heck of a long sawzall blade to reach that latch bolt coming in from an angle, it'd be the round hole in the rear, but I think it's be doable, I just dont want to tear to much else up in the process , so if anyone has any less violent ideas, please do come forth. Thanks

 

[RLDSL]

Looks like sawzall is out. It'll reach the front safety latch but the rear latch bolt is recessede in a raised up area just enough to where a blade can't reach it without having to shave off the raised area.

Possible good news, I *may* have found the slave side of the underside of teh cable operated latch mechinism, barely visible from the top 2 openings of teh grill, can see a plate that appears to swing back from the latch bolt nose cone. It's obviously rusted in there, so I left it to soak in penetrating oil for a week or so before attempting anything, but access is severly limited. I may be enjoying my recently aquired anvil and fabricating some interesting picks for this one.

 

[MARTINSR]

Can you go up thru to the hood striker and unscrew it from the hood?

Brian

 

[RLDSL]

Can you go up thru to the hood striker and unscrew it from the hood?

Brian

I wish. There's no direct access to the nose area underneath it, it's enclosed at the bottom. The only access is through the grill and that is minimal and I REALLY dont want to harm that grill, it's still 100% intact.

 

[killeratrod]

Ok it has been sitting for 40 years. is there room to screw around in the grill with out messing it up , if so try to cut up the radiator as it is most likely shot anyway. This may just give you room to pop it. Just a though.

 

[buicfrank]

41 hood

Why not just cut a hole in your hood about the size of your fist on the side of the release. Reach in do your releasing and sew up the hole. My 02 cents. Frank

 

[RLDSL]

Ok it has been sitting for 40 years. is there room to screw around in the grill with out messing it up , if so try to cut up the radiator as it is most likely shot anyway. This may just give you room to pop it. Just a though.

Now thats a thought. I'll definitely have to get it up on the lift first, but that would be the least damaging point of entry. Ive already spoken with my custom rad guy about building one for this thing, so it's already going for scrap.

I was hoping to get the hood popped where its sitting to be able to do some basic brake repair before moving it up the hill to get it on teh lift at the shop as it gets a tad dicy without brakes, but if we have to, we'll figure something out.
( thats what lots of extra folks madly flinging logs under tires are for

 

[killeratrod]

case of beer to one of your friends = trailer or tow truck to bring her up the hill.

 

[RLDSL]

case of beer to one of your friends = trailer or tow truck to bring her up the hill.

Unfortunately tow trucks , flatbeds etc cant even get them quite into where they need to be ( ive got a 32ft enclosed hauler, but I can only load and unload to the road with the truck still hooked, not enough room to manuver it otherwise ). Before I retired, I ran a shop out of there for years and everytime a car came in on a hook, they'd have to drop them on the road uphill, jump in the drivers seat and roll them down to the lift area gravity style. Works great when you have brakes Ive got a nice big tractor and a truck with a winch to push and pull, I just get uncomfortable on that hill when theres one with no brakes ( having had one little incident that landed a rather large trailer in the ditch, thank goodness, I've got a whopper of a low range on my truck and was able to yank 10k out ) and we used to be out in the middle of nowhere, but urban sprawl has turned our used to be dirt road into a friggen racetrack making these kinds of manuvers a lot more dangerous than they used to .

it'll have to be a pull straight up and lower into position with the tractor following for safety. then tires on tractor pushbar, shove it up on the lift.. not the cleanest way, but about the safest considering what we have to deal with.

 

[RLDSL]

Why not just cut a hole in your hood about the size of your fist on the side of the release. Reach in do your releasing and sew up the hole. My 02 cents. Frank

THat would be the last resort. I hate to tear into perfect body panels that old So far the only major damage is on 3 fenders ( easily accessed )and the floorboard near teh drivers side where someone thought it would be a great place to store salt licks at one time :spank: The rest is in shockingly good shape, wheels all turn, suspension bushings all still pliable, driveshaft turns with no binding. interior is a goner ( the field mice had it good ), but dash is in restorable shape.

I probably would have left the thing down there, but my son fell in love with it, Soo.

 

[mike the painter]

If you cant remove the grill with the hood closed I think I'd sacrifice the grill...

 

[MARTINSR]

Yeah the grille is typically going to be damaged pretty bad so replacement is likely. So the grille would be the one to sacrifice. But if the grille is nice, welding a hole backup in the hood, or fender would be easier to repair. But coming up from the bottom cutting a hole in the splash panel would be the best way to go I would think. Chopping a large hole in it with a die grinder and going up thru there sounds like a good way to go, the panel could be repaired easy or pick another one up, a heck of a lot cheaper than the hood I would think.

Brian

 

[da34guy]

Yeah the grille is typically going to be damaged pretty bad so replacement is likely. So the grille would be the one to sacrifice. But if the grille is nice, welding a hole backup in the hood, or fender would be easier to repair. But coming up from the bottom cutting a hole in the splash panel would be the best way to go I would think. Chopping a large hole in it with a die grinder and going up thru there sounds like a good way to go, the panel could be repaired easy or pick another one up, a heck of a lot cheaper than the hood I would think.

Brian

X2 Easiest way

 

[oldBodyman]

From the pics you linked to it looks like a simple spring catch like an old VW bug
SO
drill a 1' hole in the splash pan and run a long screw driver up to the spring then have a friend run another screw driver thru the grille to work the first against the spring and open the hood. Remember the hinges are rusty, open slowly, don't bend the hood.

Have fun with it.

 

[RLDSL]

From the pics you linked to it looks like a simple spring catch like an old VW bug
SO
drill a 1' hole in the splash pan and run a long screw driver up to the spring then have a friend run another screw driver thru the grille to work the first against the spring and open the hood. Remember the hinges are rusty, open slowly, don't bend the hood.

Have fun with it.

After looking at it.... A lot, that's starting to sound like a winner . Ive got a large set of metal holesaws so I should be able to replace the removed plug cleanly (or leave it open as an emergency release access for the future :- )At least I did have the good sense to shoot down the hood hinges and springs with lube before I shut the thing so it * should* open cleanly once we get the latch problem out of the way. I had shot some down the hood release mechinisms as well, but I didn't think that there was a remote release cable on that year and didn't think to check for operation.

 

[RLDSL]

Yeah the grille is typically going to be damaged pretty bad so replacement is likely. So the grille would be the one to sacrifice. But if the grille is nice, welding a hole backup in the hood, or fender would be easier to repair. But coming up from the bottom cutting a hole in the splash panel would be the best way to go I would think. Chopping a large hole in it with a die grinder and going up thru there sounds like a good way to go, the panel could be repaired easy or pick another one up, a heck of a lot cheaper than the hood I would think.

Brian

unfortunately the grill is perfectly straight, , THats one piece we dont want to tear up.