hood release mount when switching to a rhino grill

[72wag]

i just got my rhino grill today and will be installing it tomorrow. from reading some of the past threads and readers pages, i've discovered that before you close the hood, after installing the new grill, you must fabricate some sort of hood release lever or something that you can reach with the rhino grill on.

unfortunately, i haven't been able to find an actual picture of one, or a detailed description. if anyone has done this and can give me a few pointers i'd be grateful.

i dont' know how different the hood catches are on the different year vehicles, but mine has two hood connections, one on either side of the radiator, which have springs on them. on the hood, there are two corresponding latches, which are connected by a rod that has a tab welded to it in the center front of the hood. when you lift this tab, it turns the rod and undoes the hood latches. i don't have access to a welder or anything fancy, so if there is a way to do it kinda ghetto style for now, that would suit me just fine.

thanks for the help guys.

[mdill]

The hood release as near as I can tell has been
the same, the only differance is how the the rod
gets turned, The Origional rhino release was though
a hole in the valance between the radiator and the
grill. If you want a rhino style release let me
know, I have one that I will never use brought it
to do a conversion on mine, but with a later style
cable release I see no reason to swap it over.

Mike D.

[72wag]

mdill,
thanks, i might take you up on buying that if i can't figure out a way to make it work. i still haven't taken the original grill off to see what space is available to rig something, but if it turns out to be as simple as screwing a length of bar stock onto the old lever or something, i'll do that.

[sunliner]

You say your release lever is in the center of the hood? It's to the right of where a rhino grill would be on my '89. Maybe you can just scavenge a later model piece from a junkyard.

[mdill]

On a 89, I don't think I would do anything,
your hood has a cable release, so there
should be no issue. the issue is for those
who lose access to the release arm because of
the grill opening being different. Since
the cable release setup requires no grill
access you should be set.

Mike D.

[Bob Davis '80 Chero]

Check your PM's. I know the '85 release from inside has the catch to the right (driver's side) and the lever release on my '80 is in the center. I converted the '85 hood w/ inside release to the '80 style lever release. I had to cut the valance release and weld in the lever release; and bolt in the old style hood release bar. Pretty straight forward change. My concern is converting the valance catch for 72 wag.

[Don in Missouri]

I put a Gladiator grill on my '86. It has the cable release, but there is a paddle on the bottom of the cross shaft that you can push on through the grill to open it. It takes a skiny hand or a stick. You might look to see if yours will open that way. It took me a long time to realize it was there. When you open the hood, there is a sqaure cut out of the sheetmetal that lise flat in front of the radiator-the place you lay wrenches when you are working under there. you reach through the grill and up through that hole to push on the cross shaft and open the hood.

[72wag]

don,
yeah, that's what i have, the little tab. i don't have a remote hood release. i just got home from work and i'm going to go take off the old grill and see what i can figure out. if i just have to stick a screwdriver or mini crowbar through the slats on the rhino grill to make it work, then that's fine -- i carry all those things with me anyway. i'll post an update later on today and let you all know what i found out.

thanks for the ideas and advice.

[72wag]

well, i got it installed and it looks great -- i'll post pics tomorrow night. i fixed the latch release problem, temporarily, by removing my broken hood ornament and hooking a cord to the release lever, which is directly below the mounting holes for the hood ornament. it looks kinda ghetto, but it works. i'm thinking i'll get a unique metal hinged thing of some sort that i can either push down or pull up and hook a cable instead of a wire to the release lever -- it'll look like a hood ornament, but really be the hood release.

thanks for all the help and ideas guys.

[Sambo]

on my 77 the release is in the center.so i cut a hole in the radiator support and heated,then turned the lever 90* down thru the hole...works fine so far and been like that for over a yr now...