Front Hood Lock Cable Release Replacement, Is there a DIY available for replacement? Options

[earossi]

I need to replace the wire cable and its sheath that operates the front trunk hood. Is there an "easy" way to do this? Any pitfalls? Better yet, is there a DIY writeup out there. I used the Search feature but nothing turned up.

[r_towle]

I believe it is a tube that could be replaced with some hard brake line.
Fr the cable, it's a steel solid cable if memory serves me today.
Those can be had at lawn tractor shops used for motors, chokes all sort of things.

Rich

[Johny Blackstain]

If you're not going to replace with stock parts then I'd consider experimenting w/ bicycle cables- the kind used for pulling brakes & gear changing. Shimano makes the stuff in bulk & although made of different materials, it's essentially the same principle- a cable designed to slide within a sheath.

[hndyhrr]

If you can find it long enough from a bike shop I got a brake cable that was kevlar wrapped for my thermostat, that might work as well.

[r_towle]

The cable needs to be in a Boleyn, or sheath yes, but the unique issue with the front and rear lids is that the Boleyn must remain static and not be allowed to bend.

So for the front, you would need to fasten the cable to the inner fender well in quite a few places.

So, hard line brake line would be easier.

[Johny Blackstain]

The cable needs to be in a Boleyn, or sheath yes, but the unique issue with the front and rear lids is that the Boleyn must remain static and not be allowed to bend.

So for the front, you would need to fasten the cable to the inner fender well in quite a few places.

So, hard line brake line would be easier.

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/agree.gif) The stock cable is fastened in quite a few places & it's rigid. Using bike cable might require doubling the amount of fastening points because it's much more flexible than stock.

[earossi]

I believe it is a tube that could be replaced with some hard brake line.
Fr the cable, it's a steel solid cable if memory serves me today.
Those can be had at lawn tractor shops used for motors, chokes all sort of things.

Rich

Rich,

Thanks for the comment. I already have a new cable and the plastic sheathe into which the cable will reside. My question was more about finding the easiest way to replace the sheathe and cable.

[bdstone914]

The end of the original cable has a threaded end that screws into the handle. I don't see a flexable bike cable working. I think they are still available new. If not I have a cable without plastic sheath I just pulled from a car.

Bruce

[earossi]

So, the plastic sheathe is a length of plastic tubing. On the end that will be at the trunk pull handle, there is a second ferrule fastened to the tubing. I assume this "fixes" the sheathe in place in the cabin. And, the pull wire has a metal sleeve attached to one end. The sleeve is approximately 5/16" in diameter and about 2 to 3 inches in length.

My question is that I'm asking if there is a DIY out there on the easiest way to replace both the sheathe and the pull wire?

[mepstein]

place a wtb in the classifieds and get a real replacement.

[Chris H.]

914rubber sells the cable itself all set up correctly for you.

Cable

[HalfMoon]

No one's told you the fun part.
Getting it adjusted so it will reliably open the damn thing is an experience you will not want to do EVER again in this lifetime or the next. Don't ask how I know.
In fact after many many attempts I took the stoopid thing off and pinned it.

[mepstein]

No one's told you the fun part.
Getting it adjusted so it will reliably open the damn thing is an experience you will not want to do EVER again in this lifetime or the next. Don't ask how I know.
In fact after many many attempts I took the stoopid thing off and pinned it.

I'm not sure why you had so much trouble. I took mine apart. Lubed the cable, latch and lock. Reassembled, and it works perfectly. Didn't require any real fiddling, just tightened everything down and worked. Cable pull is much easier once it's all lubed and puts way less stress on the cable and mechanism (which is pretty universal when cleaning and lubing almost all the moving parts on our cars).

[jeffdon]

No one's told you the fun part.
Getting it adjusted so it will reliably open the damn thing is an experience you will not want to do EVER again in this lifetime or the next. Don't ask how I know.
In fact after many many attempts I took the stoopid thing off and pinned it.

I'm not sure why you had so much trouble. I took mine apart. Lubed the cable, latch and lock. Reassembled, and it works perfectly. Didn't require any real fiddling, just tightened everything down and worked. Cable pull is much easier once it's all lubed and puts way less stress on the cable and mechanism (which is pretty universal when cleaning and lubing almost all the moving parts on our cars).

