Hi all,

I recently picked up a 91 RS project car and was hoping to see if anyone had any thoughts on some hatch alignment issues.

The previous owner installed a hatch from an '87 (I believe, the center brake light is mounted outside) after a tree fell on the original hatch and shattered the glass. P/O said it just needed realigned.

Currently, the spoiler is about 1/4"-1/2" out farther than the rear quarter. However, the hatch won't latch. The striker just barely misses the latch, so it doesn't properly latch. I've tried adjusting at the hinges, and got it so that it shut and latched, with only about 1/4" stickout on the spoiler. However, once I tighten the nuts on the hinges back down, it's back to not latching.

Does the gap in the pictures look about right at the roofline, which may indicate it's more the entire hatch alignment or bent hinges, or do you guys think it's just the decklid to glass? I really don't want to have to separate the glass if I don't need to.. Or could it be since it's a different hatch that it needs shimmed at the hinges? Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

the gap looks kinda big...but there is not much room for adjustment at th hatch bolts.

How is the deck to quarter panel alignment? (top down view)

 

That's an older latch as well I believe. Could be contributing to the issue

 

Yeah, the gap at the top is about 3/4". Here are some pictures of the sides and of the height at hinge location.

I was wondering about the striker; I looked through some parts diagrams and could only find one part number but I thought I saw different style strikers somewhere, just can't seem to find any info to confirm that.

 

hinges are probably bent, like every other hatch out there with an alignment issue

 

I'll get a picture of the hinges tonight, and see if there's a noticeable bend/bow in them.

If it is the hinges, is there a good place to get a set that won't break the bank? I know Hawks has their billet sets, but there's a bit of sticker shock there... lol

 

So the hinges do have a bow to them in the center; not sure if that's a useful diagnostic visual or not. Are the Hawks hinges about the only replacement option for these?

​​​​​​

 

Hawks or used good from someone.

Just to be clear, since you probably didn't search and no one else responded, this may not be the problem. I have yet to get that far on my cars, and I am not convinced that the struts could possibly push the decklid back. I don't think it's possible, I think the hinges is why they get out of alignment

 

I had seen the other threads for alignment of the decklid to the glass, and how there's different thoughts, from the struts pushing the decklid back to bent hinges, and even widening the mounting holes to allow for more adjustment, but what I hadn't seen in other threads was the fact that my hatch doesn't actually latch because of this; the striker on the decklid just barely misses my latch. And I couldn't really find any good info related to this; I've seen things that make it seem like there would be different strikers for the later years, but couldn't find anything really concrete on if the striker is part of the latching issue; it seems like alot of other alignments are off by the same amount but never have this issue, so part of the post was to see if the misalignment at the top of the glass to the body was severe enough to cause this. I personally don't see my issue requiring removal and re-alignment of the glass to the decklid, since the gap at top is about the same as the stickout on the back end.

 

All 3rd gens that I've seen had this issue. Problem is over time the hatch struts are pushing the rear section of the hatch outwards. One way to remedy this is by removing the struts then loosening the bolts that attach the glass to the decklid and heating up the butane that's used to seal the glass to the decklid (it's best to just leave the car in the sun for a while) , then close the hatch. You and a buddy will then push on the decklid towards the front of the car until the decklid spoiler lines up with the side ones. I had to do this to my 91 and my 87.

 

Thanks pwdbychevy; that definitely sounds a bit easier than the full glass removal and alignment.

I know it's off by a bit, but what gets me is the fact that the striker doesn't even hit the latch; it seems like all the other cars that have spoiler alignment issues still latch, which is part of why I was wondering if there were different strikers through the years. I've seen some pictures of two different styles; but I couldn't find much more info than that.