How should I go about doin it? I was rearended and the tail lights took most of the hit. So the metal directly behind the tail lights is bent up. The latch for the hatch is bent up too, i think just the metal is bent though, not the lock itself, though the cylinder is pretty much gone. Good think I put in that remote hatch release.

Has anyone bent that metal back? Any ideas on how I should do it? Any tips?

Thanks,

Matt

 

Go to a salvage yard, cut out the hatch area of another third gen. Weld in the good one. That is what I had to do. It was the easiest for me.

 

That's apparently what somone did on my car.......

 

Hmm, If I weld how would I cut the piece of and how would I make sure the pieces are cut the same way? I cringe at cutting my car up.

Matt

 

First, cut the piece out of the junk car. There should be seams all ready there. Just follow them. Take the new peice home, take measurements, double check measurements. Maybe even make a template or something. But on my car there were all ready seams so I just followed them, stuck the new piece in, spot welded it to hold it steady, trued everything up, then finished the weld.

Then if you want to keep the the lock cylinder, just take it to a lock place and have them set it up. Or do like I did, get rid of the pull-down unit and the lock cylinder, get a spare hood release cable and latch assembly, and set it up like it were a hood. Just pull a lever, and pop, hatch opens and lifts.

 

If its not too bad you can just tear down the rear panel bare the beat it back with a hammer til its straight. if its gone u may need to weld in a new one or have the frame pulled.