Anybody use these things before?


QL-25 S Quik-Latch Mini Latch Fastener


They advertise a 200lb pull load rating. I'm thinking about trying a pair as hood pins on a Miata. Any experience that says this wouldn't be a good idea?

 

I have not seen them before, but I must say I like it.

 

I wouldn't trust them as a hood pin, but those are damn cool.

 

Hmm, I wouldn't mind running these but they seem more show than race. Plus I'm not sure if their tiny body would cover my current holes. Certainly cheaper than the aerolatch ones.

 

The full size latches intended for hoods are $300+, but the small ones would probably be fine on a lightweight vented hood.

 

Theres no way Im dropping $300 on the big girl sized ones, but Im thinking the Minis will be fine on aluminum Miata hood with a big vent cut in it. I went ahead and ordered them, so I guess we'll know in a few days how sturdy the feel.

 

you like'em big huh

 

I have seen, I have thought...

I hope this works out.

 

The best part about Aerocatch latches is that you always know when the hood is unlocked.

 

I can't argue with that. These have some visual indication that they're unlatched in the form of the button staying depressed , and the hood standing slightly proud of the fenders, but nothing like a couple of Aerocatches standing open.



I got them in yesterday, and installed one of the studs in place of one of the hood stops behind the headlights (where I intend to install them), popped a latch on it and tugged the crap out of it (no masturbation jokes necessary), and it seems pretty secure. I'll have more info later in the week after my Differential Equations final when I have time to start drilling holes in my hood.

 

Mock up pics:

 

Update!


Got the latches installed. They are PLENTY stout to use in an application like this. I wouldn't be comfortable with just two of them on a really heavy steel hood, but on something light, especially with vents, I'm plenty happy with it.


They took about an hour per side, taking my time and being careful. I punched the center of the pad where the hood bumper behind the headlight doors rests on the hood, then drilled a pilot hole through the pad and into the hood skin, being careful to drive perpendicular to the pad so that the latches ended up directly above the pin holes. Then I punched the pilot hole out with two successive step drills until the pad was completely drilled out, and the mount hole in the hood was 3/4". In hindsight, I should have drilled the latch hole slightly forward of the pad, as the hood is curved enough there that the bumper holes had to be drilled slightly oversize so that the pins could be moved back a little.














Notes:

1.) The red stuff on the pin is marker from me looking for contact while I was fitting everything.

2.) The spring/ washer do-dads (QL-25-AS Quik-Latch Mini Latch Assist Springs) are definitely required for a hood application. The latches don't stand high enough off of the pins when unlatched to easily get the hood open.

3.) My step drill's largest diameter wasn't big enough to leave room to pass a 7/8" socket, or even to reach needle nose pliers under the hood structure to tighten the retaining nuts on the latches, so I had to open the hole up with a die grinder and a carbide burr. This looks a little ugly, and Nobody ever looks up at the underside of the hood, but I'm going to have to find a way to clean it up before I'll be happy with it.

4.) I'm going to use 1/4" stainless fender washers to give a little more support and cover up the pin holes, and I'm going to find some 3/4" ID rubber/ silicone washers to go between the retaining nuts and the hood so that I can put some pre-load on the nuts. They're not a mission critical fastener (if they fall off the hood won't come off), and they don't seem to be loosening up, but since I can't reach a socket in to really get them tight, it gives me the heebs to not have some sort of positive/ locking/ something on them.

 

These are pretty nifty.

4 on the hood/trunk for a quick removal would be neat.

 

Ok I know I am bringing a thread back from the dead but I want to know how these worked out. I am very interested in them and I need to order something to hold my hood down soon. Do you still have the factory latch I would imagine not.... How does it work with them mounted there. I do not want my hood to fly off and I have big hole in mine so it may work even better. Any feedback or anyone who has used them let me know.

 

I would still seriously consider aero catches. A little spendy, but I'm not sure I would trust something when I can't see whether or not the mechanical lock worked for the hood.

 

We use these on our Lemons car. My two complaints.
1.) Safety - Almost everyone has no clue how to open the hood. I'm not saying they are stupid or geniuses, but the point is people have to ask.
2.) use - I find them hard to get unlatched. The car has not been wreck and they require a decent push with the thumb to get undone.

They are plenty strong to hold the hood down and I wouldn't not use them because of that. I wouldn't use them for the safety reason. It's not obvious how to open them like hood pins are.

 

I have a pair sitting in the garage waiting to be installed. I don't plan to use them on the hood for reasons listed in the post above. I refuse to get rid of the hood hinge, and the aerocatch latches just seem like a much better product for the hood. I'll be using quik-latches for my EP-style front bumper, and probably for the rear decklid if/when I switch to a FG skin.

 

I put these on because I wanted to put a GT500 vent in my hood which would only left ~1" of aluminum on each side of the hood to connect the latch to the rest of the hood. I took the latch off entirely and just used these, and I think they worked really well for that. Unfortunately, about 2 months after I got the vent in the hood a guy popped them at a car show and let me drive off with them unlatched. The hood came up, destroying the hood, the vent and the hood struts. Luckily the hood struts kept the hood off the windshield frame, so no major damage was done. Interestingly, I had to drive the car home with the hood bent up into a big parachute, and the Quik Latches held it down nicely. I wasn't super thrilled with the GT500 vent, so I just put a factory hood on it and the factory hood latch and I think I'll do a URAS vent down the road some.


In hindsight:

- They're definitely strong enough and secure enough to use as hood pins.

- As with any hood pins, if you take off the redundancy of the factory latch, you have to get in the habit of checking them every time you get in the car or risk somebody having messed with them (or you having forgotten them).

- Since they're totally blind, aligning these things is a pain. Lots of experimentation and tweaking them is the only solution I've found.

- They definitely need to have a little grease in the mechanism. They get very notchy and difficult to use if they dry out.

- As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I looked for some rubber/ silicone o-rings to get some positive preload on the nuts. I really couldn't find anything I liked, so I ended up using Nord-Locks. They're a huge pain in the *** to use while aligning these latches, but they're very positive and they're not going to come off unless I want them too, lol.

- I used a hole saw for the hood structure during second installation, which worked out much nicer than the step drill. I was able to cut the hood structure much more cleanly than I did in the pics above.



Overall, I'll probably use them again, and just try to keep an eye on them.

 

The Quick Latch product is a great idea, but I use those at work everyday on the race cars, the stud heads wear the latch portion and makes them difficult to operate. The studs themselves break to easily. Any dirt or debris in the latch portion makes it difficult to open and use.

for small panels inside the car or trunk would be great. But for body panels I would stick with standard options that are more commonly used.

*But my opinion comes from extreme use and abuse of these over the past year.


Also agree on Iloveofframps safety issue related problem. Very few people know how to use them.

 

I was planning on using 4 of these for my hood, at the bumpers behind the headlights and at the front since I'm pulling that heavy piece of lead known as the stock latch. They work awesome on the csp car's splitter, and a whole lot cheaper than aero catches. And these wont break like the aero catches.