Adjustment so hood goes closes without having to jiggle it

[RDSChicago]

When I try to close the hood on my 1971 2800cs, I have to jiggle the hood around until it engages with the two catch or latch springs. I was told this was an easy adjustment. Does anyone have Instructions or can someone describe how to make the adjustment so the hood fully closes more easily? Thank you.

 

[HB Chris]

You can adjust the cable at each latch, it is important that they aren’t too tight or the cable can snap at the handle inside the car. Nothing is ever easy in a coupe!

 

[Honolulu]

Yeah the cable can be adjusted, but make sure you have a way to open the latches if you get the cables too long and they don't work as intended. My hood on my '73 has always been sticky this way, both to close and also to open it. I fiddled with the cables once but decided to back off before I made things worse. Seems like nothing I ever learned about by two CSs, or my fifteen 2002s, was fixed the first time I messed with it. Practice may not make perfect but it sure conveys familiarity.

 

[e9Leveque]

I would also make sure to spray some lubrication (I used a dry lube spray) into the mechanism to make sure that you’re not adding some strain there while closing. The two latches can also be adjusted a bit sideways or up/down with the screws that secure them to the body. Having just done this last week, I also found that even though I had marked exactly where the latches were on both the latch (on the hood) and the catch (on the firewall), I did need a bit of fine-tuning. Lower the hood down until the latch is resting on the catch and then look in to see that the latch hook is centered fully and not resting up on one edge. When you pull the cable the catch arm swings up over that hook and pulls in downwards. I too was having an issue because the catch hook portion wasn’t centered and didn’t drop enough to allow that arm to swing up.
With regards to the cable breaking, I didn’t have that occur but my brand new cable pull (the part in the under dash) broke on first attempt - the pull broke loose from its base. I had to drill two holes and bolt those two parts together. The two spot welds it had been supplied with clearly weren’t up to the job.

 

[e9Leveque]

I would also make sure to spray some lubrication (I used a dry lube spray) into the mechanism to make sure that you’re not adding some strain there while closing. The two latches can also be adjusted a bit sideways or up/down with the screws that secure them to the body. Having just done this last week, I also found that even though I had marked exactly where the latches were on both the latch (on the hood) and the catch (on the firewall), I did need a bit of fine-tuning. Lower the hood down until the latch is resting on the catch and then look in to see that the latch hook is centered fully and not resting up on one edge. When you pull the cable the catch arm swings up over that hook and pulls in downwards. I too was having an issue because the catch hook portion wasn’t centered and didn’t drop enough to allow that arm to swing up.
With regards to the cable breaking, I didn’t have that occur but my brand new cable pull (the part in the under dash) broke on first attempt - the pull broke loose from its base. I had to drill two holes and bolt those two parts together. The two spot welds it had been supplied with clearly weren’t up to the job.