Forum wisdom

😁😁

Mr. Ford would also be proud of his team’s TSB’s!

(congrats on your proactiveness)

Thanks for posting this. I've read the TSB, but this remnds me I still need to do it. I'll now make it a priority!

I've owned # 1791 for 2 years this June and I still haven't located where the emergency cable appears in the cabin..maybe attached to the hood release ?

Another option is to just change the 50 year old cable for a new one. If you are still insecure then perhaps you are a natural born pessimist.

Thrillrider

if the photo you provided is your car you have already found the second cable. Note, second cable is clearly visible in the photograph. That means someone has already performed this very necessary upgrade on your car

when you are feeling limber and flexible, or maybe just armed with a mirror, you should look up inside your pedal box from the foot well to locate the other end of your emergency cable

Larry

rrs1,

Even if I had a brand new one I'd still install a backup. Not pessimism at all. Good engineering practices. The consequences of losing the ability to open the front trunk lid are ugly.

thrillrider,

It just hangs down around the release handle. I haven't read the TSB. The backup mimics the stock installation just without a handle. Yours might be stuffed up under the dash somewhere. Looks like its routed through the side of the foot box instead of across the top of the foot box like the stock installation.

rrs1

I seem to recall a multi million dollar telescope that was launched into orbit, and did not work. Wasn’t it brand new?

In other words, a new cable is no guarantee of no failure.

Adding an auxiliary, emergency cable is an upgrade EVERY owner should make before they regret not making it.

Larry

I looped my emergency hood release cable around and, to keep it from interfering with the moving parts in the area, I secured it above the throttle pedal with a small cable tie through the same hole used by the throttle pedal return spring. I built it with a loop at the end of the cable to enable pulling it. I've never had to use it, but it's there if I ever need to. This is the best shot I have of it stowed in place. So, your cable should be up in that area somewhere,

Unlocking the mindset of the POs is one of the things that makes ownership of a collector car so much fun. I guess the TSB does not specify where to place the other end of the cable

The TSB doesn't really say much at all...

13 mm  wrench

original they are 13mm bolts whit 8.8 stensile strenght mark on top  and washers.

maybe yours are replaced by flange bolts ?

Removing the grill only works on later cars where the grill is attached with screws. Early cars are held in with nuts on studs from the inside.

Ron

I'd cut the mesh out of the grill and cut a hole through the radiator cover. Someone found replacement mesh, so that's replaceable and, of course, the radiator cover is replaceable. A process I would NOT enjoy. I might even put in a backup to my backup.

The emergency front hood cable TSB (Nov 1973) is one of two mods EVERY Pantera ever build should have. The washer on the free end is necessary because as one poster noted, it takes a stout pull to activate the hood latch without the leverage of the normal hood release lever.

Mod #2 should be to SAFETY-WIRE THE RING GEAR BOLTS IN YOUR ZF!  The hardened OEM bolts loosen regardless of the patented teeth under the bolt head, since the ring gear, against which the bolt head presses, is too hard to be indented by the teeth. Then after the bolt backs off a turn or two, it starts to rub the inside of the ZF case and being brittle, snaps off. This of course forces the remaining bolts to pick up the full load, overworking them and leading to more bolts loosening & breaking.

I've heard of NINE of the ten ring gear bolts being broken and collected at the bottom of the ZF case around the magnetic drain plug, The car was still being driven. This was first found back in the early '70s when the Pantera was still being built & sold, and has destroyed many transaxle covers. Broken bolts are sometimes accidentally found during ZF lube changes  (Note service interval: change ZF lube every 8000 miles per your Owners Manual, pg 35).

A loose bolt-part is eventually picked up by the spinning ring gear teeth, gets caught in the ring & pinion gear-mesh and for reasons I do not know, are almost always spit out towards the bottom. Propelled by 300+ bhp, the bolt-projectile cracks the ZF's cast aluminum bottom cover and you lose all the gear lube within a minute. The car is completely undriveable.

Today,  FIFTY-SOME YEARS LATER, I heard of this happening. And while this problem has been well known for over 4 decades, it somehow never attained TSB status with Ford and new owners are often unaware. Low mileage 'survivor' cars may be especially vulnerable. OEM bolts are too hard for the average owner to drill at home for the required holes. The fix is to replace the OEM bolts with U.S-made bolts whose heads are pre-drilled for 0.032" stainless steel aircraft safety wire, then wired in pairs. All the vendors are well aware of this problem and kits are available. Cracked covers may be TIG-weld-repaired after thorough cleaning.

Sadly, verifying safety wire is present requires the ZF to be drained, removed from the Pantera and the cover pulled for a visual inspection. With great difficulty, a few brands of illuminated remote inspection tools may be inserted in the ZF while its still in the car. Trying to do this thru the drain plug is usually unsuccessful due to clearance issues. And if you DO somehow manage to see the bolt heads and they do NOT have wire, you still need to pull the ZF to fix it.

@marlinjack posted:

Then what is the solution from the Wizards of Smart? What is YOUR Solution to getting the Hood Opened?

...Pry-Bar?? Let's Hear It!!

MJ

Marlin,

'My solution is a secondary pull cable. ;-)

And Jack...I agree with everything that you said with regards to the ZF ring gear bolts ( I've seen many of them loose or broken) except for the fact that the bolt heads tighten against the diff carrier, not the ring gear. The carrier is not hardened but the "teeth" under the heads of the bolts still don't seem to be up to the task.

Ron

@lf-tp2511 posted:

Thrillrider

if the photo you provided is your car you have already found the second cable. Note, second cable is clearly visible in the photograph. That means someone has already performed this very necessary upgrade on your car

when you are feeling limber and flexible, or maybe just armed with a mirror, you should look up inside your pedal box from the foot well to locate the other end of your emergency cable

Larry

I can't remember the last time I felt limber or flexible but perhaps on a morning when  my joints don't make strange noises I will lay on my back with  my feet on the ceiling and I will locate the emergency cable

Ron, you're right. The holes in the ring gear are threaded and the bolts pass through the thinner steel carrier & bear against it. My goof- its been awhile since I disassembled one- Jack D