trunk lid alignment/adjustment

[naa10104]

Have a 73 vert.  Want to align the trunk lid for a better fit.  There are two bolts on each arm that hold up the lid.  They seem to adjust for and aft and level the lid.  Is there a procedure to align the trunk lid or steps ?  Does the torsion rod have to be disconnected ? I don't see any other adjustment nuts/bolts or mechanisms.  Thanks for your advice.

steve

 

[rackerm]

I don't know of any written procedure. You do not disconnect the torsion bar. The lid will torque some when closed from tension from the bar. You want to make your adjustments with the tension. I found it helps to have another person help hold things in place.

The torsion bar is usually best in the middle notch to start with. Too much and the lid flies open and twists too much closed.

Make sure you have a fresh/good rubber weather seal around the trunk opening.

Remove the lock or the striker for now. So the lid does not latch.

I would place a rag or something across the back deck to protect it from the lid accidentally sliding down when fully open and hitting the deck area between the trunk opening and the roof well molding.

Always keep the bolts snug to the swing arms, only loose enough to make some small adjustment. You don't want the lid to freely side on its own. The lid should only move when you adjust it. This way you can carefully open it and tighten the bolt without it losing the adjustment you made.

First I would get the proper gaps in the back and sides. Carefully closing it to make sure there is no rubbing or binding anywhere. Stop and adjust again if you see it's going the touch the rest of the body. You don't need to open to lid all the way, just reach in and tighten the bolt(s) with it open half way. Watch the back edge of the lid as it is the first to touch when closing and fully opening. Make sure the lid is even with the quarter panel end caps. If the lid is very close to where it needs to be front to back, then only loosen a single bolt at a time and even then only enough to allow the lid to be adjusted up or down. You want the bolt to be snug enough to hold your adjustments in place when you open the lid and tighten the bolt. It does not take much to throw it out of alignment. It's really a matter of repeatedly making small adjustments and readjusting until it sits right. DO NOT close the lid without slowly checking it for clearance each time!

I will mark the lid around the washer to create a point of reference as I make adjustments.

It's a tedious thing, maybe someone else has found a better method.

 

[naa10104]

I don't know of any written procedure. You do not disconnect the torsion bar. The lid will torque some when closed from tension from the bar. You want to make your adjustments with the tension. I found it helps to have another person help hold things in place.

The torsion bar is usually best in the middle notch to start with. Too much and the lid flies open and twists too much closed.

Make sure you have a fresh/good rubber weather seal around the trunk opening.

Remove the lock or the striker for now. So the lid does not latch.

I would place a rag or something across the back deck to protect it from the lid accidentally sliding down when fully open and hitting the deck area between the trunk opening and the roof well molding.

Always keep the bolts snug to the swing arms, only loose enough to make some small adjustment. You don't want the lid to freely side on its own. The lid should only move when you adjust it. This way you can carefully open it and tighten the bolt without it losing the adjustment you made.

First I would get the proper gaps in the back and sides. Carefully closing it to make sure there is no rubbing or binding anywhere. Stop and adjust again if you see it's going the touch the rest of the body. You don't need to open to lid all the way, just reach in and tighten the bolt(s) with it open half way. Watch the back edge of the lid as it is the first to touch when closing and fully opening. Make sure the lid is even with the quarter panel end caps. If the lid is very close to where it needs to be front to back, then only loosen a single bolt at a time and even then only enough to allow the lid to be adjusted up or down. You want the bolt to be snug enough to hold your adjustments in place when you open the lid and tighten the bolt. It does not take much to throw it out of alignment. It's really a matter of repeatedly making small adjustments and readjusting until it sits right. DO NOT close the lid without slowly checking it for clearance each time!

I will mark the lid around the washer to create a point of reference as I make adjustments.

It's a tedious thing, maybe someone else has found a better method.

Hello,

Thanks for your response .... the main adjustment issue I am having is getting the trunk lid level/even with the top of the rear quarter panels.  One side is always a little higher than the other. Any suggestions ?  

Thanks again.

