did 87-92 verts all have pull down motors? or did some have a a regular latch? how hard would it be to convert to a regular latch? doesnt the tonneau cover solenoids get power thru thru the pulldown relay? on my vert i dont care if it has a elec pulldown motor, matter of fact i could shave 2 lbs by going to a regular latch. my wifes vert is all stock and i went to look at it and it literally fell apart in my hands. icould rebuild mine and swap it into hers and put a regular latch im mine. any ideas or opinions????

My '92 T/A is a regular latch.

my 92 rs has a non. power.
Loks diff then any of the top cars I have had.

the two 92s i have are non power assisted i dont see why you cant convert it just finding one might be the problem

My 89 has the pull down... It would depend on whether or not ASC changed anything back there when they did the conversion. The bolt hole locations are different for the mid 1991 & 1992, than they are for the 1986 - early 1991. The early ones are larger.

John

on the manual ones , is the striker a little lower? i dont know how to ask this right so bear with me. the elec pulldown catches and draws the lid down a inch or so. is the manual one built lower or offset in some way to account for the inch of travel?

Many had it, most did not.

Converting to a regular latch is as easy as unplugging and removing the pulldown latch and replacing it with its equivalent stationary latch.

I have heard conflicting information regarding this point. I’m not exactly sure.

It’s very possible. However, used, good-working condition latches are fairly cheap and somewhat easy to come by and I don’t know it the stationary latches are even ‘rebuildable’.

Read following commentary...

Both the stationary and power pulldown latches have the same bolt pattern and mount the same way to the vehicle. When in the ‘open’ position, the power pulldown latch measures about an inch higher than the stationary latch. This is so that the latch can mechanically pull the hatch/trunk lid into the proper closed position. This happens when the hatch/trunk striker contacts a trigger switch in the latch striker channel. Once depressed, the switch closes a set of contacts in the pulldown relay (located underneath the center console right next to the shifter lever) which supplies power to the pulldown motor. The pulldown motor drives a gear which either extends or retracts the hatch/trunk latch mechanism into its either fully closed or fully open position.

The latches were available with an option for a solenoid hatch/trunk popper that was triggered by a switch located on the center console between the power window switches. Since this option was typically bundled with other option packages, few cars ordered with power windows came without the hatch/trunk popper. Conversely, the take rate for the power pulldown and hatch/trunk popper options was fairly low on the convertibles due to the fact that their sticker price averaged approximately $10k more than either the hard top or t-top cars. As-such, many convertibles were ordered without ‘non-essential’ options –which included the power pulldown and hatch/trunk popper solenoid.

Half way through the 1991 model year, new stationary and power pulldown latch designs were introduced (although I have yet to find anyone who knows why). Former Corvette chief engineer Dave McClellan once told me that due to the mid-model-year introduction, it was very likely that this was done to meet some sort of government safety regulation –most likely stricter regulations regarding latch performance. The 1991.5 and 1992 power pulldown latch was not offered with the traditional hatch/trunk popper solenoid because it had been redesigned with a built-in popper feature that popped the hatch/trunk when the pulldown motor neared the top of its travel. As the latch traveled upward, the mechanical latch release would come up against a feature on the latch bracket that would cause the latch to release just as if someone was using a key. This caused the hatch/trunk to pop open as the latch neared its fully extended (up) position.

For more information on this, there is a guy on this forum that goes by the user name LONSOL who is by-far the expert on this topic. He can provide you with any information you might need on this subject (and correct any factual errors I've made above).

third gen ranch has one but it doesn't say its for a vert give them a call
http://thirdgenranch.com/-strse-354/...tch/Detail.bok

it's under misc body if the link doesn't work

thanx guys.... perfect timing too. They are on my todo list this weekend.

make sure and talk to them i'm donno if this is what u need

I also have one of those that I pulled off of a 1992 Junkyard RS vert

i got one off ebay a couple weeks ago. half the price of a rebuild kit for the elec pulldown. If it works on mine then im gonna get one for the wifes vert.

it just doesnt seem worth it to keep the pulldown motors.

This link shows the 1991.5 & 1992 model year stationary latch. It is the same latch that came on my 1992 convertible. However, this latch is not unique to the convertibles. It was used on all 1991.5 and 1992 Camaro’s that didn’t come with the pulldown latch.

Here is a photo of it installed:

Take all the junk out of the trunk. Figure out where you want it to connect and drill two holes thru the latch. Put a couple of 1/4 inch bolts with lock nuts thru it and bolt it back in. There is some room to adjust it up or down. Then find the red wire that is connected to the black wire, cut off the connector and wire them solid together. The red wire goes to the poppers and the black wire is hot from the tonneau switch. The trunk is opened with a key and the tonneau is opened with the switch..

Are you referring to going from electric pulldown style to a regular trunk release? I want to convert my electric style to just a regular. Let me know

Exactly. Just don't slam the trunk hard, that spoiler on top may not take to being smashed around.

All Coupes and Convertibles from 86-early 91 had a hatch (trunk) pull-down standard from the factory. There was no "delete" option.

Many of my costomers wish this were true. However, there is no "equivalent stationary latch" to the 86-early 91 pull-down unit. The 86-early 91 convertibles came standard with the same pull-down unit as the coupes. This pull-down unit has a completely different mount pattern than either the 1982-85 slam-latch or the standard slam latch that came on the late 91-92 convertibles.

As I've already mentioned this is not correct. The bolt pattern is very different.

A good description of the function of the 86-early 91 style pull-down unit.

When the car was converted from a couple to a convertible, the optional hatch release switch on the coupe was re-wired to pop the tonneau release solenoids. Therefore there were no trunk release solenoids on the convertibles.

It is possible to add a trunk release solenoid from a coupe along with the switch and wiring to operate it.

Thanks for taking the time to post the info for everyone's benifit. I've made a few corrections. If anyone has questions about repairing their pull-down units or is in need of parts, contact me.

Lon Salgren
Top-Down Solutions

ok now i m kind of curious(probably gonna sound dumb its been another long day with lack of sleep). my 'vert has something wired to the trunk latch.is it a sensor for the tanneu(sp>) cover so the solenoids could pop(if i could ever figure out how to use them instead of the manual release cables) or a pulldown for the trunk?my cars an 89. for the longest time my buddy and myself thought it was a power trunk release and the middle button of the console went to it and couldn't figure out why it didn't work until we looked up what it was for .neither of us have much 'vert camaro expierence.

and before anyone says how the release switch for the tanneu i know the parking brake is supposed to be set and all that jazz. doesn't work. don't know if solenoids are bad or what the deal is.

?! You've got some funky wiring there.

Lon

some better pics of my trunk latch.while taking them i noticed a plug that didnt have any wires plugged into it, a harness with two wires out of the end that looks like battery acid got themred w/stripes and i think it was solid red on other),and another harness(red wire on one side black on the other.wires come from different directions.) that i cant figure out what it goes to.any guidance is much appreciated.

My 92 is a manual "slam" latch system. and Man am i thankful!! I went out to take pics of my setup and it is completely different on my 92 and would not be helpful. Mine is wired directly into a set of contacts on the latch mechanism itself.