Well I have a 92 firebird. The rear hatch mechanism is broken, the motor is and reversing switch is missing. These are expensive and hard to find. Is there a way to convert to a manual one or use one of the common 86-90 units? My hatch currently doesn't stay closed

 

If you can find an older 86-90 design... if it bolts up to the body the same...I saw one in the junkyard where someone removed the pull down feature and "locked" the sliders in a fixed position....so they just made it where the hatch would just catch the latch making it like the 82-84 cars basically....

I wish I grabbed it.....

 

The gear is stripped on my '89 Firebird. Took some fiddling, but I got the height of the mechanism to land right where it needs to so the hatch is fully closed. Just had to loosen the four bolts on the pulldown assembly and slide it up and down until I was happy with the height of the closed hatch.

 

Fixing the pull-down assembly in place with screws is an option I see talked about a lot.
This thread suggests that the two styles aren’t compatible. I have no experience with the 92 style assembly so I’m not sure.

Might be worth posting in the classifieds to see if anyone will sell you one.

 

Not cheap

https://www.ebay.com/itm/22564415786...Bk9SR-6C5fjVYg

 

I found a seller parting out cars on fb marketplace who sent me a video of a working one for 200 shipped. I have no idea why gm in their infinite wisdom made a special model of a power pull down latch for only the f body for 2 model years. Parts are readily available for the older model, plus in local junkyards by me there is dozens of caddy's and other vehicles that have them

 

I looked at the two online... they lkely wont bolt up the same.. the 92 has a MUCH narrower design it seems.

 

Yeah from my limited research that's the conclusion I came up with. If I didn't find a working one for sale I'd weld something up to make it work

 

I have a 92 Camaro and I found that the 92 pull down is a completely different design than earlier thirdgen's. I managed to get a new plastic gear for mine from Top Down Solutions as they carry a lot of hatch pull down parts for thirdgen's. You could call All American Classics in Vancouver, WA and see if they have a used one that they will pull and ship since they have a large number of thirdgen Camaro's and Firebirds in their lot. I will see if I have an extra one in my spare parts.

 

I received mine within two days off eastern f body supply in Maryland. His price was super reasonable and he sent me a video of the part working before I paid him. I installed the new unit and my hatch opens and closes perfect!

 

I have an 88 GTA. A few days ago I noticed about 2 inches of water in the hatch after a rainstorm. I figured the hatch wasn't sealed shut. I popped the hatch open and vacuumed out the water. At that point, the motor assembly wouldn't lower and the hatch stayed in the UP position. I could hear the motor buzzing, but the hatch wouldn't lower Well I took the whole unit apart and found that the nylon gear that lowers/raises the shaft is worn out. Since I was in there, I ordered a replacement housing, motor, and gear. But since I had it apart and was looking at it, I figured this could work as a manual override. I put the entire mechanism back together with the exception of the motor (housing back in place, along with the black plastic up/down switch), and used a flatblade screwdriver in the shaft where the motor would normally go and manually moved the gear, lowering/raising the shaft. Right now this is at the lowered position. I left the plastic switch in so that I'd hear the click and know when to stop. Theoretically, I'd think that if I bolted this back in to the car completely reassembled, with the exception of the motor, the latch would be ready for the hatch to be lowered down and lock in place as a manual lock?

 

The body side is different, the different years pulldowns don't interchange

 

I'm confused on what exactly is missing or broken for you Mockspeed. So I don't know if this helps ...

And for anyone else looking hatch motors ...

Dorman makes replacement hatch motors that are $100. However - these state "select years" and I checked on Dorman website its not compatible with 1992 Camaro or Firebird. I bought one anyway. In my hand, looking at motor in my 1992 Camaro, it seems to be identical. My thought - the motor is the same, the plastic housing is different. The Dorman part comes with it's own clear gear housing, but we have that funky colored reinforced housing already and thus should be able to use the motor without Dorman's clear housing (unless your housing is broke). Looks to me that all the motors were the same, as I read comments from Vette owners that this motor worked in the Vette, and it even looks like same motor used in the Lincolns (again, different housing). If I'm wrong, maybe at least this Dorman motor is modifiable to work (maybe drill different mounting holes and/or use different hardware). If you need a motor, worst case - this is sold by Amazon itself, and thus free & easy 30-day returns if looks like you can't make it work. https://a.co/d/c8Q1Odq or https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_fro...7-000&_sacat=0

Reversing switch - my thought is maybe any lever switch could be made to work? Not the easy solution, but "easy" doesn't much happen with any 30+ year old discontinued item.

 

I found a used one from a guy who has a small f body yard, 91 and 92 had a different mechanism then all the rest.

 

86-91 Camaro/Firebird Reversing Switch, hatch pull-down unit - Hawks Third Generation (hawksmotorsports.com)

 

The hatch pull down assembly was a mid year change in 91, my 91 Firebird has the 86-91.5 hatch pull down assembly, the 92 model year was the only year these cars got the new fiberglass body hatch pull down assembly.

 

That Hawks switch states 86-91 ... Not sure it'll work on 92 without some modification, but maybe easier that rigging lever switches. .

 

I totally glossed over that part
Lon at TDS would be the go to on anything related to these units
Top Down Solutions (top-downsolutions.com)