924Board.org

[jazz guy]

I recently had the hood release cable on my '82 931 break while the hood was closed. Normally the cable snaps at the pull handle inside the cabin, in which case you just grab it with a vice grips and pull to release the hood. I've had to do this on another 931 before. This time though, no such luck. The cable had broken about a foot from the latch... rats! How to get the hood open, hmm...

After jacking up the front end and looking at the situation from below, I decided there was no way I was going to have the patience to remove everything to get up to the latch. I'm not even sure it's possible to get to the upper fan shroud bolts from below. I did mention my lack of patience, right? All I wanted to do was take the car out for it's maiden run after a major suspension rebuild, which btw, took MANY months longer to complete than it should have due to life getting in the way. I just needed to pop the hood, jump the battery, and motor off into automotive bliss. So close and yet so far.

The next idea was to go thru one of the nose vents. Fortunately I had my '81 931 sitting next to the hood-locked '82 to look at and after pulling out the grates I saw that the vent furthest to the driver's side allowed a small access to the underside of the hood latch. I fashioned a pry bar out of a round 8mm steel rod and practiced getting the angle needed to catch the latch. Now to try it for real on the '82!

Problem. No access thru the end vent on the driver's side! The nose venting on the '82 is different than the '81 (I would not have guessed that). After letting my blood pressure settle and pulling the rest of the grates out, I found that the next vent over (just to the driver's side of the Porsche badge) had an opening, albeit from a different angle which meant I'd have to bend the pry bar differently. I stuck a small flashlight in the vent and was able to get a small but direct sight-line to the hood release. I could see the end of the broken cable. There's not much room to get between the safety latch to the main hood release. The latch needs to be pried toward the driver's side fender to release so I had to grind a thin flat end in the pry bar and bend the end down slightly to get the correct angle. After a number of tries while my son pushed down on the hood to relieve the pressure, SUCCESS, the hood popped open!

Now, to motor off into automotive bliss. More on that later...
_________________
'81/'81/'82

[Rasta Monsta]

Like
_________________
Toofah King Bad

• WeiBe (1987 924S 2.5t) - 931 S3