Hood Locks

[KevinP]

OK, you asked for it. I am an engineer and here is my opinion.

When you open the scoops on our cars you should install hood locks or some other secondary latch system. The reason is this, due to the location of the scoops on the hood, they can grab a lot of air, this causes a significant amount of up-force on the hood. So you not have the air entering the scoops, the lift caused by the bulged hood, and the air that goes under the nose of the hood. If you look at the hood latch bracket, it has 2 mounting bolts at the top of the core support and either 1 or 2 bolts at the lower bracket attachment to the core support. You will find many of the lower brackets with fatigue failures at the lower bolt area, allowing the hood to lift slightly as the latch an now rotate back toward the windshield under load.

Does that sound far fetched? Here is my supporting argument.

Case 1) As you researched, Ford recommended, and installed the hood locks on EVERY Ram Air car. The latches are functional, and provide a secondary latch at the leading edge of the hood. Every non-ram air car had block plates in the hood scoops and NONE of them got the twist locks.

Case 2) A friend of mine had a beautiful green 72 Mach 1 in high school. He ran with the scoops open and no hood locks. One lovely evening while traveling at about 75 mph on the highway his hood flew open and buried the trailing edge into the cowl and windshield. He managed to bring the car under control and come to a stop, but the damage was not insignificant.

Case 3) I was prepping my car for paint during high school and had the scoops open and the hood locks out for sanding on the hood. This project lasted most of a summer while I ran up and down the highway to a girlfriends house most every day. One summer evening at about 80 MPH on the highway I noticed the hood lifting as I ran at a higher speed and shaking side to side. When I got home and checked the front latch area I found that both of the lower attachment points for the hood latch bracket were torn in 2. I had nightmare's of my friends hood failure and never ran open scoops without hood locks again.

Still not convinced? Ford has a goal to make money. Why would they create the lower part of the hood with the holes for the twist locks on every ram air hood?

Why would they tool up a mold to fabricate the plastic honeycomb block plates for non-Ram Air cars? I mean surely the engine would run cooler if the extra air came in through the scoops.

Why would Ford "include " the twist locks with the Ram Air option instead of making it another buy up option? I mean think of the labor of drilling the hood holes, assembling all the bracketry for the lower lock receiver, and assembling all the hood latch components. All that free of charge. I mean for the mere $115 for the Ram Air option you already got 2-toned hood paint, special decals, a special custom air cleaner, a fiberglass plenum, 2 air actuated flappers. Ford could not have made much money off of that in the first place, so why free hood locks unless it were a safety issue that needed to be addressed.

Food for thought.

kcmash

As an engineer you should know that the location of the scoops is not very effective for ram air. That far back from the front edge is actually a low pressure area. Compared to the air pressure under the hood coming in from the grill, any additional from the small ram air inlets is meaningless. The ram air is little more than a cold air intake on these cars.

 

[LloydB]

I ran my non ram air car with open scoops for over 30 years with no problems. I was 15 when I first started driving it, so you know there were several triple digit runs. I also had a '71 that I bought as a parts car with a "bad engine". Turned out it was actually just one bad wire so that car was driven really hard. This car had the twist locks and open scoops. I'm sure they kept the hood from wiggling as much as my '73 but even Ford will tell you they are just for looks. Nearly every car I've ever owned had a single hood latch in the center. Had any of these broken loose there would have been an issue so I'm thinking a one off case can't be your standard for these. I'm adding hood locks to my car because I like the way they look and I'm replacing the hood anyway. If I had to drill the holes in an existing hood, I'd choose to pass on them altogether.

 

[351c1971]

This explains the flat hood on the Bonneville Salt Flats 73 Mustang!

 

[LloydB]

This explains the flat hood on the Bonneville Salt Flats 73 Mustang!

They are all about reducing drag so those scoops would be horrible in that arena!

 

[Spike Morelli]

I'm sure our Mustang's NACA scoops were more of a marketing item, as opposed to really being Ram Air. My '70 Olds 4-4-2 has some monster hood scoops, even further forward on the hood, sealing up to the air filter housing, and Oldsmobile just calls it O.A.I. ( outside air induction ), likely ,in reality, as our Mustangs are, simply cold air induction. The front grille, or just under the front bumper , are good places to duct "ram air" from. Road racers from the era had air filter housings that were ducted from the low pressure area at the base of the windshield. Behold, the mighty O.A.I. olds 4-4-2 W-30 below...

 

[kcmash]

I'm sure our Mustang's NACA scoops were more of a marketing item, as opposed to really being Ram Air. My '70 Olds 4-4-2 has some monster hood scoops, even further forward on the hood, sealing up to the air filter housing, and Oldsmobile just calls it O.A.I. ( outside air induction ), likely ,in reality, as our Mustangs are, simply cold air induction. The front grille, or just under the front bumper , are good places to duct "ram air" from. Road racers from the era had air filter housings that were ducted from the low pressure area at the base of the windshield. Behold, the mighty O.A.I. olds 4-4-2 W-30 below...

Noted. With hood pins too.

Don't worry everyone, my wife lets me know I am wrong every day. After 28 years together, I get it!

kcmash

 

[LloydB]

Noted. With hood pins too.

Don't worry everyone, my wife lets me know I am wrong every day. After 28 years together, I get it!

kcmash

Well no, hood pins physically secure the hood. You can literally use 4 hood pins and nothing else without an issue. These twist locks barely catch and have moving parts that can release due to vibrations. The rest of the jargon on here regarding ram air / cold air intakes are independent of hood locks / pins / latches.

 

[mrgmhale]

This is a great position and well articulated. Thank you.

I agree, his comments are right on point, and useful.

 

[detritusmaximus]

I would say that KC is 'mostly' right! If Spike is correct about the Ram Air not really being ram air, I could still see Ford putting the hood locks on to stabilize the hood rising/shaking/wobbling when the pressure under the hood changes as the flaps open. Not really for securing the hood, but to take the stress off the hood latch brackets and hardware and to reduce the number of customers bothered by the wobble. Part of the eternal fight against noise/vibration/harshness.

 

[Stephy]

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[tpj71mach]

Still plugging away to the 72 Mach 1 build. I was asked and opted for no hood locks. It’s a personal preference for the look of my build. I was looking for a video on the air cleaner snorkel duct work install and came across the ram air install videos. I had already planned on that and it’s purchased. I am of the mind set that many say what you must do because they think it. I am very comfortable in the world of the reality is it will be fine. As long as it actually will. That video mentioned two things when installing ram air. You have to switch the hood springs and you must install hood locks.

I hadn’t planned on this but am wondering if I don’t what will actually happen? Why do I need the hood locks, because in my mind a car that drives fast with no ram air would likely have the same issues of pull on the hood.

So I’d like to hear the consensus if the engineering on why I need these things or is it just what people do and that why they say I need them? Thanks.

I just wanted the hood locks for the aesthetics alone. The '73 I had in High school had them from the factory (not originally ram air but had blackout from factory) and have loved them ever since. I always got a lot of compliments on them back in the day. My '71 did not have them originally and I added them because I love the look. I took a video of the test fit and sent it to a few of my friends I have had since high school and they all replied with happy memories of that car, just from seeing me open the locks, lol.
I am sure that the hood latch assembly met or exceeded the regulations and is plenty strong to hold the hood down, so I would not worry about the hood coming up. I would do it like you already are, the way you want it to be.

 

[jrrhdmust]

I really like the look of the hood locks, but I am too chicken to molest a good hood.