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Decklid misalignment

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Old Mar 22, 2019 | 03:14 PM
  #1  
Quintenfletcher's Avatar
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From: Rhode Island
Car: 1987 Camaro Z28
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: T5
Axle/Gears: 3.08
Decklid misalignment

Hi everybody,
The hatch on my 87 Z-28 has been slightly misaligned since I bought the car last year, I've looked through the forums before and any info on deckled alignment seems to be if the spoiler sticks out the back farther than its supposed to, but my decklid sticks up on one side about half an inch, does anyone know of a way to fix this?



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Old Mar 22, 2019 | 07:49 PM
  #2  
427seven's Avatar
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Car: 1989 Firebird GTA
Engine: Motown Aluminum 427
Transmission: TH400/GVO
Axle/Gears: Dana 44 IRS 3.75:1
Re: Decklid misalignment

The decklid mounts to the back half of the metal frame that extends off the back of the hatch. If the decklid is bent, then the metal mount id bent too., but the mount could be bent by itself. Because of the tolerance holes in that metal frame, the decklid can actually slip backwards and need to be adjusted back up towards the hatch glass, but you don't generally see the asymmetrical distortion if that's the only problem. If it is just the metal mount, it's a pretty easy fix... How handy do you feel?
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Old Mar 23, 2019 | 10:47 AM
  #3  
Quintenfletcher's Avatar
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From: Rhode Island
Car: 1987 Camaro Z28
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: T5
Axle/Gears: 3.08
Re: Decklid misalignment

Alright, I'll give that a shot once I get the car out of the garage for the spring so I have more room to work on it
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Old Mar 23, 2019 | 11:49 PM
  #4  
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From: Ohio
Car: 1989 IROC
Engine: 5.7 TPI
Axle/Gears: 2.77 Posi
Re: Decklid misalignment

It's hard for me to tell from the pics, but is your hatch just not closing all the way? Try putting some downward pressure on the hatch and see if the motor pulls it down some more.
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Old Mar 27, 2019 | 01:42 PM
  #5  
Quintenfletcher's Avatar
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From: Rhode Island
Car: 1987 Camaro Z28
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: T5
Axle/Gears: 3.08
Re: Decklid misalignment

Pushing down on the hatch will line everything up but the motor doesn't pull down any farther and when I let pressure off it goes back to being out of alignment so I don't think it is the hatch motor causing the issue
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Old Mar 27, 2019 | 03:34 PM
  #6  
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Car: 1989 Firebird GTA
Engine: Motown Aluminum 427
Transmission: TH400/GVO
Axle/Gears: Dana 44 IRS 3.75:1
Re: Decklid misalignment

If it lines up when you hold it down, you may just need to pull the plastic tail light panel off the interior of your car, the hatch pull down has adjustment slots, you may just need to adjust that downward a bit.
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Old Mar 27, 2019 | 03:35 PM
  #7  
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Car: 1989 Firebird GTA
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Axle/Gears: Dana 44 IRS 3.75:1
Re: Decklid misalignment

Make sure your hatch seal is not messed up somehow as well....
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Old Mar 27, 2019 | 07:59 PM
  #8  
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Re: Decklid misalignment

Should have rubber snubbers under the decklid to adjust too.
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Old Mar 31, 2019 | 11:00 PM
  #9  
Quintenfletcher's Avatar
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From: Rhode Island
Car: 1987 Camaro Z28
Engine: 305 TPI
Transmission: T5
Axle/Gears: 3.08
Re: Decklid misalignment

So I moved the adjustment slots down a little and that seemed to fix the alignment problem, but the second time I shut the hatch my hatch motor's casing cracked in half lol, I ordered a new one, should be coming in Wednesday
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