so today i fired up my fairlane for the first time, a 272, it went through some stages of smoke coming from the exhaust, has lots of ticking coming from the valves, i hooked up the shifter rods backwards, hell of a good start i'd say, so my question is what can be done to keep the hood from flying up, and where the latch is on the rad support i can grab it and flex it up and down alot, this car has had a hood go back over before i bought it and i would just as soon not have it happen again. thanks lawrence
Go to Retro Jims post and get the parts manual CD it will show exploded views of the entire car,some of the other guys here have parts cars that they can sell you a replacement latch,also keep your hood hinges lubed on a monthly basis they are FORDs' weak spot and will cause big problems.For now pick up a cheap bicycle cable lock till you can get the parts,I found one at a Dollar store.Put a can of Marvel Mystery oil in to free up the lifters and rings.
You shouldn't be able to flex the panel that the hood latch striker is on. The one on my '55 is very rigid. I'm betting that the car has been hit in the front at some time in the past and that whoever put it back together left out something. Agreed about the hood hinge issue and keeping them lubed. PBlaster or WD40 works well. Hood latch on my '55 works fine, but I'm going to do some junkyard scouting to see what kind of later model cable activated latch could be adapted. (Adapted a cable activated latch from an '85 Chrysler LeBaron on my '38 Ford pickup).
If you lift up your hood take a look at the pin that goes into the latch ***embly,notice that in the end of the pin there is a slot, turning the pin is what adjusts the latch tension,if you can move the hood up and down you need to turn the pin counterclockwise till the play is gone.You also have adjustment in the smaller secondary latch the holes under the latch are elongated to adjust loosen the bolts and try different positions till it is the tightest.
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