trunk lock

[foxtrot]

Just grab the decklid and give it a good twist, that's probably how they aligned things anyways back then.

That amazes me, that methods like this were used back in the day. I can remember body shops making similar door adjustments back in the day. I once remember hearing about a bar being used to adjust the door up/down via the latching mechanism. I like to call this a "bend adjustment"..

 

[pontiacgp]

That amazes me, that methods like this were used back in the day. I can remember body shops making similar door adjustments back in the day. I once remember hearing about a bar being used to adjust the door up/down via the latching mechanism. I like to call this a "bend adjustment"..

I thought a "bend adjustment" was required when you raised your beer bottle and it didn't meet your lips...

 

[jiho]

Give the trunk lid a good twist .... hmm .... seems to me if it was that easy, 30+ years with a rotated latch twisting it should have done the trick. But when I righted the latch, the lid immediately un-twisted to where it is. Maybe a good sledge hammer ....

 

[Injectedcutty]

That amazes me, that methods like this were used back in the day. I can remember body shops making similar door adjustments back in the day. I once remember hearing about a bar being used to adjust the door up/down via the latching mechanism. I like to call this a "bend adjustment"..

The bar trick is true!!!!! Years ago I was talking to my dad about my pass door sagging....he told me to take it to the body shop his truck shop used for repairs. Guy came out with this weird *ss looking bar, hooked it to the latch and started yanking up on the door....I about sh*t myself!!!! But, it worked and my door shut easily without dragging on the latch.

 

[foxtrot]

The bar trick is true!!!!! Years ago I was talking to my dad about my pass door sagging....he told me to take it to the body shop his truck shop used for repairs. Guy came out with this weird *ss looking bar, hooked it to the latch and started yanking up on the door....I about sh*t myself!!!! But, it worked and my door shut easily without dragging on the latch.

GOOD to know that I'm passing along good info 🙂

 

[oldsmobile joe]

So .... I finally got around to dealing with this. Pulled out the rear seat, unbolted the latch to get the trunk open, replaced the lock cylinder.

From the factory, the latch was rotated counter-clockwise, as you can see from the various markings in this snapshot from the interior:

View attachment 56121

You can also see that I now have it bolted in roughly centered and level. The key is now notably easier to turn in the new lock.

However, the trunk lid is now slightly twisted, so that the driver-side edge doesn't quite come down to line up with the fiberglass piece on the quarter panel. Meanwhile, the passenger-side edge pushes down a bit past the fiberglass. Before, the trunk lid pretty much lined up straight at both edges (although the gaps along the sides were a bit uneven, and still are).

Driver-side on the left, passenger-side on the right:

View attachment 56119 View attachment 56120


My tentative guess is that the factory installed the latch rotated like that in order to twist the trunk lid and make it line up better, but this made the latch harder to operate, and therefore the lock cylinder, and these aftermarket cylinders aren't quite up to it.

Not sure what I'm going to do now.

body panel gaps or margins are usually adjustable with patients. trunk lids are usually lined up off of the top of the trunk lid where it meets the quarter panels and quarter panel extensions. I'm unable to define from your pics if they are of the bottom or top of trunk lid. have you tried adjusting the rubber bump stops that are located in the left and right rear corners. you rotate the stops to set the margins at the rear of the lid. front margins are set by adjusting the hinge to trunk lid bolts. hope this helps, joe

 

[565bbchevy]

In the 80's there was a guy on the line at the factory called the "Tweaker" and if he installed your decklid you knew it was straight because he put his sticker on it after he tweaked it into alignment.😉

 

[jiho]

I'm unable to define from your pics if they are of the bottom or top of trunk lid. have you tried adjusting the rubber bump stops that are located in the left and right rear corners. you rotate the stops to set the margins at the rear of the lid.

It's the bottom edge of the lid. Those are the taillights in the lower half of the pics.

Those are super-closeup pics. I'm really kind of nit-picking, you hardly notice the difference at typical viewing distance. But this is a fun discussion! 😀

Thanks for pointing out the bump stops, I forgot about those. Going to have a look.

The bump stops under the front of the hood definitely need adjusting, the corners jiggle like mad on the road.

 

[jiho]

In the 80's there was a guy on the line at the factory called the "Tweaker" and if he installed your decklid you knew it was straight because he put his sticker on it after he tweaked it into alignment.

Are you serious or is that sticker a gag? Anyway, mine most certainly does not have such a sticker. If it did I think I'd write GM to complain about him.

Meanwhile, it looks like the bump stops will do it, at least to the point where you practically need a magnifying glass. The rotated latch was not kind to the driver-side stop, it's a little torn up and won't stay turned in. I can probably find replacements, though.

On the other hand, the whole lid is shifted sideways, looks like about a quarter inch gap on passenger-side and none on driver-side. But as the shop manual says, "there is no side-to-side adjustment." Whomever designed the hinge-to-lid attachment was a sociopath. As "planned obsolescence," it looks like a plan to render GM obsolete. I can think of ways, but ....

 

[oldsmobile joe]

so shove the trunk lid over till its centered. and remember to adjust your latch. ya'know, its posible that the latch was correct all along and it was the shifted trunk lid that caused all the problems