Just wondering if there is any other means of closing the rear hatch with a manual type hatch release mechanisim. I want to get rid of that stupid heavy motor and pulldown. I was told by an ex-GM mechanic that all Camaros had them because of the heavy weight of the rear lid and it was needed to safely close the lid...

Umm yeah sure. I think there are some manual ones out there personally. Any body know for sure?

 

Well, you wont be able to put a manual [82-85] release on your 86 since it has the pull down unit. If you look inbetween the two you will see what I mean. But what you can do is drill a hole in each track and put a bolt thru and keep it from moving. Make the unit go all the way down drill, slide a bolt thru and enjoy the fruits of the manual latch. You'll still have the silenoid release so you can still release the hatch from inside the car.

 

That's an awesome idea - just one question...when my latch is all the way down, it's TOO far down to grip the hatch catch..(it makes sense, I swear!). Should I drill holes a slight bit higher?

 

I would take out the motor part where you can slide the assembly up and down on the tracks. Get two small C clamps and clamp down on the unit to hold it in place and test out shutting your hatch. Once your happy that the hatch is closing good and getting a good seal all the way around then drill your holes and bolt it down.

 

If it is still working, push a screwdriver onto the little contact lever to make the motor go down and then remove the power wire.
My motor wasn't working when I got the car and it can be a pain to close the hatch if all the windows are up. I just put the hatch all the way down and then I push it down firmly, don't slam it or the glass can shatter.

 

Hey that's a pretty good solution. Those freakin pulldown motors are such a PITA to deal with.. I will try that out! Thanks.

 

I just did this because I was tired of messing with intermittent problems on my '91 -

Unplug the thing (but leave everything still attached to the car),

then remove the two screws that hold on the cover part of the motor,

then carefully remove the cover while trying to keep the motor's armature still in the gearbox (if the armature falls out then you'll have to deal with reinstalling the motor bushes to put everything back together),

then spin the armature by hand (or carefully attach a drill to the end) to move the assembly up or down (I think - clockwise=up, counterclockwise=down),

keep adjusting the assembly by spinning the armature the latch is adjusted to the proper height. (Mine was up to start with so I lowered it gradually until I could no longer easily latch the truck, then I raised it back up just a bit so that I could again get the trunck to latch.)

then put the cover part of the motor back on, reinstall the interior trim, and just forget about the motor pulldown crap.

My key still works, my interior truck release still works, and I know that my truck is still closing as tight as it can because I was able to carefully adjust the assembly.