Hood latch for a 69 Charger 500.

[charger500az]

Hey guys. I need some help again. Two quick questions. First, I'm having trouble adjusting the hood on my 1969 Charger 500. The car was originally missing the latch so I took the normal latch set up of a 69 Charger. Are they the same or does the 69 500 use the latch out of a Coronet. I know that is where the grill comes from. It just doesn't seem to like I can get the hood close to flush with the current latch on there.

Second, I put disc brakes on the front a long time ago. Have any of you guys had to grind the inside of your wheels on magnum 500 14 inch wheels. It seems like I will have to because you can't really tighten the lugs properly, and the car rubs when going over 20 mph. Is it hard to do or should I have a shop do the grinding. Thanks again guys for all replies. She should be getting registered around July 1st. I can't wait since my birthday is in July. What a present to finally be able to drive it.

[kab69440]

Try moving the latch down and dropping the hood bumpers a bit. As for the brakes, if you went disc, go to a 15" wheel. You can try grinding down the top of the caliper, but I wouldn't recommend it.

[charger500az]

So it is the same latch as a normal 69 charger for the hood? It is not different in any way for a 69 charger 500? If so then I wlll have to keep messing with it. I will probably have to try and sell my 14 inch magnum 500's and but a new set of 15 inch ones. Anyone else ever tried to make it work with the stock wheels? Thanks guys.

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Hey guys. I need some help again. Two quick questions. First, I'm having trouble adjusting the hood on my 1969 Charger 500. The car was originally missing the latch so I took the normal latch set up of a 69 Charger. Are they the same or does the 69 500 use the latch out of a Coronet. I know that is where the grill comes from. It just doesn't seem to like I can get the hood close to flush with the current latch on there.

Second, I put disc brakes on the front a long time ago. Have any of you guys had to grind the inside of your wheels on magnum 500 14 inch wheels. It seems like I will have to because you can't really tighten the lugs properly, and the car rubs when going over 20 mph. Is it hard to do or should I have a shop do the grinding. Thanks again guys for all replies. She should be getting registered around July 1st. I can't wait since my birthday is in July. What a present to finally be able to drive it.

The hood latch release arm on my C500 has a welded on extension.  As sloppily as it was done, I assume that it is original from Creative Industries.  The actual latch appears to be a standard unit...

If you put on later model disc brakes, the end of the hub will need to be "chamfered" (conical bevel) to clear the inside of the Magnum 500 wheels.

More later this evening... gotta get back to work now!  I may have posted a picture of the latch release extension in my C500 thread... but I am not sure.

Allen

[hemigeno]

While I'm not as up on C500s, I thought the hood safety latch was the standard Charger unit?  The grille was obviously changed out to the Coronet style, but I did not think the latch tray and support structures were removed.  I know the '70 Charger latch had the welded extension, but the '68 and '69 Chargers used the pull rod setup.  IIRC, the '68 and '69 setups are different, but I'm not sure whether a '68 safety latch would have the interference problems you're having.  Might be something to check out, if nothing else.

Danny has pictures of several all-original C500s, and I'm sure he took some of the latches.

Can't help you much on the disc brake thing, as both of my cars have manual drums.

[richRTSE]

The latches are the same as a '68, just have a welded extension to reach through the grille. Maybe try unbolting the latch and see if you can hold the hood closed. Maybe something else is in the way (hood bumpers)?  Here's a couple of photos of the latch I took for reference...

[hemi68charger]

While I'm not as up on C500s, I thought the hood safety latch was the standard Charger unit?  The grille was obviously changed out to the Coronet style, but I did not think the latch tray and support structures were removed.  I know the '70 Charger latch had the welded extension, but the '68 and '69 Chargers used the pull rod setup.  IIRC, the '68 and '69 setups are different, but I'm not sure whether a '68 safety latch would have the interference problems you're having.  Might be something to check out, if nothing else.

Danny has pictures of several all-original C500s, and I'm sure he took some of the latches.

Can't help you much on the disc brake thing, as both of my cars have manual drums.

I'll take a picture of Dana's safety latch tonight...  The latch tray and support structure are the same and left in place as noted, but the grille now sticks out further with the flushness of the coronet grille, hence the handle part of the latch release needs to be positioned forward further...   That's my undestanding............. 

You Daytona owners are spoiled, two pins and you're done.........   

