Quick Latch mod

662

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Installed Quick Latches with the GT500 strikers. Still got some reinforcements to do but I love these

QL.png
 

662

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Cosmetically certainly the splitter would look better if it more closely matched the canards, but it is the stock R splitter which is decent sized, so the canards just scoop out a lot of air. I think the pressure zones created will function as desired, better brake cooling, less turbulence and more downforce. What would help most now is lowering the car to within 3" of the tarmac, anything over that reduces the effectiveness of any splitter, but since I drive on roads, that's not gonna happen.
 

662

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Here are the strikers and underhood of the latch. I used a syringe to inject some JB Weld between the skin and bottom sheet metal in the hood after picking out some of the foam deadener material and still have to make some plates to use to flatten and distribute the pin loads on the underside of the hood. Just trying to protect the hood from deforming as much as I can...
pins.png


pin.png


hood.png
 

ANGREY

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Awesome, if you don't mind, could you elaborate with a brief narrative on this install?

1) Which Quik-Latch product is this? It's not very clear on their website how each of the different products differentiate.
2) Was there anything unusual with the fab in terms of the radiator support/post locations? Did you have to do any routing or drilling of the radiator support?
3) Outside of punching and drilling the hood, was there anything crazy or unusual about it installing the latch receivers?
4) How would you rate the "purchase" of the pins once latched? Is it solid with some sort of buffer to keep it firm or does it rattle/shake at all within the connection?
5) It looks as though the OEM hood latch is still there, do they function together (so you get 3 points of contact with the OEM providing security)?
 

gimmie11s

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Interesting. Are these a cosmetic mod or is there any function on a 350?

Do you plan to remove the original hood latch?


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662

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These are completely functional latches intended to eliminate the hood flap when going over 130mph. I bought ep-hp006-bl latches in June planning to use them some way since the hood flapping really bothered me. My car is a 17, but after my crash the core support replacement part was the newer 19/20 version and common with the GT500, so you can see the round openings that house the strikers. When the core support came in I was surprised to see the mounting points for the GT500 strikers, and since it looked like a challenge to mount the QL strikers I thought it would be simplest to use the factory ones and a couple weeks ago I was ordering some trim pieces to replace when they apply paint protection film and I went out on a limb and ordered strikers even though they seem like a rip off at 400.00 each.

I actually thought the blue QL's were not a close enough color match to my car and was planning to order black ones, so it was no big deal if I needed to get a different sized latch to match up with the new strikers. When the strikers came in last week I was very pleasantly surprised that they were the exact same ball size as my QL latches. They are also very nice stainless with a movable registration ability that works very well too. Once I got to looking at the stack-up I could tell the pieces were going to line up pretty closely. Anyway, I set the strikers in their spots and placed a dot of latex paint on the strikers and positioned them towards the bottom/front center of their range and closed the hood until they contacted the bottom of the hood. This marked the center of the latch holes and I used a 1 5/8" hole saw from the bottom and drilled out the hood. I cleaned out about 1/2 inch of the foam sound/vibration deadener material and used a syringe to get some JB Weld between the panels. I let this harden overnight and then installed the latches and test dropped the hood from 10" and it grabbed the strikers perfectly. Usually things like this don't go this well for me ;-) One thing here is I should have measured the dots before drilling since the drivers side is about 3/16 inch further back and I would have averaged the two marks to be more perfect, but they look perfect and it's not obvious until you measure them.

You can see I used SS bolts/nuts/lock washers to bolt in the strikers. Under them I tore a Mr. Clean magic eraser sponge in half and stuffed 1/2 in the center hole of each opening, then put a dab of JB Weld on each bolt/washer and wrapped a wire around the threads and fed the bolt/washer through the center hole and stood them up on the sponge to hold the 3 in place until I could set the striker on the bolts and place the lock washers and threaded the nuts you see on the top. I have a little 3/8 impact that was able to get the nuts tight without having to hold the bolt on the bottom, and that's how the strikers were mounted in the factory holes.

The GT500 has a different version of the core support that has some other way to secure the strikers, but I could only find that as the whole assembly which I would have bought (along with the GT500 hood) if the parts were available in June when I was repairing the car.

I am going to make some plates for the underside of the hood to distribute the load from the latches better, so far I don't think the hood will get tweaked from the stress, it seems good, but I want to be as cautious about that as possible. I'll keep the factory latch in place too, it works normally.

