my hatch isnt quite lining up right with the sides of it... what is causing this? i put new sliders on the pull down and i tried to adjust the black alignment bumper things.... i dont know what the hell to do next.. but its pissing me off lol... looks like crap... any help?

 

What exactly is the problem? Does the hatch have an overbite, so to say? If that's your problem, I think I can help. There's a tech article on this on the main page, but I explain how I did it. Here's what to do:

To adjust the rear hatch, (don't forget a friend to help, the rear hatch is pretty heavy!) just remove the plastic piece towards the rear of the hatch (should be interior color with 4 screws), then remove the side runner things (should be black) that holds the metal trim piece that runs all around the edge of the hatch glass (2 screws on each side). Remove the hatch struts from the hatch (1 bolt on each side, and have a friend help you hold it cuz' it's pretty heavy). After you do this, you will see 8 13mm nuts that were under the interior-colored plastic piece. With the hatch glass supported (support the glass on the side with something like pillows), loosen the 8 13mm nuts until they are pretty loose. Now you should be able to slide the rear body panel (the piece of the rear hatch that is body-colored) part attached to the hatch glass in and out a little. Adjust it to where you want it, tighten down the nuts, tighten down the hatch metal trim piece, put the hatch struts back on, and test it. If it's good, just put the plastic interior-colored piece back on and your done, if it's still off, repeat the steps until it's right. It took me some time to get mine right, but it's well worth it.

Did that make since? I can go into more detail if necessary, just let me know. And, good luck!

 

see thats how it looks... how can i make it even?

 

You should be able to fix that with what I suggested doing in my last post. Do you happen to have a measurement of how "off" it is, it's a little hard to tell from the pic? Just curious.

 

How he stated is how you adjust this. It could be very difficult to break the factory seal loose at first. The factory used this sticky gooy type sealer to help hold the deck lid to the glass.

 

what's the "proper" way to remove that back hatch piece? razor blade and piano wire? i need to put a fiberglass piece in place of my metal piece and can't get a straight answer on how to remove it.

 

ok awesome guys.. thanx alot for the very detailed explainations.. im going to try to do this tommorow.. sorry about the bad pic ... it was dark out obviously and it was hard getting a good shot... but just by guessing i think its like 1/2 inch off on the drivers side and a little less on the other.. its really weird... also can u buy new adjustment bumper things? j/w.. thanx again ill post pics when i fix it...:hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :hail: :yourock:

 

never found out teh proper way myself. Took the one off the 82 and my 87. With both I had friends holding and helping. WE took all the nuts off. Took of the struts. Then kind of gently pushed up on the decklid till it started to let go. We had to rock it and pry it loose. The glass is blasted heavy and I would recommend bracing it to keep it from damage.

You can look at my site on the spoiler page ...pics all messed up though!

 

my firebird has the same problem, and is pretyt much the same design, the deck panel sits on the end of the glass and is glued to it black urethane sealer, and underneath are the nuts that go on the studs that go through holes in the glass or after it or whatever, well you can adjust the deck alignment with those nuts, and you can adjust trhe glass alignment at the hinges, the nuts are up in the upper hatch frame under the headlinder rear panel trim,

the glass on mine has been busted and replace in the past and they did a horrible job of aligning it and i have made an improvement over what they did but its still not that good, i plan on locating another hatch for it in the future, hopefully one thats factory original and not been replaced, i had a couple and i tossed them in scrap, now i wish i had saved them- this was before i got the 82 i have now,,.,

its a pain in the **** to align the decks, alot of loosening up and pushing shoving and retightenining and checking and then all over again, over and over, you may get it aligned nicely or maybe not, never know,

but you can ajust the tail separatly from the glass

 

Someone should make a tech article on this or something.... (https://www.thirdgen.org/newdesign/t...tchalign.shtml)

 

yea make a tech article with pics and i will call u jesus... lol.. this pisses me off more than the rattling t-tops i have LOL

 

........Disconnect the struts. Loosen the bolts at the top of the hatch. Push the hatch from the back and position it where you want it. Close the hatch to hold it in place and tighten the bolts from inside the car. That's how I adjusted mine, by myself. If one strut has more tension than the other, it will put the hatch out of adjustment.........Zapr.