Steve

 

[turtle5353]

With the trunk lid open grab each side and twist the **** out of the hinges. Do this tweaking in small increments till you get it where you want. I had to twist the hinges around in the 71 I did last year. Took a while and some brute force but eventually got it where I wanted.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

I do not have a Ford manual for the mustang on the body adjustments but I do have for older vehicle. A lot of the adjustments are actually twisting and distorting the hinges. They are welded into the body structure and yes the only two adjustments on the trunk hinge are the ones you have mentioned. The latch will help some on up an down.

You will actually probably have to make you some blocks of wood covered with carpet or something to protect the paint. You may have to twist the lid or distort the hinges to get better fit.

Remember these cars were not built to try to get a perfect gap and fit.

On the factory assembly line it is amazing to watch them align the doors, fenders, hoods and trunks. They have really big rubber hammers, large flat pry bars and bars that hook on the door latch and door striker and they bend the panels into alignment. It sounds crude but they still do it today.

I will see if I can locate one of the old body panel alignment pamphlets that Ford sent to the dealers and scan and post tonight. The cars are different but the same issues are with every vehicle.

If you ever take the torsion bar out of the trunk be very careful they can do damage to you and the car in the blink of an eye. I did come up with an easy way to get the coupe and vert ones back in fastback and Mach 1 are different.

David

 

[rackerm]

I don't know of any written procedure. You do not disconnect the torsion bar. The lid will torque some when closed from tension from the bar. You want to make your adjustments with the tension. I found it helps to have another person help hold things in place.

The torsion bar is usually best in the middle notch to start with. Too much and the lid flies open and twists too much closed.

Make sure you have a fresh/good rubber weather seal around the trunk opening.

Remove the lock or the striker for now. So the lid does not latch.

I would place a rag or something across the back deck to protect it from the lid accidentally sliding down when fully open and hitting the deck area between the trunk opening and the roof well molding.

Always keep the bolts snug to the swing arms, only loose enough to make some small adjustment. You don't want the lid to freely side on its own. The lid should only move when you adjust it. This way you can carefully open it and tighten the bolt without it losing the adjustment you made.

First I would get the proper gaps in the back and sides. Carefully closing it to make sure there is no rubbing or binding anywhere. Stop and adjust again if you see it's going the touch the rest of the body. You don't need to open to lid all the way, just reach in and tighten the bolt(s) with it open half way. Watch the back edge of the lid as it is the first to touch when closing and fully opening. Make sure the lid is even with the quarter panel end caps. If the lid is very close to where it needs to be front to back, then only loosen a single bolt at a time and even then only enough to allow the lid to be adjusted up or down. You want the bolt to be snug enough to hold your adjustments in place when you open the lid and tighten the bolt. It does not take much to throw it out of alignment. It's really a matter of repeatedly making small adjustments and readjusting until it sits right. DO NOT close the lid without slowly checking it for clearance each time!

I will mark the lid around the washer to create a point of reference as I make adjustments.

It's a tedious thing, maybe someone else has found a better method.

Hello,

Thanks for your response .... the main adjustment issue I am having is getting the trunk lid level/even with the top of the rear quarter panels.  One side is always a little higher than the other. Any suggestions ?  

Thanks again.

Steve

This can be caused by the torque bar causing the lid to twist slightly making the passenger side is higher than the drivers side. The bar places more pressure on one hinge than the other. For that reason, I installed a second bar that is designed to complement the first bar. It helped eliminate the uneven torque on the lid and also use the lowest torque notches with the bars. These counterpart bars are getting hard to find and were commonly used in Cougars, but could have been installed in Mustang when it was needed to correct stubborn alignment problems. 

I made a tool to make adjusting the bar easier...... Heres the thread https://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-how-to-safely-install-trunk-torsion-bars

What notch do you have your bar set to? The lid should not fly open to hard. If so, lower the bar a notch.

 

[Fabrice]

I do more or less same as @rackem described.

I don't know on the fb or verts, but on the coupe, its not getting the proper gaps that is really difficult, its more how deep the lid goes on the back.

