Hello,

I am currently in the process of disassembling my early, 12/73, 260Z and I have run into a concern I want to understand or correct before I remove the hood.  Currently, after pulling the hood latch from inside the car I am then required to use a stiff plastic squeegee to pop the hood open.  I place the squeegee between the cowl and the hood and apply what I consider to be a large amount of force to get the hood to pop up.  Once that happens I then need to squeeze the male hood latch to its full extent and snatch up on the hood.  I have adjusted both latches to their full amount of travel to release the pressure and at this point if I adjust the hood forward then it would just make the condition worse.  Hood alignment with the fenders and the cowl are good.  The operation of both the female and male latches appears to be normal.  I am not the original owner but I am starting to suspect that the car may have taken a punch to the nose.  No evidence at this point but I am trying to understand what is causing this binding issue.

I do have a yellow 5/71 240Z for reference and the hood latch system works just fine.  I did look at both latch systems and noticed a difference between the two.  The yellow 240Z female latch looks different than the green 260Z female latch. See pictures.  I quickly reviewed a couple of sites online and it appears that the same latch should be used from 70-78, correct?  Also, I quickly measured the distance from the firewall(see pictures) of the latch catch on both cars.  Appears to be a difference of .200 inch which may explain the binding issue.

Is there a difference between the latches on an earlier model Z and a later model Z?

Thanks for your input.

Robert

I don't see how you could lose 2 tenths in the latch mount. That kind of damage should be pretty obvious.

You could try just switching the female latches between cars and see if that helps?

I agree, I used calipers to measure and I realize that the measurement can be off some but even if you cut the difference in half. Looking at the female latch there is a difference but the relative position to the mounting bolts is pretty much the same. I will give it some more thought. 
 

Robert

Part of my thought process was, if there is an internal flaw in the latch, swapping them would reveal that. If the condition is the same then I might swap the male part of the latch from the 240. If I still have the problem then I would start trying to think outside the box. Might leave the latch slightly loose and see if it's an adjustment issue. There is some play in all four bolts for adjustment

Could it possibly be the male latch on the hood itself somehow being misaligned?

The hood latch male and female parts did change one time as of 05/72 and was the same for all following years S30's, the female receiver change is at the safety latch catch location. The male portion of the safety latch received a second spring at that time.  The spacing on my car with the early latch receiver matches that of your 05/71 car. I'm still thinking through why your latch is binding when you pull the release.

I have a latch from a 3/74 260z. Here is a picture. If you need one let me know and we can work something out.

Craig