# Hood Pins



## zero. (Aug 14, 2001)

Anyone here ever install hood pins or have photos of where they mounted them? I acquired a NB about 3 years ago and the hood has always had difficulty latching fully. Currently no longer latches except for safety latch. Apparently a common problem and a new latch as well as modifications to the original didn't help. Seems like the loop on the hood is damaged to where there isn't enough material on it or it doesn't drop enough to fully engage the main latch. Tried welding/bending the loop and elongating the holes in the original latch for more vertical adjustment to no avail. Latches work fine. 

Sick of messing with it and don't care about looks so figured hood pins are the easiest/cheapest solution to get it to pass inspection. I haven't taken a good look at it yet, but was planning on mounting them where the rubber stops are. I can only find photos of NB cup or race cars with hood pins and none of them show exactly where they are mounted. Interested in photos if anyone has some for where they mounted the pins on the core support. If not, guess I'll update this when I install mine.

After more searching, I found this. Most of the cars I've seen have them mounted in a similar location where the bumper meets the fender. Guess I'll need to make brackets.


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## zero. (Aug 14, 2001)

I planned on making brackets, but after looking at it, realized the distribution block on top of the battery is in the way. I ended up mounting the pins through where the rubber stops hit on the core support. The only issue I had was that I used Daystar hood pins with poly grommets and the pins were short due to curvature and thickness of the hood. My hood was already dented, so I had to put some indents around the grommet holes with a body hammer to get just enough clearance to get the clips in the pins. Also had to cut the bottoms of the grommets off so they were flush.

Might have been a waste of time and money because I discovered Pennsylvania inspection law says that the hood has to be secured with a double latch system if originally equipped and to reject if the double latch mechanism is not operating as originally equipped. I'm not sure how the person inspecting will interpret that with hood pins. I left the original latch installed. I can see it failing inspection based on the law, but it's actually safer as it's really 3 latches.


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## zero. (Aug 14, 2001)

Couple of photos for anyone else who needs to do this to get by. The Daystar pins are only 3.25" in length. To mount in the same area without issue and to allow for adjustment, you'd need pins that are at least 3.75" in length.


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## Mrpapageorgio (Mar 16, 2014)

Hmmm... not a fan... looks like they are "bending? the hood


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## zero. (Aug 14, 2001)

Didn't do it for looks and the hood was already damaged. If you read the post, I had to put small dents in the hood where the grommets are because the pins in the Daystar kit are too short. Reflection and grease makes it look worse than it actually is. You probably can't tell in the photo, but there is actually a bigger dent around and below the emblem and I'm pretty sure whatever caused that is why the latch doesn't fully close. 

I wasted about $40 on a new latch which also wouldn't fully engage after install regardless of adjustment of the latch or hood. Searching, it seems many have the same problem and a new latch also doesn't fix it. Original latch still works too, the loop on the hood just won't fully engage it, even with elongated holes that allowed the latch to be moved up about another 1/2". Didn't feel like spending $150+ on a new hood for a car I paid $600 for. It used to sometimes close when I first got it, but had to be slammed super hard. Even if I replace the hood, there's still a possibility that there's something tweaked with the frame rails or support. I didn't notice anything major when I did the radiator, but the car was definitely resprayed before I got it and in some kind of accident. 

When I was searching I saw others ask about hood pins to solve the same problem, but nobody seems to have done it on a daily other than a person who acquired an Herbie clone car that already had them installed and they didn't show where the pins were mounted on the core support. It's straight forward if you mount where the rubber stops are, but I posted as reference for anyone else who wants to go this route to solve the latch problem. 

For a laugh....


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