Locking Hood Latch T-Handle: Re-key Effort

A while back I got ahold of a locking hood latch/cable as a part of my "security upgrade" for
my '85 Club Wagon. It has two nice new batteries up front and the hood did NOT lock

I know how to re-key stuff, if it uses the typical earlier Ford plugs, I think I can make the T-Handle
match my Door Locks.

To do this, I have to get the Lock Cylinder out...


On my '61 and '63 Falcons, I had this same little hole in the Cylinder Face. You just turned the
key back to "Accessory" and inserted a paperclip until you felt a spring loaded button inside the
cylinder. While pushing with the paper clip, you then wedge the key into the cylinder and pull
out the key and cylinder.

Well, with the T-Handle, there is NO "acc" position, and going to full clockwise UNlock, I can't feel
any spring button at the end of the paper clip

In fact, I tried at every possible spot along the key's 90 or so degrees of rotation and there is no
button, just a solid shallow hit. (EXCEPT, in the CCW (locked) position, I can stick the paper clip
about an inch into the little hole... ...but NO spring-loaded button, nothing

Has anyone ever seen one of these taken apart?


Best regards,
George

Do you have the key for it? If so why worry about re-keying?

If not I would suggest going to a locksmith on this one.

Damn wish the newer OBS and Brick nose had one of those, suppose one could retrofit it eh?

Hey RiotWarrior-

Ya I got the key for it. My problem is (desire more than a problem,) I want one key to
open all the doors of the van, including the hood, and another key for the ignition.

If I need the door key and it's dark I just feel in my pocket for the round or square... (I guess
I could notch one of the round keys... ...but I can alter stuff to suit and have just one round.)

YES, you can get a Locking Hood Latch Kit. The kit was made by Ford and is VERY RARE,
but they are around. In fact if you got the cabbage, there is a NOS one on eBay right now-
$150 though, that's crazy money IMO. There's another one on there (NOT a kit,) at 75, and
I've seen them less than that.

I've seen them on trucks and vans at the local pick u pull, so keep your eyes peeled.

If you want to convert, you need the front latch (bolts right up to old holes,) the cable, and the
pull handle (which bolts under the edge of the dash in two existing holes.) Be sure you get
a key for the thing, and if you want to re-key it, I'll try to help you out!

*Older Hood Latch keys are round headed, the "newer" ones were square headed.

*****************************************
I got the key cylinder out. It was a matter of probing around. The key position is fully Clockwise.

The pin you are trying to depress sticks out, which makes it kinda hard to nail the first try...
...here's the T-Handle, with the cylinder removed:


The key will be horizontal, and the little hole will be just below the level line of the key slot. I pushed
dead-straight in with the paper clip, and the contact was "shallow." I had to be sure to stay on
that little brass pin, because it is spring loaded and is pretty small.


Now I have the cylinder isolated, next time I will pull the wafers/plugs and show how to key the cylinder
to match my door key:


By the way, this lock cylinder is the same one for the glove box (my van has no glove box,) in most
trucks. The cylinder is still available:


One thought, if I were to go shopping for a good used handle, would be to get one without the key or
cylinder, then use a new one...

Til next time...

best regards,
George

When I got my 94, it had one square key for the doors and ignition. Separate round key for glovebox.
But I busted that ignition the first few days. Lol

Sent from my SM-G900R4 using Tapatalk

little known fact about ford keys.....

if your door and hood latch are same head shape...cut one side for door.....other side for hood latch...key works only one side in door or hood latch...

I used to do this all the tjme...filed notches on key head to know what side is up for what spot it was going into...notches for door was my way

I guess I got lucky then, mine is doors, glove compartment, and hood all on one key, ignition is totally on its own.

Yes 79jasper, the later models had one (square) key for doors/ign. You'd think they'd have done that sooner

Good tip on the double cut key RiotWarrior, with a little notch on one side of the key head it would allow for one
key too.

You had an improved version it looks like thegururat12!


*************RE-KEY EFFORT, FINISHING UP************


Finally got my act together and found the important little parts for this re-key effort. (All the while I'm still working
on the vehicle. I'm in the wiring stage, I plan to put up an update soon, lots of pics and stuff during all the figuring.


There are TWO TYPES of key cylinder used in my year of vehicle, the tumbler/wafer type, and the pin type. The doors
and ignition use pins. Lesser accessories, like the Locking Hood Handle use wafers. (NOTE: My Van did NOT come with
a locking hood, and did NOT come with a locking hood release cable, I got one from a 73-79 Truck, and just ran the
longer cable in bigger loops to take up the slack. Otherwise the Latch is a direct bolt-in.)

I got the cylinder out, I needed to change the wafers out, but I HAD NO WAFERS. I found Ford wafer lock kits, but none
had the right type of wafers. NOS Kits were running 30-40 bucks which is about what the Locksmith down the street
wanted, but using the Locksmith would not be as much fun FINALLY the other day I figured it out. Being the cheap
SOB that I am, I located a fairly cheap Glove Box Door Lock Cylinder (plastic) which uses the same wafers

The ones I found for about 13 bucks shipped were from an '87 light truck or Bronco (P/N E7TZ-1506081-A)


*I bet similar from 1973-1988 would probably work. I saw locks at the local Pick U Pull but I was short on time.

The Wafers are the brass pieces. They are an interference fit, with enough push they pop out, but be careful as each
Wafer has a tiny Spring under it to maintain locked un-keyed position...




I could write a bunch about how the Wafers work but maybe seeing this and a few words will help:

The key influences the position of each Wafer (above) and when everything lines up (none of the Wafers stick out,) you
have an "unlocked" lock.

There are 5 different sized Wafers:

(I got a piece of TIG rod pointing at the spot that changes with each Wafer size. The one I'm pointing at is a #1, note
how thick #5 is at the right.)

I just started putting Wafers in at random and saw the result by putting the New Key in:

First try I got 3 out of 4... (Last Wafer on the left needs to come down more, thus a higher number part gets swapped.)

This is a bit like Russian Roulette.... Ok, it's not, but way less figuring if you take a try at it and go from there.

I swapped out a #1 with a #3 and viola!


Notice that even juuust a little bit sticking up can make for a sticky lock, so if you have several #3's like I did,
pick the better one...

Once, dialed-in, the cylinder (with key) gets re-inserted to the T-Handle and it should click in place. Testing proved
to work as planned:


Of course, as I finished this effort, I found this explanation, which some may find useful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FX2AH9-isPA

Check another item off my Wish List...

Best regards,
George