Project '64 Cheapskate

[Average Joe]

Originally Posted by Bomp

Small attention to details is what puts this build in the top 10 on my list.

Yep. Verrry nice work!

[rusty76]

I think one of these fine days I'll be standing in your driveway with my 76 waiting to see your truck. You laugh now but you never know. Then maybe we can hop over to Brads so I can see his truck.

[Low Elco]

Neat and tidy!

[chevyrestoguy]

This week's project.......rebuilding a broken hood latch.

As far as I know, nobody reproduces a hood latch for the 60-66 trucks, and I have to think that a lot of them got pitched in the trash because they were considered to be broken. The main culprit is usually the secondary hood latch spring, also known as the safety latch. With the huge size of our hoods, you never want to use a latch without an operating safety because you'll fold the hood back on the freeway and destroy a lot of other stuff in the process. Unfortunately, none of the aftermarket companies make a replacement spring, but with a little research, you can find a suitable substitute.

First of all, you have to remove the spring by grinding down the head of the locating pin and driving it out. A suggestion would be to make marks on the latch before you pull it apart in order to ensure that it goes back together in the right position. Once you remove the pin, you will have to open the hole in the latch arm to 5/16 (.312). The pin will be replaced with a 2.25" 5/16 bolt (grade 8) and a Nylock. The biggest problem I found with finding a replacement spring was that nobody made one in the same outside coil diameter as the original spring. I went to McMaster-Carr and found a spring that was as close to the factory as I could find. Part# 9271K589 (Music wire torsion spring, 90 degree angle, .848" spring OD, .105 wire diameter, left hand). Make sure it's wound in a left hand orientation, same as factory! Now, the spring has a tight winding and will need to be stretched in order for the spring legs to align with the locating tangs on the latch, so I put mine in a vice and stretched it to give a little spacing between the windings and increasing the edge to edge length. In order to locate the spring correctly, I had to make a spacer that fit inside the inner diameter of the spring. The reason is, the added diameter of the replacement spring with cause it to sit cocked when it's installed because the spring is under pressure. The fix is to make an aluminum spacer, 1.5" in length, .600 in outer diameter, and a center hole of .312. If you've got a lathe, it's a simple piece to make, or any machinist can whip one out quickly. Tighten the 5/16 bolt, but not too tight to cause the latch movement to bind. I ground the height of the Nylock slightly to ensure that there was enough threads protruding out of the end. Reassembly is a little tricky because you have to compress the spring, and a word of advice is to NOT trim the excess length of the spring ends until you install the spring for the final time! Here are some pictures of the final product. Works great, and it saved the latch from being tossed in the scrap pile.

[rusty76]

Always endeavorous you are.

[Low Elco]

Nice!

[66c10Mzt]

:diablo excellent job, hope updates:diablo:

[cortcomp]

I've been referencing the work you did on your evap AC box for awhile (trying to do the same but with small extension fittings, no luck yet.)

Saw you just redid the hood spring, had the same issue with mine! Used a pin from tractor supply and i think a spring i made from a coat hangar?

Glad to see i'm not the only one fickle on these details!

You wouldn't happen to remember the # sizes on the a/c lines would you? Best i can guess larger one from evap is #10 and from valve is #6?

[Beer can]

Bump for an update hopefully

[Low Elco]

Yeah! Yeah!

[rusty76]

Bump bump

[lumpy63]

Just did hood latch repair worked awesome any updates?

[Beer can]

This is such a great build , any updates

[lumpy63]

bump

[lumpy63]

Bump

[The Rocknrod]

Wow, very nice work on this truck!

[lumpy63]

bump

[made2drag]

im a fan, love this build

[lumpy63]

This is it.. one more hit. Anyone know what happened to this build? so well done and written , shame to see it disappear

[rusty76]

He's been on here recently. But I imagine he's just slammed busy. Hopefully we can get an update from him soon. One of my favorite builds on here.

[Joseog83]

Incredible build. Love It!!

[Bomp]

Level of attention, detail and explained perfectly.
My brains wonder whats up?

[Dan in Pasadena]

So I found this thread linked to "Jesse's 48 PU" thread and read through all 35 pages only to come to the ned and find Alex abandoned it?

Whatever happened to this truck? AWESOME work throughout!

[rusty76]

You should go check out https://roundsixpod.com/ you’ll find him there. Along with some stuff on the truck. Great place for gear heads.

[LT7A]

Oh man. I start holding my breath when I get toward the last page of epic threads like this. Hoping to find a happily ever after. Anybody know if Alex switched to a different social media platform? The build thread got the truck so close to finished, I'm hoping to see that he got it done and is driving the wheels off of it.