I need to do the cutouts in the hood for the locking hood pins

I need to do the cutouts in the hood for the locking hood pins. jeff8877 has a hood with the cutouts done. Can I just use his hood holes for a template for mine or is there more? Is there room for adjustment in the latch receivers?

Thanks Jim

I've done that twice when I have replaced the hood ,and it has worked without any problems. Assuming that the hood you'll will copie have the holes drilled in the correct place.

All of the cars should have the same location. The reinforcement under the hood has the clearance already cut in it. If I remember correctly when you bought Ford parts it came with a template. I would never find it in the piled up barn.

I can measure on mine that was factory installed if you want.

David

I did it to my car and there were no instructions or templates with the kit. I got the correct hole saw and centered it in the hood hole and just drilled the pilot hole only. Then from the top of the hood I used the pilot hole as a guide and as I drilled through the hood I made sure that it was flat to the surface and drilled it slowly. The paint did not even chip so this could have been done to a newly painted hood. Everything lined up perfectly. See this page of my build as I have some pics there, just scroll down till you see the right pics.

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-bojo-s-73-project?page=17

I used a hole saw to make a round plug (1-1/2" thick) that I inserted from the back. The plug now had a centering hole that I used to line up and drill the pilot hole in the hood. I then drilled the proper large hole in a piece of 3/4" plywood (6"x12") that I clamped to the hoods side edge. This template kept the hole saw from moving and enlarging the hole through the hood.

sdstang

Forgot to answer your question about adjustment. The latch plate has enough adjustment to align the hole for the hood pin to make it all work. It just takes some patience to align everything up.

Thanks everyone for the info. I'll make a template based off of Jeff's hood making sure the measure the same.

Jbojo is 100% correct. No templates or measurements needed. Just use the holes in the under-panel of the hood and you cant go wrong. Easy-peasy!

Every time I think about doing this I get chicken and put my money in my pocket. I hope it comes out for you.

piece of cake! Just put masking tape all over the area on toip of the hood where the hole saw will cut to help prevent the paint from chipping around the edge of the holes.

I used a hole saw to make a round plug (1-1/2" thick) that I inserted from the back. The plug now had a centering hole that I used to line up and drill the pilot hole in the hood. I then drilled the proper large hole in a piece of 3/4" plywood (6"x12") that I clamped to the hoods side edge. This template kept the hole saw from moving and enlarging the hole through the hood.

Click to expand...

Nice thinking...a lot safer, especially if you have a painted hood or lack the luxury of a backup hood, like jbojo!

I considered something along the lines of what Judge posted, but just drilled the center pilot hole from underneath and taped the top before drilling. It is really that easy.