[jingro]

Hello, I am working on an older gray body car and I’m trying to install the hood latches. The hood support is in the way of installing the latches. Can anyone tell me what the support is made of? One of my ideas is just to grind the areas out where I need the latch to go. My other idea is to bend the latch mounting tabs and drill through the support. Has anyone else run into this and what was the fix? Thanks

 

[Michael Everson]

Its some type of foam core made for that purpose. Never run into that before. Guess they put it in the wrong spot.
Mike

 

[Gbeck]

It sure looks like the reinforcement was put in the wrong place. I think I would not modify the latches. Rather trim the fiberglass to fit and glass it back up later.

 

[jingro]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try that first. I just wanted to make sure there was no metal in the support. I figured it was wood, but foam is easier. The support is not symmetrical side to side either. One side will need more grinding than the other.

 

[John Dol]

I remember others having issues with that in the grey body and taking the brace off and repositioning it in the correct spot

john