When I installed my hood pins on my Spec I removed mthe latch. I wish I had not I was always worrind about someone going into my engine bay (not that they did). I would recomend leaving it in and getting the cheapo hood pins. That way you can have some security. If you want to remove the cable for the latch you can fab a cable up so that you can pop the hood from the front of the car near the oppening.

Have a great day,
Jared

 

or get the cheapo hoodpins and use 2 padlocks instead of the actual pin. No need to shell out for expensive locking aerocatch latches

 

Sure why not? Low budget but effective.

The Aerocatch latches are nice and I seriously considered those for my DD when I was looking for extra space for an IC (no stock latch).

BTW FWIW I only went to hood pins because I needed to get rid of the stock hood latch assy to make room for the oil cooler. Otherwise it was really not necessary for me. The stock latch is not hugely heavy and thus I would not consider it low hanging fruit on the weight reduction tree.

 

The pins in option 2 are cast. I got hit in the left front fender in a race and exactly one lap later both pins cracked/came apart and the hood came up... in the middle of turn 5 at Rd. Atlanta. Not that they'll ever crack w/o impact, but knowing that (if you go the pin & post route) you might consider the "hitch" pins mentioned since they are not cast.

 

Now this is the latch! Thanks for the head's up! I'd like to be baller too but my Urologist made sure I can't be...

 

Funny but I just picked up the latest issue of GRM today. There is a good article on practical aero design/setup for low budget race cars. They listed some of the common aero mistakes, one of which was... drum roll... Don't use the regular style (what I used) hood pins. Apparently they can create appreciable drag They did not say how much. I doubt it is huge so I am not going to sweat it.

So there is a benefit to the Aerocatch latches beyond just the baller look. That is intuitive but the timing with this thread is funny.

 

Yes the Aerocatch latches are the most aerodynamic of the options. However because of the price I doubt GRM will ever recommend only those. And since on a miata you shouldn't be stripping the stock hood of it's bracing, you'll only be adding weight with those latches. I'm all about my $12 pins.

A cheap piece of stainless or aluminum rod and a cross hole later, and I'd have pins that wouldn't rust. I'm just too lazy. I think mine are actually chrome plated, they've just chipped and it's rusting where the plating is gone. Meh.

 

Or pro race cars. I installed these in this car Friday.

 

lol@my overkill:

 

 

I like it!

 

The bracing under the hood is aluminum. The weight savings will be very minimal especially if you have to add hood pins. I did it on one hood and it was so flimsy and marginally lighter, I ended up just using a stock hood. There are many better ways to save weight.

 

I plan to run 4-6 (only way of holding the hood down) Aerocatches for the hood myself with regular cheap ones for the trunk lid. The joys of mounting your wing on your rear quarter panels as compared to the trunk lid...

 

Just to add a data point on the op. Those carbon circle keyed latches are a big no no. Buddy of mine has a v8 AE86 and at MSRC people kept coming up to look at the car and the motor. He opened the hood like 10 times that day and thought it was locked when he entered the track. Nope, crushed windsheild and cracked carbon hood. You cant tell if there locked or open.

Jake

 

repost

 

I did hood pins on our LeMons car.

2 X Used Bolt (Finger/Thumb sized)
<Drilled a small hole in both>

Drill your hood using a universal bit where you want the studs to be.

Place large bolts where you want and weld to frame
(Don't forget to align the direction of your drilled holes where you want to be before you weld. Also take note of the height of the drilled hole so it will be the proper height not to high not to low when before you weld as well.

Get a large thin washer with a small center and drill three small holes in a triangle formation on the outer edges. Use the universal bit to make the center large enough to fit through the hole.

Use the washer as a template to drill the 3 holes in the hood to rivet the washer down.

Bought a pin from Home Depot for $0.97

The End.