Deck Lid Re-Install - Fitting Too Tight
 

Hey all,

Putting the rear deck lid back on the car after its been off for some time. I put it back together and no matter the movement back to front - it seems really tight against the body of the car just below the rear window.

When I do have it pulled all the way out with barely enough clearance to not hit the body and put it against the car... the top gap is huge.

I thought maybe I'm forgetting some spacers/washers?

Hints and tips would be greatly appreciated - thank you much! SmileWavy

-Derek

Yes, there are spacers. Some times one or two. they are rectangular with a hole but you can use washers too.

If I may suggest, disconnect the strut and remove the grill/condensor (loose) so you can adjust and tighten with out lifting the lid and possibly losing the position.

Once you are happy, re-attach the strut, check again. then put the grill/condensor back on.

thanks - that's what I suspected. Any idea about how thick the spacers are? Do they go on all four mounting points?

I think they are around 2 MM thick as I recall. It depends but I used 4.

DRACO has some good tips. Rather than washers, consider grabbing a package of body shims from your local auto parts store. They are u-shaped and easy to add one or more as needed to bump out the deck (or any other panel being re-installed).

A good thread on this from paint forum 962Porsche

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/paint-bodywork-discussion-forum/848681-rear-deck-lid-alignment.html?highlight=decklid

My car has two rectangular spacers installed in the holes closest to the rear window and no spacers toward the rear.

I'm assuming that you are doing all this with the grill removed because if you close it down and the fit is tight on the lock you will have great difficulty releasing the lock. With the grill out of the way you can reach in to release the lock while you adjust it. Just trying to save you some grief.

Mine has two rectangular type shims or spacers on the left hinge and one on the right. I change my decklid once every two months depending on the mood (early carrera, duck tail and tail less decklid). Sometime I interchange the spacers depending on the fit.

Good point. I actually removed my stinger taking out the two bolts on the mount until I got the lid close. I then installed the stinger assembly and slowly closed the lid watching how the stinger matched up to the latch.
Something to keep in mind is the latch helps center the lid so get it close without the latch and then you can make fine tuned adjustments with the latch installed to get your side gaps even or close to it.

If you still have your AC condenser it will be a real pain, +1 on getting it out of the way while you are adjusting/fine tuning. My Carrera tail used 1 spacer on each of the four bolts, my duck uses the same. No issues.

Good luck.

I also recommend removing the grille. I locked myself out of the engine bay for about 20 minutes. A skinny wrench helps to push on the latch.