Overall, they seem to function much better than I hoped. Drop the hood from 10" and the grab the strikers and the hood is perfectly aligned and solid.
 
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ANGREY

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These are completely functional latches intended to eliminate the hood flap when going over 130mph. I bought ep-hp006-bl latches in June planning to use them some way since the hood flapping really bothered me. My car is a 17, but after my crash the core support replacement part was the newer 19/20 version and common with the GT500, so you can see the round openings that house the strikers. When the core support came in I was surprised to see the mounting points for the GT500 strikers, and since it looked like a challenge to mount the QL strikers I thought it would be simplest to use the factory ones and a couple weeks ago I was ordering some trim pieces to replace when they apply paint protection film and I went out on a limb and ordered strikers even though they seem like a rip off at 400.00 each.

I actually thought the blue QL's were not a close enough color match to my car and was planning to order black ones, so it was no big deal if I needed to get a different sized latch to match up with the new strikers. When the strikers came in last week I was very pleasantly surprised that they were the exact same ball size as my QL latches. They are also very nice stainless with a movable registration ability that works very well too. Once I got to looking at the stack-up I could tell the pieces were going to line up pretty closely. Anyway, I set the strikers in their spots and placed a dot of latex paint on the strikers and positioned them towards the bottom/front center of their range and closed the hood until they contacted the bottom of the hood. This marked the center of the latch holes and I used a 1 5/8" hole saw from the bottom and drilled out the hood. I cleaned out about 1/2 inch of the foam sound/vibration deadener material and used a syringe to get some JB Weld between the panels. I let this harden overnight and then installed the latches and test dropped the hood from 10" and it grabbed the strikers perfectly. Usually things like this don't go this well for me ;-) One thing here is I should have measured the dots before drilling since the drivers side is about 3/16 inch further back and I would have averaged the two marks to be more perfect, but they look perfect and it's not obvious until you measure them.

You can see I used SS bolts/nuts/lock washers to bolt in the strikers. Under them I tore a Mr. Clean magic eraser sponge in half and stuffed 1/2 in the center hole of each opening, then put a dab of JB Weld on each bolt/washer and wrapped a wire around the threads and fed the bolt/washer through the center hole and stood them up on the sponge to hold the 3 in place until I could set the striker on the bolts and place the lock washers and threaded the nuts you see on the top. I have a little 3/8 impact that was able to get the nuts tight without having to hold the bolt on the bottom, and that's how the strikers were mounted in the factory holes.

The GT500 has a different version of the core support that has some other way to secure the strikers, but I could only find that as the whole assembly which I would have bought (along with the GT500 hood) if the parts were available in June when I was repairing the car.

I am going to make some plates for the underside of the hood to distribute the load from the latches better, so far I don't think the hood will get tweaked from the stress, it seems good, but I want to be as cautious about that as possible. I'll keep the factory latch in place too, it works normally.

Overall, they seem to function much better than I hoped. Drop the hood from 10" and the grab the strikers and the hood is perfectly aligned and solid.

Thanks for the write up. Yeah, it's a lot more expensive than I was anticipating. $800 just for the posts is madness. I can't believe how bad it's gotten with OEM parts these days. Everyone understands that people need to make a buck, but the markups on OEM replacement parts range from bad to absolutely absurd. When the dealership quoted me $430 for a replacement key Fob, I wanted to scream at them how they thought a key Fob should cost 1% of the value of a vehicle. (the GT price is $390).

So to replicate what you've done I'd have to buy the newer radiator support and also shell out for the OEM 500 posts.

I'll probably wait for a knockoff 500 hood and then have a custom installer do the pins and fabrication for the QL kit then.
 

662

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It's best with 19 and newer cars... works good, looks good, easy. Pricey, but those strikers are nice.

Pre 19's need the newer core support and that blows out the cost. Too bad the GT500 core support was not available when I was replacing mine... it includes the core support w/strikers installed and was 2200. The GT350 one I needed anyway cost 1200 and I then paid 800 for the strikers, and still had to install. Simpler to buy the whole assembly.

If the GT500 hood was available a couple months ago when I replaced mine I'd a been in heaven... Would have been ~2k premium for me and I would have done it (If I thought of it in time, I just realized it fits so I'm not sure I would have caught it if it was available :) It's stupid money now tho. I priced the GT500 hood assembly a couple weeks ago, it was about 5k and still needed paint and install, so 7k ish. priced me out.

Leave it to Ford to make a 400 key fob seem like a good deal.
 

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