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Originally Posted by loneroad  did 87-92 verts all have pull down motors? or did some have a a regular latch? |
Many had it, most did not.
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Originally Posted by loneroad how hard would it be to convert to a regular latch? |
Converting to a regular latch is as easy as unplugging and removing the pulldown latch and replacing it with its equivalent stationary latch.
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Originally Posted by loneroad ...doesnt the tonneau cover solenoids get power thru the pulldown relay? |
I have heard conflicting information regarding this point. I’m not exactly sure.
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Originally Posted by loneroad 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. could rebuild mine and swap it into hers and put a regular latch im mine. |
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’.
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Originally Posted by loneroad 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? |
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).
