Cable activated hood latch diy

[Camaro68+69]

I own a 1967 RS/SS Camaro powered by an 05 LS2/T-56 combo. The RS option has the hideaway headlights and RS grille assembly. This requires the longer lower OEM hood latch that has the pivot arm access located at the bottom of the lower valance.

Around April 2013 I noticed that it was becoming increasingly more difficult to open my hood with the OEM hood latch assembly. Then the hood became inoperable. I had to remove the lower hood latch and discovered that the welds slowly wore through. I wanted to replace the OEM assembly with a cable activated unit. So after months of internet research I finally came to the conclusion that the only company that offers a standalone cable activated hood assembly for a first gen Camaro is Screaming Performance based out of Florida. $450 plus shipping from Screaming Performance. If anyone knows of another company, please let me know.

I reached out to Screaming Performance but was told by the owner that they didn't have any units available. He told me he would have some available in a month or two. I waited a few months and finally broke down and purchased an OEM lower latch assembly so I could use my car again. Over a year and a half I kept an eye out for Screaming Performance to come through with a unit for purchase but they never had any available.

I continued to research the internet for an alternate cable activated assembly for a first gen but found nothing. Then I began searching for how to build my own. I found out that the stand alone assembly built by Screaming Performance actually uses an early 1990 VW hood latch assembly. I found the parts online for $18. It included the upper and lower latch. Others have used similar latch assemblies from the VW Thing because they are a little bit more bulkier and in theory stronger.

Inevitably I went with the 1990 VW assembly.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/j3h95bdz4...nz7wAV-pardpia


Here is a picture of the OEM lower latch as I was lining up the VW lower latch.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/d3p3idxno...x2FXLT2J8RX2za

Here is the top latch lining it up.
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/dzhwg2lhm...5Ab-tKpfYwwXsa

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/5xk3vto85...fAHuNabpMbwCna


So the plan was to go to my buddies shop and use his tools to install the assembly. His shop is Pacific Fabrication located in Gilroy California. I was too anxious and wanted to get the job started. As a backdrop, I have most of my tools in storage and used the limited tools I had at my disposal. These consisted of a dremel, drill and various hand tools.

After lining up the lower latch assembly and top latch, it became obvious that the unit made by Screaming Performance incorporates the top latch to a flat piece of steel that mounts flush. The lower latch assembly they make actually raises the lower latch up about an inch or two to compensate for the flat top latch assembly. The purpose of this is so when the hood is unlocked from the interior and it pops up and catches on the secondary release, you can reach in and get your fingers on the secondary release to push it in and pop the hood up the rest of the way. I will explain more below if this doesn't make any sense.

So after looking at the stop latch assembly I determined that I could make it work so I wouldn't have to fabricate a whole new latch assembly and mount the VW lower latch to it. So my plan was to modify the OEM unit to accept the VW unit. I drilled out the spot welds holding the moving parts of the OEM lower latch to the flat portion that bolts to the radiator support and upper valance. Then I traced out the VW lower latch to the flat OEM lower latch and began hacking away with my dremel, constantly checking to ensure that I wasn't cutting out too much until the VW lower latch would mount from beneath.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/yd2zsc7gk...aCTdOBkYOXn-ca

I then drilled four holes so that I could run some screws to mount the lower VW assembly.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/7ihzodxwp...LQK0K_FbpZWkRa

So now that I had the VW lower latch and OEM lower latch mated, I needed to see what I had to do to get the top pieces mated together. When just putting them together it was obvious that I was going to have to cut some of the pieces off from the upper OEM unit to make the VW upper work.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/uyadhymjj...gDKXuROHiA4cYa

So looking at this picture you can see that all I did was remove the upper OEM latch, put one screw in to hold the VW upper latch, just so I could get an idea of what I needed to do. This told me that I needed to basically build something that was about 1 inch out.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/8k093xugs...KqEG-4UD_I9Nxa

I cut the OEM upper latch apart so that I could basically weld a flat piece of metal to it. Then I could weld the VW upper latch on flat using the entire assembly and positioning it in the center so that it would mate with the lower latch assembly. Unfortunately, I didn't take any good pictures of this step but you will tell what I'm talking about from the pictures below.

This is an illustrative picture showing that when the OEM lower latch and VW lower latch are mated, then installing the upper VW latch to it, nothing actually mounted to the hood, you can see that there is an obvious gap between where the latch is and where the hood is. This gap was made up by doing what I describe above (modify the OEM upper latch, weld a piece of metal to it, then weld the VW upper latch to it).

