i gotta go to the junk yard and pick some stuff up for my bird 2marrow. first on the list is a non electric hatch assembly. i have had 2 different electric hatch motors on my bird and both went to crap after a few days. 2nd im going to be looking for a wonderbar. then if i can find an iroc with a wonderbar then im gonna take the rear sway bar off too. is there any good stuff out there that i should look for. i was also thinking fiero valve covers.

 

I would get anything in great condition, especially a dash, and any int piece that is prone to breaking. LOL, 3/4ths of my interior came from the junk yard :sillylol:

 

a magnet to check the driveshaft on the iroc for it to be aluminum

 

i went to the jumk yard today and i got a new electric hatch assembly from a 91 formy and a 87 iroc front sway bar and wonderbar and coolant and washer fluid tanks from the iroc

 

Did you re-align the hatch motor so it doesn't strain itself to hell? You didn't just bolt it in, right?

 

How do you align it?

 

Those are some good finds.

If I live close enough to a really large junk-yard that didn't charge too much, I would look for things like wonder-bars, and dash pads and try to make a few dollars on E-bay from them.

 

Not quite sure on how, usually, you scribe around the bolt heads of the existing latch. Then when you install the new latch, you line up the bolts so they match the scribe marks.

If he just unbolted his original latch and bolted the 1st replacement in without regard to alignment, it could've been forcing the motor to work too hard. So if he just bolts this newest latch in without aligning it (I'm guessing there are no marks from the car's original bolts to go by), he could overstrain this new electric latch, too.

Align it too far down, and you can either strain the motor, or the hatch won't lock at all. Align it too far up, and the window doesn't seal against the weatherstrip, and you can get leaks and wind noise.

Lonsol (from TDS, above center advertisement link) sells rebuilt hatch motors, and I think he even sells individual parts if you need 'em. Problem is the GM design uses a metal gear on the motor and a plastic worm gear to drive the latch up or down. Metal gear + plastic gear + stress/age = stripped plastic gear = motor spins itself into oblivion since there's nothing to "pull" against anymore and burns itself out.