When I bought the car the guy selling it said that the rear hatch wouldn't shut all the way without a battery in the car. Something about a electric latch.
So I really didn't pay any mind to it, but now looking at it I have doubts.
The struts that hold the hatch open dont work, but he told me they will when the car has a battery as well.




I was also told the car was never wrecked or hit.
But same panels dont line up perfecty, and I'm wondering about the cause/soloutiojn to these problems.
Drivers door behind mirror.


And Passanger door behind handle.

 

he lied.
it was hit.
now the rear hatch might line up if you undo the screws at the top where it connects to the top - but there is no guarantee.

didn't you use the battery in your car to test it?

now i know you could see that the doors did not line up. somethimes it has to do with adjustments but the passenger side is definitely when the car was hit from the right rear, or the door was hit when it was open.

get your money back.

 

the last pic is weird, do you have more angles of that spot? it almost looks like the body line is missing, filled in. Something is defiantly wrong there. What is that line in the pic? almost looks like a bondo seam that is starting to weep rust from underneath

i wouldn't worry about the hatch, many 3rd gens have hatch alignment issues

 

wow.

the struts are gas shocks, no power needed. They are shot. But are easily replaced.

 

Another Angle of the passenger door.


And one more for the hatch.

 

there is something weird about that passenger side, something missing like 86TA said. and you might have a hard time finding replacements for those electric hatch struts

 

maybe its just the pics, but it doesnt look too bad, do you have full car shots?

Maybe jack up the rear of the car, and the front, and see what the underside looks like, see if anything is obviously bent or manipulated in any way.

 

. Maybe some pics slightly away from the body.

 

 

If you don't mind my asking...how much did you pay for it?

 

$500
+ $80 to have it towed to where it is now.

 

To answer one of the original questions, if the car has a pull down motor for the hatch, it won't fully close (pull down) without a battery in the car. Even if it was popped without a battery (motor staying down), it still might not close all the way untill the motor moves up to grab the hatch.

The door however I don't know about. My 83 has that going on too. I have a feeling it is the doors on mine though. I put some doors off an 88 Firebird on it before I painted it. Ever since then it has had that. The donor car was hit very hard in the front (back too if I rember correctly). They still opened and closed fine though. The gap on the drivers side could be considered normal. Not exactly the best build quallity when new along with several years of wear on the hinges will cause a the gap to get bigger. Does the door squeak or pop when opened/closed?

I still wouldn't rule out that it had been hit or had differnt pannels put on.

 

thats a problem with the door, everyone look at the first pic of the passenger door where the weather strip is in that corner, see how you can see where that weather strip was? take a magnet to the doors, i think its either a liitle warped, the door skin is pealing up, or that door was hit. as for the shocks for the hatch wokring on the battery... YOU BELIEVED THAT CRAP!? also that hatch pull down is NOT going to work when you put a battery in, 9 out of 10 times they die in the up position, they are designed to do so, that way you can latch your trunk and drive safely. i highly doubt he said "hey let me remove my battery with the hatch open, and furthermore, if i were seling a car, i would put the battery in and friggin pull that hatch down if so were the case. also, judging the position of the hatch in correlation to the roof and rear quarters, you should be able to take the nuts loose and push it foreward.

 

$500 +$80.....Well the seller seen a live one when you knocked on his door.
My opinion is thar you were taken to the cleaners and he should of paid you to tow it away.

 

Actually if you only paid $500 that's not a bad deal. You could get your money out of it, and more, parting it out on ebay. But while there is clearly something going on with that passenger door, the rest of it is really not that bad (for a $500 investment).

A couple things about the hatch. If it has the electric pull-down, it is true it won't retract flush unless there is battery power, and importantly, the pull-down circuit/mechanism/motor is all working right. Also - you will need to replace the hydraulic hold-up struts for the hatch and they have nothing to do with the pulldown function.

Give the car some TLC... have a body shop reshape the passenger door so it's not misaligned with the quarter panel... get a low-buck repaint... and that car will look 100% better.

 

Thanks for the optimism I was beginning to feel regret about buying it from reading most of the comments. I went out and just stared at it and looked for imperfections for about an hour. Its really not as bad as the pics make it look, the big 2inch passenger door gap is realistically like 1/4 inch. I got the hood to re-align properly and actually shut now. Next task is getting the hatch aligned, while I'm waiting on my motor.

 

I don't know...it *looks* more or less straight in the pictures, other than the obvious. You should definitely loosen up and adjust the hatch, see if you can get it back to where it belongs. I don't know about that door, are the upper pins REALLY worn out?? And if you want, go to the wreckers and find an earlier car without the pull-down motor and put those parts in instead.

 

that car will be fine looks to be in good shape will just need a little work to realine panels. It may have not been in a wreck. Remember that the car is over 20 years old thats a long time for wear a tear to happen. Over time of constant use will wear hinges and bushings out.

 

That's the way to go, IMHO. Just do one improvement at a time, at a pace you have time for. Those gaps... guess what. Both the 3gen Camaro/Firebird, and even the 4th gens... all have pretty big panel gaps by today's standards. My Camaro has a couple gaps I can stick my pinkie finger into, including the front fender/door, and the space between the hatch glass and the framing around it. My Z28 has 19k miles and has never been wrecked. My 99 Trans Am has similar panel gaps in the same locations (63k miles, also never wrecked). It's amazing when you think about the 3gens... they all had relatively crude body quality... but they remain sought-after classics today and even cause folks to turn and stare

Don't let the naysayers affect you, just fix up and enjoy your classic Camaro

 

Get classic Industries Camaro Catalog the strut were 116$ IN 2008 Catalog

 

major question, and this is what matters, how do the floor pans look?

 

I'm actually going out to vacuum and shampoo the interior right now. Ill take pics along the way. I think I'm going to just pull the front seats out to do this. That way I'll have more room and can clean them better. From the undercarriage the floor pans look great.

 

then your ahead of the game already

 

Hatch struts $31/ea Autozone

Hatch alignment - https://www.thirdgen.org/hatchalign
There is no real alignment in the hinges. Look at the gap along the glass and the roof, it should be pretty uniform. The body line between the quarters and deck should be a fairly straight line as well. The deck mounted to the glass has been the alignment issue on all mine. Wasn't enough of an issue to fix on my old '84 or, current '91 beater.

Drivers door alignment - open door and lift up. If there's slop in the door, the hinges are probably getting worn. It make the fender/door gap at the top get larger and sometimes in/out alignment when it get really bad. The door will tend to drag the sill when it shuts too. The upper hinge on my '91 is done, it looks very similar to what your picture shows.

Passenger side door - open door and look at the door skin seam. From the picture, it looks like it's pulling away (or been pried on). The weatherstrip block at the top may need to be removed to fully see whats going on.

Other than minor wear/tear from being an old car, it doesn't seem like there's much wrong with it, judging from the pictures anyways.

Just my opinion though...