Anyone know what the difference is beweent the 86/87 power hatch pull down and the 88-91 ones?

As far as functional difference there is only one. The connector on the blue wire that hooks to the +12v power source (black/orange stripe wire) is different. Just cut yours off and solder it to the other hatch pull-down unit and you are good to go.

As far as the physical looks of the two units there are a few items that will clue you in to which is which:

The 1986-87 had a large white connector on the blue wire. It also has a pan-head torx bolt with a nut that attaches the latch portion to the up/down rod. The frame of the latch portion of the unit has a .50" hole right where the number V4887 is stamped. This hole is for you to insert a torx-tip "L" shaped tool to hold the head of the bolt while undoing the nut. The 1986-87 used 8 solid nylon guides. These were more robust than the later design. One guide mounts to each of the tabs on the latch portion.

The 1988-91 had a small black connector on the blue wire. It also has a clevis pin and push nut rather that a bolt and nut that attached the latch portion to the lift rod. It also has a .73" tab or flange of metal (purpose unknown) on the side of the latch frame that the head of the clevis pin is located. The 1988-91 had 4 injection molded nylon guides that used the minimal amount of material possible. These guides always break into several pieces with age.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

Mine has a bristled black broom mount on the front, as if to be some type of self cleaning mech. It used to work when I bought the car then stopped...not sure what the cause. I can get pics of mine but can't recall details like you just rattled off!

hehe

1986-87:


Notice the large white connector on the blue wire. Also notice the small hole on the left of the unit just above the reversing switch.

Neither picture shows the hatch release or trunk release, since we are only discussing the difference in the hatch pull-down units. These pictures are on the re-built units I sell. The finish is a little different than the stock ones were originally. I've painted the frame silver metallic and latch units black metallic, where the originals had phosphate coated frames and black oxide coated latches.

Lon

1988-91 (Note: 1991 the design changed mid-year. This unit was used on cars with vin#173202 and below.


Notice the lack of that small hole above the reversing switch and a small black connector on the blue wire.

Lon

If the last six digits of the VIN are the correct numbers, mine reads 250774

I think you are referring to a punched out round hole in the black metal under the latch, left side. - correct? (from the picture perspective) Mine might be the one you say breaks down with age (the guides)

Bill

hey, lonsal
i have one question for u......would a 92 camaro power hatch pulldown fit in an 87camaro? what are the differences there?
thanks

NO. A 1982-85 manual latch won't fit a 1986-91 (first design). Also a 1991(2nd design)-92 won't fit your 1986-91(first design). They all have different bolt patterns to mount to the body. A 1982-95 manual slam latch can be modified to fit. A 1991-92 is a completly different design with some function differences as well. These have a plastic frame and also require a different square shaped hook on the latch instead of the round formed one used before. It also functions differerntly in that the unit holds onto the hatch until it has reached the top of its stroke before releasing. The earlier design releases the hatch hook as soon as either the key is manually turned in the lock behind the license plate (Camaro) or the hatch release solenoid is activated from the switch.

Lon

I would like to remove my 88 power latch and convert to the 82-85 style manual latch...is there alot of work involved in this? Anyone attempted this in the past?

while you cannot swap hardware to make this work (power to manual), you can modify what you've got to do the job. Its pretty simple, but you'd be butchering what you've got now. I did it on my last 3rd gen since I was a broke high school kid, wouldn't do it to my current one though.

All you need to do is drill a couple holes through the sliding sections to the left and right of the physical latch piece and put some bolts through. I had someone holding the hatch leve while doing this (you do want to make sure it seals correctly and doesn't look) funny. It gets the job done and your hatch will stay down. It does destroy what you have for hardware, so you'd have to go see Lon for new parts if you ever want to make it work correctly again.

If someone has a pic of the setup, I can show you where to drill.

do you have a wiring diagram for this mine is there you unbolt it and it comes out there is nothing to hook up to

mine is a true 1988 Iroc convertable from the top of the latch there is a switch with 3 wires orang brown and white that go to the motor brown white blue, with 3 wires that go out to a relay white that splits to twice blue and brown out of the relay there are 2 wire blue and white that hook to nothing and of course black that gets hooked to the chassie, there is a 2 pron limiter switch with no wires on it at all. in the trunk there is only one wire that has power to it which is red with a white stripe

i have taken the photos but cant see how to add them to the report