• Welcome to the Contour Enthusiasts Group, the best resource for the Ford Contour and Mercury Mystique.

    You can register to join the community.

Carbon fiber hood latch question

Damien

CEG'er
Joined
Jun 27, 2006
Messages
169
Location
Ohio and Melbourne, Florida
I searched the old, new, and archived forums and was not satisfied...I have a 99... I bought a carbon fiber hood and was trying to put it on and am having a time of it. The problem is that the latch part built into the new hood is way closer to the front of the hood than it was on the old hood. When I have it lined up to the fenders and to the top line near the wipers, and try to shut it, the latch part of the new hood is completely in front of the rest of the latrch mechanism. I tried adjusting the hinges all the way back, and it's still probably 1/2"- 5/8" inch away from working. Can the mechanism be moved forward (toward the front of the car) so the hood's picec and the latch mechanism will line up? Is my hood defective? I really would rather not cut off the loop piece and get hood pins, but that is what I am leaning towards as I need to get this on tomorrow. Thanks for any help.
 
Last edited:
When I installed mine, I first made sure that the hood was all the way back on the hinges. Then I had to cut slots in the latch where its bolted on so that it could slide down. I also used washers so that the latch would stick out a bit more. Give that a try before you go cutting into the pretty carbon fiber.
 
cf hood

cf hood

I was thinking of trying that tomorrow... notching out the 4 holes in the latch arms where the hood bolts up to see if I could find a happy median... or do you mean to take out the 3 10mm bolts where the latch mechanism bolts to the engine bay and using washers there to move it forward?
 
cf hood fitment

cf hood fitment

Ok Rawburt... tried all of those things. Sad to say gonna have to cut the holes. If those three bolts that hold the latch mechanism on were just a half inch longer... I hate the way hood pins look, so I got the hood locks instead smaller thing sticking up.
 
Ok Rawburt... tried all of those things. Sad to say gonna have to cut the holes. If those three bolts that hold the latch mechanism on were just a half inch longer... I hate the way hood pins look, so I got the hood locks instead smaller thing sticking up.

Couldn't you just go and buy longer bolts?
 
I had the same problem, the latch wouldnt line up, I then had to extend the locking device on the car by using washers, it baarely cleared it :)
 
Back
Top