What do you like to use for cable lube?

[earossi]

OK. I played with the car tonight and answered one half of my original question. Replacing the sheathe is easy. Done entirely from inside the front trunk. You simply bend up the 5 positioning tabs that hold the cable in place. Only need to bend them up enough to slip the cable out.

Then, I disconnected the wire pull at the latch and pulled the cable and sheathe out of the car. The rear of the sheathe is a slip fit into a ferrule that goes through the firewall.

The only tricky part was feeding the new sheathe through the body down by the headlights. To make it easy for me, I simply taped the end of the new sheathe to the old sheathe so that as I pulled the old sheathe through the body holes, it pulled the new sheathe along with it.

Upon examination I noted that the old sheathe was brittle and had broken about mid length where it sits on top of the wheel well. Over the years, water had found its way into that break and there was about a one foot length of the wire pull that was severely corroded. That made the pull so rough that it drug on the sheathe channel creating enough friction to make it extremely difficult to pull the cable from within the cabin.

But, I have still not gotten an answer to the second part of my question, which is the DIY on how to remove the pull handle in the cabin. In my car, the area around the pull handle is a mass of wiring bundles. I can't even see up into that area very well.

I assume there are two bolts that hold the handle assembly to the body. If so, what type of bolts are they (I'm assuming socket head cap screws). And, if they are socket head, what size socket is required? And, do I need to remove the wiring bundles to gain access?

[earossi]

914rubber sells the cable itself all set up correctly for you.

Cable

Hey Chris,

Wish I had known that 914 rubber had the cable pull. I got mine through Pelican. It's OEM Porsche, but at twice the cost as the one from 914Rubber.

So, I have all the replacement parts. It is just the PItA issue I see in detaching the pull handle bracket in the cockpit so that I can replace the wire pull.

[mepstein]

No one's told you the fun part.
Getting it adjusted so it will reliably open the damn thing is an experience you will not want to do EVER again in this lifetime or the next. Don't ask how I know.
In fact after many many attempts I took the stoopid thing off and pinned it.

I'm not sure why you had so much trouble. I took mine apart. Lubed the cable, latch and lock. Reassembled, and it works perfectly. Didn't require any real fiddling, just tightened everything down and worked. Cable pull is much easier once it's all lubed and puts way less stress on the cable and mechanism (which is pretty universal when cleaning and lubing almost all the moving parts on our cars).

What do you like to use for cable lube?

I use light grease or bike lube. Whatever is handy and easy to apply. Grease will stay in place and lighter lube will flow to multiple pivots in a lock mechanism. Almost anything is better than nothing. Just remember wd-40 is not lube.

[mepstein]

914rubber sells the cable itself all set up correctly for you.

Cable

Hey Chris,

Wish I had known that 914 rubber had the cable pull. I got mine through Pelican. It's OEM Porsche, but at twice the cost as the one from 914Rubber.

So, I have all the replacement parts. It is just the PItA issue I see in detaching the pull handle bracket in the cockpit so that I can replace the wire pull.

The handle is held in by two allen head screws in the cowl in back of the brake fluid resivoir. Either 4 or 5 mm. I can't remember. Push the wires aside. Spray with penetrating oil a day or 2 ahead and it should remove pretty easily. Your results may vary.

[jsh]

I need to replace the wire cable and its sheath that operates the front trunk hood. Is there an "easy" way to do this? Any pitfalls? Better yet, is there a DIY writeup out there. I used the Search feature but nothing turned up.

I replaced my sheath with the tubing for refrigerator ice makers. The connector for the ice maker tubing just fits the metal tubing connection in a 914. Available at HD Racing (Home Depot)>

[Steve]

I just did mine also. Bought it all from Pelican. Didn't know that Mr. Rubber carried it for less. The handle was harder than hell to pull until i took it apart again and sprayed the inside of the sheath with silicon grease. Works like a charm now. I also had no issues with the dam thing, except I tried replacing the mechanism with an early mechanism that did not have the return spring. I thought it might be easier to pull the handle with the single spring unit. When i pulled the handle it would not go back on its own and the hood would not shut until i pushed the handle back in. I switched the mechanism back to the dual spring one and now it works like a charm. The whole problem in the first place was that it just needed some lube.