Hood latch placement

O

old31

Well-known member
Does anyone know why the u shaped bracket needs to be facing the hood? This way the latch falls against the fender.

I have always had the bracket away from the hood because the latch does not fall against the fender.
 

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The idea was to keep the hood from being lowered on top of the latch leaning into the engine compartment, which would have damaged the thinner metal hood. There's no reason Ford couldn't have made the latch rigid in an upright position so that it couldn't fall in either direction, yet still have enough "give" to be pulled away from the hood side panel when opening the hood. It seems that more than half of the "restored" cars I have worked on have the latches facing the wrong direction! I'll bet show judges consider this a favorite area to deduct points. :)
Marshall
 
The latch can still fall in the way of the hood. In my car, the rubber pad that is under the latch keeps the latch from falling against the fender. I think a thicker pad or a special designed pad could keep the latch mostly vertical.
 
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