Trouble closing the rear shell

I am having some difficulty closing the rear shell / engine cover. Right now I need to be centered from the back of the car, grab the vents, and slam from about two feet up (which, or course, makes me cringe).

I see others have mentioned adjustments that have fixed the issue, and I will give that a try.

My question is how easy does it / should it close for some of you. Can you close the lid and simply push down over the latches to lock it down, or do you need to come from some height like I do. Suggestions before I start messing with the adjustments?

I don't like the way I need to do it - I have had other cars with latches where they were simple and smooth to close. Simple, easy push.

As a side, is the manual for the car you guys are getting the one from Helm? Or is there a better one.

Thanks

Adjustment worked

Thanks guys - I just wasn't sure how easy it "should be" to close.

I just lowered the drivers side rubber topped stop one turn, and moved the passenger side latch just a smidge (did not need to mess with the rivet), and now I can easily push both sides closed - Joey's "buttah". No more slamming - thank God.

White with blue, 931.

White Petunia said:

............I don't see how to turn the rubber spring stop "one turn". There's a small nut underneath and a big nut on top, but I don't see much vertical adjustment . Am I looking at the wrong thing?

My passenger side closes easier than the driver side. I let my hand give constant pressure to the driver's side when I close the clamshell.

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On the actual latch mechanish you will see the round (3/4") rubber bumper that sits on top of a bolt where right under the bumper is a 3/4" or so "nut". From recall, I just gave that a turn down (less height). The minimal difference was enough for me. I now put the clamshell all of the way down, give a good quick press on the passenger side then a good quick press on the drivers side. Works fine and have never had it pop open.

I think most of the problems with the hard close is fighting against the rubber bumper that is a little too high. That is why when you give a slam from a foot up it works - you're smashing down that rubber bumper.

If this doesn't make any sense, let me know and I'll put a picture up.

rsilverman: if you lowered the rubber stop to the bottom, but are still having the problem, you may need to drill out the pop rivit and get a little more play out of the latch (but very little I would think). However, I doubt you would need to do that. Did you adjust both sides? I am surprised you would be all the way to the bottom and still have a problem since you would think from the original install they would put it in in such a fashion that it would be "mid travel" so they could adjust. Will it close OK if you take the bumper off all the way? That would be a good test to see if that is really the issue.

This should help.

Don't know where you see a spring unless you're talking about the actual latch

This is on an 05. Maybe yours is different?

I think your design is better. I figure the latch is what holds the clamshell down, and the bumper is probably just an anti-rattle item. When you mentioned a spring, I was thinking a better design than mine would be a spring under the rubber - what you have.

I'll need to defer to the guys with your style on what they did.

In addition to lower the bumper, did loosen the actual mounting of the assembly to the bulk head (and did not take out the rivit). Moves a micro amount, but that may be all you need. Give that a try. You may only be looking for an 1/8 inch movement to solve the problem.

What did you do different to get your image to come up in the message? I did the manage attachments, but it just gave the link. :confused

White Petunia said:

The only thing I can think of that I might have done differently than you, is that I attached my picture while editing my original post, as opposed to attaching the picture with the original posting of the post.

In other words, my original post did not have an attachment. I added the attachment about five minutes later.

Does that make sense?

Click to expand...

Yep, I'll try that next time.

I think your shim idea is good. You know that the fit is not off by much, so that could be the answer.