Ok on Sunday I bought an 88 Firebird with a 5-speed. Yesterday was the first chance I had to work on it. I looked in the back and noticed some parts laying around back there and I was going to pop the hatch. The problem is the lock mechanism seems to be broken because the key will not open it. Any ideas on how I can get in there.

 

Break the window? No...so you cant open it via the Key in the back?

 

If the plastic trim panel that covers the hatch release is already off, good. If not, get inside the car, crawl back there and take it off. Now you should see somewhere on the driver's side of the hatch release mechanism a black circle with a rectangular slot in it. Stick a big flat screwdriver in there and turn it. It will pop right open. Sorry for the vague description. That's the best I can do.

Hatch problems ... could be a number of things. My guess is that the cable that pulls the release when the key is turned has broken. You can order lots of fix-it parts from top-down solutions (a big sponsor of this board ... you should see links all over the place). Or you can try to rig it yourself like I did on my dad's '86. It works great now. The hatches aren't that complicated (unless you're dealing with a dead pull-down).

 

Thanks man, I will try that when I get to work on it again.

 

Most of the panels are only held by a plastic slot head so its not hard to get in there just release it untill you can get it to work...it takes some work to get it were ya want but thats a way to do it.

 

Yeah good luck trying to get the center hatch panel off.Its held on by 2 phillips head screws up on the top.Cant get to them unless the hatch is open

 

But ... you can loosen all the big plastic screws first, remove the side plastic trim pieces (spare tire cover & lock box), and pull up on the center piece enough to access the release. You're right ... those little top screws can't be removed with the hatch closed.