Just Couldn’t Tie a Trunk Down

One of the first repairs tackled on my z28 was ‘updating’ the trunk’s locking mechanism.

Trunk Pull Down Motor

For anyone familiar a Camaro, you are well aware of the overcomplicated trunk latch.  While most cars require you to almost slam the trunk in order for the lock to engage, this muscle car only needs a gentle lowering of the back hatch before the trunk pull-down motor engages the lock and secures it into an airtight seal.  While a little silly, it is a necessity for a car which has such a large rear window that could be easily broken if it were slammed shut.

Unfortunately for the car, and for me, the previous owner had forgotten the delicacies of this more refined muscle car and in the process of slamming the trunk shut, not only broke the glass, but also destroyed the motor and misaligned the lock. While the window was replaced, the lock and motor were not. Instead it had been ‘repaired’ with a thick wire tie rendering the trunk completely useless.

Common knowledge in the car community is that replacement parts are cheap and easy to come by in ‘used auto parts stores’ (aka junk yards). Also common knowledge, Camaros are without fail completely stripped of usable parts. This made it slightly harder to find the pull down motor I needed, but we were able to find a compatible model on a same year Pontiac Firebird for only $35.

The job took only a few hours, but a heck of a lotta patience.

The motor was fairly easy to install, and we were able to discover the root of the problem. The tabs meant to secure the heavy motor to the car body were simply weak plastic, and were hardly able to support its own weight, let alone addition force applied to the unit.  To insure that under the same circumstances the motor wouldn’t be destroyed again, we also ordered reinforcing tracks from Top-Down Solutions

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Trunk Pull-Down Guides

These tracks are fairly inexpensive ($25, +s&h) and provide the peace of mind that the same job won’t have to be revisited again anytime soon.  In fact, the site insures its after market guides for up to 5 years with a replacement warranty.

However, the lock as I mentioned before, was totally busted.  We used an assortment of picks and small screw drivers to inch the springs back into place.   But that was only the beginning.  The force of the original incident forced the latch to be misaligned with the hatch, preventing the lock from engaging.  Additionally, after the hatch was removed to replace the glass and repositioned onto the car body, it furthered this misalignment issue.  The next part of the job required some muscle. We had to reposition it ourselves, as my father unsecured the hinges that connected the hatch to the body, I inched it closer to where we thought it should sit.  We spent a considerable amount of time on this portion of the project; if the lock and the latch didn’t line up, it would all be for naught.

The job was finally completed after an afternoon’s work, and again, the car had a functioning trunk. Well worth the time and effort.