So I'm a very proud owner of my newly aquired 1989 V8 305 Camaro RS, I just bought it used a few days ago for about 1800. I drove it this afternoon and accidentally slammed the rear hatch down as I would a trunk, not knowing how fragile the electronic latch mechanism is, and I think I shattered it. The motor still works fine, when I press the switch, the latch travels up and down again. However, when I close the hatch, it simply does not grab ahold of the hook and close it the last few inches. I took off the cover to see what the problem is and found the shattered plastic pieces mentioned in similar forums. My question is this: short of purchasing the reinforced assembly for 100+ bucks or welding the assembly, is there any cheap fix? I wouldn't mind welding and bypassing the fragile and finicky electronics, I just don't currently have access to a welder. I took some pics.

well before you go breaking out the wallet or the welder, i'd suggest looking at the motor to see if it happened to have moved. although theres a piece of broken plastic, it sounds like the motor is cycling fine, so the motor may have moved slightly from the latch or vice versa. i would suggest taking apart all the plastic around the motor (including on the hatch itself) and having someone lower the hatch for you while you sit inside the car to watch it close to see if theres anything wrong. if not that, i'd then suggest getting in touch with the guys at top-down-solutions, they helped me out a lot and this is their gig, they know these motors front and back, top and bottom and they can definitely help you

Nevermind. So I looked a little harder and I think that I can order the plastic pieces themselves without having to buy a whole new assembly for only 25 bucks or so. That's a relief.

http://www.top-downsolutions.com/pro...products_id=48