The simple thing I do that works for me, is to use once I have the alignment and gaps ok, to secure the most front bolts so they locks/hold, but just enough to become the pivots. Then simply add a paper tape (house paint stuff) next to the rear bolt.

Problem is that because of the torsion bar, you often end up breaking the "almost good" of the last pass that you did and its too deep or lid is higher than body. Thanks to this simple tape, as you draw on it the last pass, it becomes a graduation and even if it would move more (and it will), you notice right away.

 

[Ed Raver]

I didn't have alot of trouble adjusting the deck lid on my 71 vert. I borrowed the neighbor's son and put him in the trunk. Pushed down to where the lid fit and had him tighten the bolts. Worked like a champ and he got a kick out of it too. Ed Raver

 

[naa10104]

Thanks for all the great advice, should be able to get it right now. The torsion rod is in the lowest notch on the drivers side. Only have one torsion rod and the trunk pops open about four inches when you turn the key ...seems okay. Noticed that the top left side of the trunk latch bracket has broken free at it's spotweld to the trunk panel. Can this be re-attached with JB Weld Epoxy or does it require another spot weld ? Thanks very much.

steve

 

[rackerm]

I didn't have alot of trouble adjusting the deck lid on my 71 vert. I borrowed the neighbor's son and put him in the trunk. Pushed down to where the lid fit and had him tighten the bolts. Worked like a champ and he got a kick out of it too.   Ed Raver

What a great idea!

 

[rackerm]

Thanks for all the great advice, should be able to get it right now.  The torsion rod is in the lowest notch on the drivers side. Only have one torsion rod and the trunk pops open about four inches when you turn the key ...seems okay.  Noticed that the top left side of the trunk latch bracket has broken free at it's spotweld to the trunk panel.  Can this be re-attached with JB Weld Epoxy or does it require another spot weld ?  Thanks very much.

steve

Some folks prefer the trunk to pop open half to three quarters. The middle notch will add more torque and make that happen, but could require a lid adjustment again.

Might be easier to get another striker to replace that broken one.

 

[Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs]

Rackerm,

I see you have two rods in your convertible. They only came with one except in Cougar. Vert is very different from the Mach 1 and vert never came with spoiler either so did not need two. It was inserted into the right hinge and notches on the left. Ford manual even states that I was looking the other day.

I did scan the little hand book from Ford and here are the files. It is from 1950 but the same techniques are still used today just a different year. I have a video somewhere showing Ford assembly line and they have an fixture on the assembly line that actually bent the trunk to fit on the cars they were building.

My son tells me the biggest guys on the BMW assembly line do the trunk and lift gate adjustments today on the new models. They twist and pull and hammer to match, lol.

Well I cannot attach I am over my limit again. I have to go into previous posts and delete the picture / files so I can add to a new one. Then when someone goes to look the old pictures are gone I guess.

The book shows the with hammer, flat body spoon, a fixture to bend the door and how to bend the door hinges to align and also the trunk. I will clear out some of my pics and put it up in a new thread.

David

 

[Mister 4x4]

With the trunk lid open grab each side and twist the **** out of the hinges. Do this tweaking in small increments till you get it where you want. I had to twist the hinges around in the 71 I did last year. Took a while and some brute force but eventually got it where I wanted.

I don't know about anybody else, but I'm more partial to Kevin's approach!  ::thumb::

I know mine was almost perfectly lined up before I took it to the painter, and I'm sure they probably boogered with something to get it out of alignment (a little high on the driver side, but otherwise not so bad), then boogered with it some more to try and get it right again before giving up on it and declaring "close enough."

Have I ever mentioned that I don't believe my painter did what could be considered his best work on my car?   rofl

 

[rackerm]

David, you are correct the second bar was used commonly on cougars. My first vert I bought in 1975 had both bars and they were both painted body color. So although not typical, I would contend that they could have been installed for one reason or another at the factory. On my car now I added it to help with lid alignment and give my lid a more even tension . I can use the lowest notches and still have a firm lid lift.

For those who add a spoiler to a coupe or vert, two is a necessity due to the added weight to the lid end. The sports roof lid, hinge, and torsion bar setup is completely different than coupe/vert.

Thanks