the rear of the hatch on my 91 (metal part with spoiler) sits a bout a 1/4inch further back that the 1/4 panels, any way to adust this???????

 

Mine does too, and I have found no way to adjust this. I even had the spoiler and hatch panel off but from what I can tell there's no way bc the holes in the glass are covered by plastic washers that need to be aligned right in the center. I would think that the hinges up top would be setup the same way. So I don't see how, maybe someone does??

 

mine does that too! I was wondering about that for a while and then had a chance to check out some others and they all did it too. Must be the way they were assembled??

I just assumed you could adjust it at the hinges but never tried because the clearance to the roof is already fairly small.

 

there is a tech article on this site about just that problem.

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...tchalign.shtml

 

cool, thats what i needed

 

would also doin that fix this weird problem i have where one side is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch off and the other side is fine but on the side thats off it rubs when the hatch is shut.

 

what about us vert owners though? we have a trunklid...


i went as far as loosening the bolts that hold the trunk on, but i couldnt get it to line up

its off a little bit back, and the drivers side gap is smaller then the passenger side.

 

Ok, after having just disassembled the rear hatch on my car a few months ago, and reading that article just now, I am drawn to say that there are steps missing. Someone please correct me here if I am wrong, BUT you cannot do this realignment bc there are plastic washers/spacers that go btwn the bottom of the glass and the lower support (black metal piece that is attaches by the 13mm nuts). These wahers have a hole in the center for the studs from the hatch panel to come through, AND they have a ridge around the circumference that fits perfectly into the holes in the glass. Therefore you could not move the hatch panel back or forth w/o relocating those washers and that defeats their purpose.
From what I saw it looks like their purpose is to align the hatch where they sit and protect the glass from the lower panel bolts being torqued down right onto the glass, possibly cracking the glass.
That is what my hatch looked like and it was factory. Anybody else notice this problem??? Or am I just misreading something.

Just my experience...

 

so did u realign ur hatch or wasnt able to? do those washers wear out and thats why the hatch becomes miss aligned

 

I've alligned the rear hatch on 2 of my cars in the past. Loosen the bolts at the top of the glass and the glass will adjust slightly. You might not get it perfect, but it will be close. Don't over tighten the bolts as the glass will break.

 

so basiclly just follow the tech article and i should be fine?

 

ive read that tech article many times and it still makes no sense to me. lol, is it the rear body colored panel that comes out of alignment with the glass, or is it the whole glass and panel assembly that you adjust?

 

but does ANYONE know how to adjust a convertibles trunk???

 

I never read the tech article, so I don't know what it says. I have always adjusted mine by adjusting the whole rear hatch, glass and panel. Mine were never excessively out, so I was able to achieve a good look this way. You might need to adjust the glass and the rear panel individually to get it alligned if it's way off.

 

The hinges on my '90 were actually bent so that the whole hatch sat a good quarter of an inch back. There was also a large gap around the hatch frame at the B-pillars and the roof. I guess the struts were strong enough to bend the hinges over time. Something to think about...

 

My hatch is like that also not bad tho. My sisters 92 rs was also like that. When i put the new hatch on if i didnt put it in that spot it would be to close somewhere else so that was the only way it could go and i figure it is just a design flaw or somethin. So they acutally want u to move the metal from the glass in that artical **** mine fits good enough. I rather have my hatch a little off then possibly get a leak after that.

 

GM should have done a recall on our cars and fix them since just about all of them do this.

 

Mines a good 1/2" or so off. Sort of bugs me but I am not sure I want to mess with it to much. Currently doesn't leak and the automatic hatch pulldown works. I just know if I tried to mess with it something would go wrong. So I do my best not to be annoyed by the design flaw, I read that article also and it was not detailed enough to follow so I didn't try it.