Need help with interchange hood cable

[Mathius]

Hey all. I have a '77 Chevy Malibu. My hood cable broke. I realize the part stores have a kit to fix this in their help section. What I did NOT know is that the kit reuses the old tubing for the OEM cable. I cut mine to get it out of the firewall and take to the part store for length.

I need to get a new one so I don't have to fudge around getting my hood open, but these cars are pretty rare. I'm gonna try NPD and places like that, but I've checked Ebay already with no luck.

I was hoping someone could tell me if they used the same cable on any other vehicles besides 73-77 A-bodies?

I'm thinking maybe this is something that could have been looked up in an interchange manual, but I don't have one.

Thanks
Mathius

[derekf]

Is the sheathing that you cut similar enough to bicycle brake cable sheathing to just use that?

[Mathius]

Is the sheathing that you cut similar enough to bicycle brake cable sheathing to just use that?

Possibly. I'll have to look into it. From memory, I'd say yes. Lengthwise might be an issue.

Mathius

[Mathius]

No luck with the Paddock, NPD, OPD, or that El Camino Parts Depot or whatever it's called.

But Montemania has a cable release for a 75-77 Monte. I'm wondering if that would work?

Also thinking maybe I could go hi-tech and make something like this work? https://www.paddockparts.com/Paddock/productr.asp?pf_id=TK010001

Mathius

[jackfrost]

Also thinking maybe I could go hi-tech and make something like this work? https://www.paddockparts.com/Paddock/productr.asp?pf_id=TK010001

unless your battery is under the hood :smoke:

racing establishments would probably have a problem with that as well

[Mathius]

unless your battery is under the hood :smoke:

racing establishments would probably have a problem with that as well

I'm sorry, I don't understand the comment about the battery being under the hood?

That looks to me like it's just an actuator like they use on power door locks.

If I race this car it'll just be a trip to the strip to see what it can do, nothing hard core.

Mathius

[derekf]

I think the comment is more of a "if your battery goes dead and it's under the hood, how do you fix it?" sort of thing.

[Mathius]

I think the comment is more of a "if your battery goes dead and it's under the hood, how do you fix it?" sort of thing.

Ah. Well, they make emergency cables as well, or you could crawl under the car and reach up through the front fascia. There's tons of room there.

It was just an idea. My kick panels were so brittle and old when I took the hood cable out it broke, so I'm gonna have to fabricate a bracket to hold the new hood latch anyways. Thought I might try something different.

Mathius

[jackfrost]

you could use hood pins?

i'm thinking about using something like this for my project:
http://www.deftracing.com/aerocatch_hood_pins/index.htm
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/02/aerocatch_lockling_flush_ico-1.jpg

[Mathius]

you could use hood pins?

i'm thinking about using something like this for my project:
http://www.deftracing.com/aerocatch_hood_pins/index.htm
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/02/aerocatch_lockling_flush_ico-1.jpg


Not interested. I'll figure something else out. I don't like hood pins. I don't like them sticking up, I like the clean look of a normal hood, I don't like the cables coming out from under the grille, and I especially don't like the fact that I would look like a complete poser, since I don't race.

Mathius

[Mathius]

Wow. Dude wants $65 for a "good used" cable, and $145 for a NOS one. That's nuts. The repo ones @ NPD were around $30, they just didn't have one for my vehicle.

I hope I can find a bike cable that fits.

Mathius