Sorry if this is a "stupid" question, but im not much of a body man myself. The rear hatch is moved toward the rear about a half inch, from the rear quarters, which obviously makes it hard to close, and looks bad as well. Looking at the 4 bolts on the interior side, i see three are "kind of" elongated to adjust, but one is not??! Do i have to elongated the holes myself, or does some one out there have experience with this, and maybe an easier, and/or better way?
Thanks in advance!!

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/hatchalign

Try this, it usually corrects the problem and takes care of water leaks in the hatch area.

 

Thanks for the link! Here is what i dont quite get though.....in this procedure, he is just moving the panel forward, which would work,but, this leads me to another question. What about the big gap from the top of the hatch (the glass) to the body? Doing it the way he did, only address' the bottom portion, but not the big gap at the top? That's why i though elongating the holes at the top (the 4 13mm inside) would allow the ENTIRE hatch to move forward??? Am i right or wrong? I dont want to elongate the holes and have it achieve nothing. Thoughts?

 

All of these cars had that large gap when they were new. There are many threads concerning this problem so use your own judgment. Personally I'd leave the gap alone so as not to cause other problems. The usual problem will be repaired using the above thread. The only thing I would do other than how that link describes is use urethane where the factory did to keep the hatch from sliding back on the glass again.

 

It takes a combination of hatch to glass and glass to hinge adjustment to get it correct.
And also a helper. There are many threads on this problem so use the search feature and you'll find it..

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/body...alignment.html

 

I second that part about having a helper. I have tried it twice by myself and the first time it was so much worse the hatch no longer closed. The second time it closed but it is still worse than before I touched it! Needless to say, I'm gonna hold off on a third attempt until I'm back at home and can make my dad or brother give me a hand

But yea, I will also be trying both adjustments as it doesn't line up at the bottom and there is a big gap up top (no leak though) and now thanks to me, its a little off center...

 

Wanted to say THANKS!! Worked perfectly...i mean i got mine to line of PERFECT!! Instead of a helper, i put two 4X4's across to lay the hatch on while it was still bolted to the body, and when it came time to re-attach the plate, i just climbed inside. Worked GREAT for me!
Thank you for all the help and links!!

 

Worked perfectly. Great instructions and well thought out. I now have a leak free trunk and the pull down motor lines up with the hatch. Thanks!!

 

can't wait to try this out. my spoilers are rubbing and i'm too scared to even open my trunk. thank god for fold down seats.

 

worked awesomely on my driver side.. but my passenger side was hit in an accident in the previous years.. i was wondering if any one knew and tricks to the autobody trade that i could just fool the eye with the spoiler/hatch aligning to the rear quarters.

PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE SOMEONEEEE

 

Pics would help but if it's got previous damage then that may need to be repaired properly to get correct alignment.

 

passenger side

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...sengerside.jpg

top view

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...maroass2-1.jpg

driver side

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...ch/maroass.jpg

rear end

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v2...h/maroass4.jpg

i bought a new bumper, but i'm more worried about how much it sags on the passenger side. i'm not even sure how much of it is bondo.

i'll get better pictures in the next few days.

 

Did you use urethane or silicone to attach the hatch to the glass? It looks like it's just not aligned. If you used silicone it will not hold most of the time and will let go later on. That thread suggests silicone, or did but urethane is recommended by GM and should be used. Try removing the lift supports then aligning the hatch by loosening the hatch to glass bolts to see if it will move and line up better. If it does then you need to disassemble it again and reassemble it with urethane.

 

i did use silicone.. and i do need to re-do it anyways, as i've left a leak in it. aside from that , once you take the deck lid off there's only so much room you have to tweak it.. and i gave it all the forward slack it had, glued and torqued it down. and then i loosened the hinge to body bolts to see if i could get some slack. not much there either.. i'm worried to touch the latch to glass bolts. they just worry me. thanks for the reply, by the way.

 

No problem Josh, glad to try and help. There should be enough adjustment in the hatch to glass bolts/nuts. Are you adjusting it with the lift/supports removed? Try and remove them then aligning the hatch before you disassemble everything again. It should move some. GM recommends leaving the hatch short of the quarters 1/16 of an inch I believe, I'd try more like 1/8. I've quoted the repair manual on another thread but can't remember right now. Some of these new lift/supports are a lot stronger than the old OEM ones.

BTW you could cheat the spoiler back on the right side some to make it look better.

 

yeah i had everything disconnected. the hatch dampers are OEM.

what do you mean cheat the spoiler? i'm so ocd when it comes to symmetry. lol

 

That right side is a long ways off. It could be in the glass to hatch still, that would be my first guess. Double check that first then you may want to check to see if the spoiler on the hatch will move forward some on the right side. There are no pics from underneath the hatch so I can't tell about that. The right piece could be moved back on the quarter some even if you have to elongate the holes some. I know there will be a gap between the quarter and spoiler piece but it will be less noticeable that the misalignment between the spoiler pieces.