So my hood doesnt lock unless you use a good amount of power to slam it closed. If you drop it or push down hard it wont lock. Slamming it is the only way and its wearing away the metal on my hood.

I took off the latch to clean and lubricate it to see if that would help but still the same thing. I then tried adjusting the latch position, also tried using the latch off of my other FC which works well, but still no matter what the hood still has to be slammed shut to lock. I got fed up trying since its freezing temperatures even in my garage.

What else could I do to fix this so it doesnt have to be slammed to close anymore? My other FC would just have the hood dropped from about 10 inches and it would fully close and lock without slamming it like my TII.

 

Assuming the latch alignment both side-to-side and fore-aft is correct, could it be the latch is off a non-aluminum hood RX-7? There is a different latch for aluminum hood vs steel hoods - the steel hood latch has a stiffer spring, and when dealing with the lighter aluminum hood, will be much harder to close without excessive height or force. After my aluminum hood got pounded by hail last summer, all I could find to replace it with was a steel hood; with the aluminum hood latch, I have the opposite problem, that the spring isn't strong enough to pop the hood up when it's released, and dropping the hood from any higher than a couple inches "slams" it.

If you can't get the correct latch, you could try detaching the upper end of the return spring and stretching the spring, which will reduce the effective spring strength. It doesn't take a lot, so don't get carried away with stretching it longer.

 

It ain't the spring, it's latch alignment.
I had to enlarge the slots in my latch assembly to get the hood to lock properly.

 

Given he shows "S5 GXL NA - S5 TII", , and shows a TII hood in the profile pic, I'd almost bet it's the steel hood vs aluminum hood latch issue. Using the steel hood latch will potentially damage the aluminum hood, as the force needed to close it can bend the striker, or more likely, the hood structure it mounts to.

 

Yeah the hood I have on my TII now is the aluminum TII hood from my NA. I wasnt aware there were different latches for aluminum and steel. That most certainly fits from what youre saying where I have the latch for steel hoods but my hood is aluminum.

I pulled the spring a bit but it didnt help and i tried aligning the latch differently but no matter what i still have to use the same amount of force to close it.

Now a stupid thing I forgot to hook the release cable back on the latch.. The only way i could think of opening the hood is removing the front bumper but Id still need the hood opened to even get to the bolts to the bumper bracket. I guess i could reach under the car with a long screwdriver to push the latch release. Ill have to try in the day time.

 

You need to pull the release on that..not push.
You won't get your bumper off without popping the hood..heh,heh.(sorry for the laugh but I know what your going through!).
IF you can get up through the bottom you can undo the 2 10mm bolts and the other 10 on the bracket.
..OR if the latch is equipped with one...there is a black round Rubber "bumper stop" I'd call it..on the latch that you should be able to lasso and pull down to open the hood.

 

I got my hood open. I was right about going underneath and used a long screwdriver to push the cable release latch to unlock it. Now good thing i have another because i stretched the first spring way too far

 

Im giving up on it. I also tried adjusting the hood position but nothing works. Ill settle to slam it shut until I find a latch thatll work with the hood.

 

At least you got it open, good work.

 

GOOD STUFF!
Ya the old steel hood is 56 pounds compare to about 28,so the difference in the weight is why the hood latch won't "recognize" that it needs to latch.
If you can get by with slamming the hood then you are good to go.
If you look into Vert hoods or other models that use the aluminum hood and grab the latch off of one of those cars it should solve the problem too.

 

My car was originally equipped with a steel hood and presumably, the correct latch.
I pulled my alloy hood from the junkyard and mindful of the supposed differences, I pulled the latch from the same vert as the hood.
There is NO DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE TWO SAVE THE SPRING.
NONE.

Most hardware stores have a selection of springs that will work if you think it will help but I really could find no reason to change...as I said before, it's adjustment, not spring tension.