I have a hood latch for a 66-67 Acadian. It looks awful in the pictures but it is strictly surface rust. The entire assembly is rock solid, the rust is not the penetrating scaly type, just surface. It should sandblast just fine. All 3 springs on the assembly look fine as well.
This is unique to Acadian (not the same as Nova) and is also unique to 66-67. This came from a 67 but according to all information I have it's the same as 66. If I am wrong on that please correct me.