hey does anyone know if u could put a regular key turn open hatch on instead of the fancy pants automatic hatch or will it ruin ur hatch to slam it down repeaditly?

 

Yes, I tore out my power unit and replaced it with a reliable manual latch assembly in my Formula, you will need to drill out the spot welds for the bracket form both your car and the car you get the manual assembly from, then weld in the new bracket in the right position, then align teh latch mechanism.

Not too bad only took about 20-30 Minutes.

 

awesome cause that hatch is a pain in the *** thanks man like the blue paint job on ur camaro i got myself a 2.8 to but i'm doing the ol 3.4 swap right now just waiting on the gasket set. i want to paint mine blue to but i got red under the hood it would look to tacky.

 

im screwed... i broke the hatch glass when i was trying to align it and i ended up buying a used hatch the had a manual release while my 86 IROC has a electric release on it. i guess i will either have to buy a manual hatch unit and install it or try to find another hatch that takes electric pulldown.

 

There isn't any difference in the hatch itself, just the pull down unit or manual latch.

 

on my 86 IROC there is a difference. on my hatch there are contacts just to the left of the ring that the electric motor grabs and pulls down when you close the hatch. Also there are contacts to the left of the electric hatch motor itself. i dont really know what they do, but im certain that they are only on cars originally equiped with these electric hatch motors. like i said, i bought a hatch from a car that didnt have and contacts.

 

the hatch pull down assemblies are self contained. all the contacts for the unit are within the assembly (position switches etc). you can literally take it out, hook power up to it, and make it function on a bench. Im almost certain that that fact is true for all power hatches. The contacts you are talking about are most likely for a third brake light. As far as I know...thats the only contact that goes between the hatch and the body where the hatch sits. It would be present on a car with a third brake light regardless of whether or not it was assembled with a power hatch unit.

Justin

 

cool **** i just want to know if the glass won't break from slmammin the hatch qll the time i figured that's y they added that to them cause i'm just gunna rig up my pull down unit not to move i'm just gunna align it where it would work at and drill a hole then bolt it in place that way i don't have to find one.

 

ya thats what i have done for the time being, but im slamming mine alot to get it to latch. maybe i should move it up a bit more, but im also worried that it may leak. Then again, whats worse, a small leak or vacuuming out hatch glass a 2ND time! lol

 

That contact pad to the left of the latch have NOTHING to do with the power pull-down unit. On 1982-86 cars the contact pad was used to power the optional rear hatch wiper. On 1987-90 it was used to power the HMSL (high mount stop light).

Lon