97 super duty hood stuck

[bikechuck]

I replaced the water pump and fan clutch in my nieghbors 97 7.3 power stroke . We were all done and closed the hood. It didn't quite latch so he fooled with the latch and moved the part of the hood latch to the down position and slammed the hood again. Now it won't come up or down. The main latch is sideways holding the hood up, but the safety is latched and wont disengage unless the hood goes down. All the parts seem to be hardened or very stout making opening very difficult without damaging the hood. Any ideas. Thanks. Chuck

[Davescort97]

Have somebody pull the release inside while someone else moves the hood up or down.
Can you manually pull the release from the bottom side?

[bikechuck]

The hood latch won't work because the hood is jammed down tight on the latch which is turned sideways (in the engaged position) and being held down by the safety latch. It's so tight the safety latch won't move. The hood won't move up or down. I'm thinking of trying to cut the top part of the latch which would give me a little room but nothing will be easy because of tight quarters and all the metal is very stout.