914 Rear Trunk Lock

[newttom]

My '75 914 Trunk has been spongy for years, and and lately, not holding the lid at all (It's not an everyday driver). I'm trying now to fix it as I have twice before in the 44 years I've owned the car. I bought a new Trunk Repair Kit, as well as a new Nylon Cam (needle). But waiting on the parts after I disassembled, I can't figure out how it all goes together. The Cam juts too far into the Latch Assembly (91451204210) and the base presses against the hinged latch in any position, trapping the cam from returning to the most forward position (to engage the bottom of the latch). I'm afraid to test assemble it completely and close the lid for fear of locking myself out. And, I cannot figure out where the lower spring goes. obviously it should push the cylinder out a little from above the bumper, but I cannot see where it would sit beyond the cam rim to do that.
The photo is of of the Cam in the vertical position (yes, it likely should be mounted up, not down in vertical, but the hinge prevents it from returning to the high position if mounted that way)
I live just blocks away from where the late great Otto John Williamson had his shop, but of course he is no longer here to help my stupidity.

[newttom]

Finally, with the help of TRE Motorsports in Van Nuys CA, we were able to fix the trunk lock. No idea why it was so out of alignment; we shimmed, with washers, the Latch Mechanism further away from the rear body wall. And then trimmed the length of a new Nylon Cam Peg so that it would clear the latch when rotating with the key to the unlocked position.

IMPORTANT INFO to anyone working on the rear trunk latch:
The widely available Rear Trunk Repair Kit inexplicably does not include the spring that pushes out the key button. That spring goes inside the two Chrome parts of the kit which may be somewhat stuck together upon arrival.

And, the latch nut holding in the Chrome parts is 32mm. There is a $7 Socket available on Bezo’s website intended for Oil Filter of other car brands. You may think you need a deep socket, but a partially inserted socket wrench works just fine.