[hemigeno]

Ahh, I had the wrong idea of the question...  I was thinking the safety latch mounted to the hood.    Sorry...

[69_500]

I'm no help here on what it should be, other than going down stairs and taking a picture of my car. I went through all the pictures I have on the "survivor" cars I've looked at and no pictures of that latch release. Do have some of the hood latch though, and of thousands of other non interesting parts as my wife calls them.

[xs29j8Bullitt]

The pictures that "richRTSE" posted show the modified latch release arm better than any of the ones that I have taken so far. If needed, I can go track down the latch release and take pictures of it.

Below is a marked up copy of richRTSE's picture with the stock latch release arm roughly outlined in green and the extension "bar" outlined in yellow...  Also, two pictures taken during disassembly of my C500.

XS

[69_500]

Okay here are a few pictures of my hood latch release arm.

[69_500]

and a few more.

[69_500]

The latches are the same as a '68, just have a welded extension to reach through the grille. Maybe try unbolting the latch and see if you can hold the hood closed. Maybe something else is in the way (hood bumpers)?  Here's a couple of photos of the latch I took for reference...

hey Rich, just curious but do you remember which car you took the picture of the red hood latch? It looks identical to my car. I would say with the badly peeling paint and all just like my car.

[hemi68charger]

Here's the underside of Dana's latch arm.......... Obvious tack-welds for the extension...

[charger500az]

Thanks for all of the great pictures. You guys at dodgecharger.com ROCK!    I will keep trying to adjust the latch and hood. I still need to figure what to do with the brakes rubbing. I was wondering if xjsbullit could describe what he means be chaferered? Has anyone here attempted to do this? I would assume that it would be safest to go to a machine shop. Everything probably needs to be in perfect balance or it won't work right. Maybe I would be best of to just buy some 15 inch magnum 500s. What do you guys think?

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Thanks for all of the great pictures. You guys at dodgecharger.com ROCK!    I will keep trying to adjust the latch and hood. I still need to figure what to do with the brakes rubbing. I was wondering if xjsbullit could describe what he means be chaferered? Has anyone here attempted to do this? I would assume that it would be safest to go to a machine shop. Everything probably needs to be in perfect balance or it won't work right. Maybe I would be best of to just buy some 15 inch magnum 500s. What do you guys think?

Definitely needs to be done by a machine shop.  Does the wheel bolt down flush to the brake rotor?  What vehicle did the disc brake setup come from?  I need to head out to work now, so I can't find a picture to mark up until I get home this evening...

Allen

[69_500]

I was wondering what the brakes came out of. I haven't had to do anything to the disc brakes on my car as of yet. Then again it was a disc brake car from factory so that wouldn't do you a whole lot of good if I took some pictures of it though.

Nice picture there Troy of the under side. I tried for a good half an hour to get a picture of the bottom side, but my camera was WAY TO BIG to fit up inside there to get that picture.

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Thanks for all of the great pictures. You guys at dodgecharger.com ROCK!    I will keep trying to adjust the latch and hood. I still need to figure what to do with the brakes rubbing. I was wondering if xjsbullit could describe what he means be chaferered? Has anyone here attempted to do this? I would assume that it would be safest to go to a machine shop. Everything probably needs to be in perfect balance or it won't work right. Maybe I would be best of to just buy some 15 inch magnum 500s. What do you guys think?

Definitely needs to be done by a machine shop.  Does the wheel bolt down flush to the brake rotor?  What vehicle did the disc brake setup come from?  I need to head out to work now, so I can't find a picture to mark up until I get home this evening...

Allen

Here is the chamfer/bevel that I am refering to...  does your hub have a "sharp" 90 degree corner here?  No problem on a plain steel wheel, but with a Magnum 500 style wheel the 90 degree corner will prevent the wheel from fully seating... causing it to cock to one side when you tighten the lug nuts down.  The wheel will then rub the caliper as it rotates...  The 90 degree corner fouls on the "riser" where the wheel spokes radiate from...

Clear as mud?...

XS

[xs29j8Bullitt]

Maybe I would be best of to just buy some 15 inch magnum 500s. What do you guys think?

If the corner of the wheel hub is the problem, 15 inch Magnum 500s will not fix the fouling condition...

Hereis a loooong article about disc brake swaps... good reference material to start with... even if the guy did wreck the "new" Vanishing Point Challenger! 

http://www.moparaction.com/tech/archive/disc-main.html

XS