YACT: prying hood open

[Pepsi90919]

i'm trying to revive this old car that i got into an accident with back in september, i rear ended somebody. it's a 92 pontiac bonneville and i'm having trouble getting the hood open now. i already had to detach the secondary latch as it was all mangled (the one that you reach underneath the hood and push on the little lever for), so it's gone, but now the main latch (the one you hit from inside) will no longer open either. the lever inside the car had taken up all the slack in the cable, and railing on it with a pair of pliers (on the cable) doesn't do anything. so what are my options now?

 

Insert long scewdriver, hit with sledge hammer.

 

[snooker]

maybe you can unbolt the assembly the latch is hooked to? or the entire cable from the gizmo under the hood?

 

[notfred]

cutting torch.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: Roger
Insert long scewdriver, hit with sledge hammer.

would a crowbar be effective?

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: notfred
cutting torch.

yeah, ok.

 

[SuperSix]

Smoke wrench

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: snooker
maybe you can unbolt the assembly the latch is hooked to? or the entire cable from the gizmo under the hood?

you can only unbolt the one latch from the front of the car, which is already gone, it was held on by like 2 15mm bolts. this one is just a hook that's embedded into the hood somehow.

 

would a crowbar be effective?

Yes, as long as it is straight and it will fit in between the hood and the radiator support.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: Roger

would a crowbar be effective?

Yes, as long as it is straight and it will fit in between the hood and the radiator support.

yes there's a good 1-2" gap between there, because the hood can move up and down somewhat freely.

 

Look carefully at the latch, notice which way it swings to release the hood, apply the crowbar on the backside of the latch and crack it with the sledge hammer.

 

[Pepsi90919]

Originally posted by: Roger
Look carefully at the latch, notice which way it swings to release the hood, apply the crowbar on the backside of the latch and crack it with the sledge hammer.

well, um, the mechanism is only like 2 'teeth' or something with the cable coming out of it, and everything there is well guarded with metal. the hood only has a hook to grab onto the latch.

 

[iamwiz82]

when i had to open the hood of my smashed car, i hammered the hood down, as it was in a ^ shape. After hammering, it opened.

 

well, um, the mechanism is only like 2 'teeth' or something with the cable coming out of it, and everything there is well guarded with metal. the hood only has a hook to grab onto the latch.

That's why I stated "Hit with sledge hammer".