Removing plastic trim to adjust hood latch

[tincob]

I'm trying to adjust my front hood latch as it's a little too tight.

I have to slam down the hood with all my might before it will latch. I want to loosen the two allen bolts that hold the latch to the body and adjust it up a skootch (about a millimeter).

However, there's a plastic trim that covers the two bolts that runs the width of the hood. The trim is held in place by four metal pins going into some sort of sheet metal spring clamps - not sure if I'm describing them properly.

I tried yanking up on the trim but it doesn't come off. I just wanted to make sure there was no other way other than brute force before I rip or destroy something.

Any pointers?

[Ian Comerford]

Don't know if yours is the same as mine but you should beableto to access t,he two adjusting screws by removing the two plastic plugs in the plastic trim. If yours is different and you need to remove the whole of the trim it is retained by fasteners that are like nuts and actually unscrew, think you need an 8mm socket. Be gentle with them, they're not strong nor tightly done up.

Ian

[tincob]

Originally Posted by Ian Comerford

Don't know if yours is the same as mine but you should beableto to access t,he two adjusting screws by removing the two plastic plugs in the plastic trim. If yours is different and you need to remove the whole of the trim it is retained by fasteners that are like nuts and actually unscrew, think you need an 8mm socket. Be gentle with them, they're not strong nor tightly done up.

Ian

Interesting, my 87 Targa had neither the plastic plugs nor the nut fasteners.

The fasteners were like a metal pin with a slight bulge and pressed through a metal sheet which then held the plastic trim into place.

So I cheated and pushed the plastic trim out of the way while accessing the allen heads. All it took was a slight tap with a hammer to adjust the hook assembly (on the bottom) and now the hood shuts without me having to slam it to kingdom come. It still takes a bit of a push but that's better than too much slop.

I still don't know how to take off the trim but now I won't have to. Cheers.

[Justin@Athens]

The trim should just be held on with speednuts--which are sometimes not reusable--they are cheap though from our host.

[S2GART]

In my 83 SC, there are 2 removal rubber plugs to gain access to the allen heads. Also to remove the plastic trim, there are "speed nuts" underneath.

As a side note, and may be of some help. I periodicly spray silicone on the latch mechanism. A very long while back whenever I pulled the release handle, the hood wouldn't pop up and I had to push the release handle back in. Sprayed some Liquid Wrench on the mechanism and she pops up and the handle returns on it's own.

[RarlyL8]

Stick a dental mirror under the trim piece and you will see the pins and flimsy nuts being refered to.
Different year cars had different trim. The one on my car is like yours with no access holes.