Hatch slam shut

[chaseincats]

Is there a way to raise the hat shut lines so that I don't have to keep slamming the hatch to close it?  I have an OEM seal on it and have had it for a while and still seem to have to slam the hatch.  Is my hatch adjusted incorrectly?

[Zed Head]

The latch is usually adjusted for fit.  Does it sit low compared to the body lines next to it?

You might do better by pressing the hatch shut.  I found that my car was sealed so well that it was air pressure inside that made the doors or hatch difficult to close.  Try closing it with a window or door open and see if it's different.  Dropping the hatch closed doesn't give enough time for the air to get out.

[chaseincats]

11 minutes ago, Zed Head said:

The latch is usually adjusted for fit.  Does it sit low compared to the body lines next to it?

You might do better by pressing the hatch shut.  I found that my car was sealed so well that it was air pressure inside that made the doors or hatch difficult to close.  Try closing it with a window or door open and see if it's different.  Dropping the hatch closed doesn't give enough time for the air to get out.

The latch is connected to a patch panel so that might be the root cause - the panel installed improperly.  That said, with the hatch closed, the middle of the hatch seems to slightly bow out when compared to the body lines.  I also just tried to close it with the windows down and to no avail - it will just sit open on the seals.

[zKars]

Hopefully the striker is attached to the patch panel in the same way as stock. It has two M6 bolts through slotted holes in the striker. You can move it up and down a bit. Remove the license plate light to gain access to the bolts and raise the striker a bit at a time and see if that helps. 

[chaseincats]

25 minutes ago, zKars said:

Hopefully the striker is attached to the patch panel in the same way as stock. It has two M6 bolts through slotted holes in the striker. You can move it up and down a bit. Remove the license plate light to gain access to the bolts and raise the striker a bit at a time and see if that helps. 

Wow, I had no idea that was there.  I just took a look and the latch was bolted in all the way in the down position.  My guess is they had it that way with the old deteriorated seal on it.  I moved it up quite a bit and the hatch closed really well.

Is there a calibration spec for this?  For example, is it a "drop it from 1/4 height and it shouldn't latch but if dropped from 1/2 height it should" type of spec?

[zKars]

Fantastic! Glad you found it. 

No calibration. About the only requirement (other than a decent fit with the body when the hatch is closed ) is that it touches the seal all the way around and doesn't let exhaust in!

I worked on a friends car few weeks back. Bad exhaust smell, maybe the worst ever. Checked and or plugged all the usual holes. The worst was that wide trim panel under the hatch with the 10 fasteners. It was warped and nasty. Replaced that, and still had bad fumes. I did check the hatch seal weather strip, it was brand spanking new and installed well. Finally, I put a piece of letter paper over the seal at the back and closed the hatch, then tugged on the paper to see how tight the seal was against the hatch. Well the paper fell out on its own. Got down there and looked into the hatch area and saw daylight!!! Lots of it! Holy wind tunnel Batman!

Turns out the slam panel had been replaced during the recent restoration, but it was done wrong. It was flat and positioned too low. Seal never had a chance to touch or seal most of the way across the back. Had to resort to adding a good 1/2-3/4" additional foam stick-on weather-strip to the underside of the hatch so that it touched the seal when the hatch was closed. Far from ideal, but how do you fix that without making a real mess? 

Edited October 12, 2020 by zKars