havent posted up in a while, mostly because the ol gal has had limited use through the cold weather, but i wanted to get this information out to you guys, as i haven't seen a good fix anywhere by searching.

Not going to go into the details of how i got to this situation... but here are the important points:
- cross country trip
- intermittent AC compressor clutch function
- LOTS of hood opening (for compressor fiddling and allowing cool-down)
- weariness led to using my foot to release the hood latch
- broke the cable
- DO NOT USE YOUR FOOT TO RELEASE THE LATCH

spent the better part of an afternoon wandering around a home depot looking for an appropriate gauge wire that had the stiffness required.

showed the broken cable to my brother, and he immediately pegged it as a bicycle spoke.

he happened to have a bunch lying around.
we simply cut the "L" shaped curve off.
put a little jb weld on the other side to secure the thread/fastener. (the threaded side belongs in the engine bay.)
then put it through the firewall hole into the foot well.
fasten up the screw holding the cable to the latch in the footwell.
done. good as new.

by far the easiest fix of anything i've encountered. and at ~$1 a pop, the cheapest.

(can't find the pics, but i'll keep looking)