So I went to my buddies and had him weld it up for me (I don't own a welder). We welded up the lower OEM/VW latch together just where the four screws were. This was because welding the entire unit together would have roasted the plastic bushings that are included with the VW lower latch assembly.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/uy19vj31d...nbeRmKaUaUE5ga

Here you can see what we did with the upper OEM/VW latch. You can see we utilized the OEM upper latch that mounts to the hood, then welded a flat piece of metal to it (after I had already cut off the other pieces of the OEM unit basically just leaving a mounting bracket with a step up), then welded the VW upper latch in place.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/d9jvqypdh...0UU9tpQLwNscTa

So once we were able to get the two pieces lined up properly so when the hood closes everything shuts properly, it became obvious that when the spring was compressed in the lower VW latch assembly, the hood pops up and catches on the secondary safety latch. Problem is with the OEM lower latch location being so low, the hood doesn't open up high enough to get a finger in there to unlatch that portion. Easy fix was to install a small little piece of metal that you can push down and move the secondary latch to its open position and open the hood. Next problem encountered was that even with this small little piece of metal welded there, you still can't get your finger in there. Soooooooo, I know there are people that will stop right here and say, I'm not doing that, hell no, not for me, forget it. I on the other hand, said, I could care less, my car is so heavily modified and changed, this is just one more thing that doesn't bother me.

I had to cut a small piece from the lower portion of my hood to allow a finger access hole to depress the piece of metal and allow the secondary latch to open. The picture below shows the small piece of metal added to the upper VW latch and you can see directly above it where I cut out a small piece of my hood so I could get my finger in there.



https://www.dropbox.com/sc/qy3vxb265...4flS3OLvSEjSHa

Now obviously the chunk I took out of my head is only visible when I open the hood, and I honestly doubt anyone would even notice it unless I pointed it out or you own a first gen Camaro. But I think the thing that would jump out first would be the fact that I have an LS2 instead of the fact that there is a small finger sized hole cut out of the hood to provide access for the cable activated hood assembly.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/3129xuy1l...Wo0kxzdSxGxQ1a

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/0ft71ted9...g2ogztgm2U6FAa

So if your still reading, you are willing to make this mod to have a completely functional cable activated hood latch assembly. I am sure that you could probably fabricate something that wouldn't require you to cut your hood, but I wanted to utilize the OEM lower latch and make sure everything mounted as stock for structural reasons. I wanted to have all the mounting points in the stock location.

So to mount the cable and handle, I ran it obviously through the firewall, under the driver side fender and around the radiator support. I also had to weld a washer on the lower portion of the lower VW latch where the cable assembly mounts to it. I don't have a picture of that but it will be obvious if you get to this step. Basically there is just an open U shaped mounting location but if you don't weld a washer in there to close it out to a 0 instead of a U, the opening will just allow the cable to slide out instead of staying in place.

So here is a picture of the cable handle mounted under the dash. I decided to mount it flush because I still have the foot activated e-brake and the handle is right there also. I also have an aftermarket lower kick panel with speakers mounted that protrude housing a small 6x5 speaker and tweeter. This flush mount style ensures that it is out of the way and my legs will never get caught on it.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/l7wusvqst...ouDGHdRm_kN16a

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/tduxncwy9...naBN1F58AwOI0a

So here's a few pictures of the final lower assembly painted

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/qnjoqu56e...TEkeGHXSJM5Vra

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/kbogxz0iy...Dj1w16gxICSqia

So that's about it. I'm sure there are other ways to do this (give $500 to Screaming Performance. Looks like a great product, requires no cutting and welding, but same result can be achieved for $120 and you get to do it yourself), extra fabrication to eliminate the need to cut the hood (probably requires a completely fabricated lower latch that mates to the VW lower latch raising it up about 1 inch or so, so that you can just flush mount the upper VW latch to the hood).

I am completely happy with what I have now. I also plan on installing a nice radiator close out so you can't see the cable or anything else down there. With using the stock OEM lower latch and grafting the VW lower latch to it to keep the stock mounting location, I will be able to purchase a radiator close out from any vendor for a 67 Camaro and it will still work. If you decide to move the lower latch assembly up and flush mount the top VW upper latch to the hood, you may run into problems if you want to get a radiator close out.

If anyone has any questions, please feel free to respond here or PM me. I am normally pretty responsive and will help/try to answer anyone's questions. For me this is perfect. I'm super juiced when I can open my hood from sitting in the driver seat. I don't have to worry about someone trying to open my hood when I park in a parking lot. I also don't have to lean all the way down there to pull that lower latch open, push down on the top of the hood, etc.

I'm not writing this to say this is the only way to go about it but this is the way I went about it. Some people expressed an interest to see a write up so here it is. Thanks for reading and good luck fabricating. Built not bought.

thats really cool, any chance you will build for other members camaro's??
scott