Trunk Deck adjustment

[oldchevelle541]

Greetings, I noticed on my Superbird the trunk deck on the passengers side is slightly higher than the top of the adjacent quarter panel. The drivers side is perfectly flush. The cars quarters have never been touched or replaced. When the trunk deck is open the weather stripping is hardly compressed on the passenger side whereas it is noticeably compressed on the drivers side. Nothing looks abnormal or out of place. Is there an adjustment that can be made with the 2 bolts that connect the trunk deck to the hinge arm. I see 2 bolts there but do not know if there is an oversized hole or slots for adjustment. Before I loosen anything I thought I would ask the experts.
Thanks

[myk]

My car is/was that way as well; I think many of these cars were like that.  Nothing wrong with the car, it's just that infamous 60's quality control...

[green69rt]

Greetings, I noticed on my Superbird the trunk deck on the passengers side is slightly higher than the top of the adjacent quarter panel. The drivers side is perfectly flush. The cars quarters have never been touched or replaced. When the trunk deck is open the weather stripping is hardly compressed on the passenger side whereas it is noticeably compressed on the drivers side. Nothing looks abnormal or out of place. Is there an adjustment that can be made with the 2 bolts that connect the trunk deck to the hinge arm. I see 2 bolts there but do not know if there is an oversized hole or slots for adjustment. Before I loosen anything I thought I would ask the experts.
Thanks

I think I saw another thread on this and the final answer was that you have to push the trunk lid into shape.   Sounds suspicious, right?   Anyway there was talk of putting 2x4 wood or other spacing under the corner that was low and pressing down on the high corner.  Best I can remember, it did not take a lot of pressure to make thing better.   You might need the help of several friends to hold the lid steady.

[Lord Warlock]

There is room to adjust the lid slightly by loosening the two side screws holding it on, and pressing it down before tightening it down.  I removed the decklid on my charger and when i put it back on one side was sitting higher than the other side was (with a new trunk gasket) the difficult part is keeping the edge alignment along the sail panel when both bolts are loose.  The first time i reinstalled the decklid it fit flush, then when i took it off again to fix a paint issue, I put it on again and its higher on one side than the other, should be easy to fix.  Just have to loosen one side and put a block of wood to hold it from shifting forward, then snug the bolts and test fit it. 

Now if only the hood was as easy to adjust, have one corner on it that sits higher than it should.  Problem with that is that the internal bar with welded on nuts that the bolts tighten to has come loose inside the hood. 

[Patronus]

No no no. No wood, no bendy bendy. Take the hours involved and adjust it right. If the deck lid is just off in height you can loosen both bolts on that side. Leave the one furthest from the perimeter of the decklid snug just enough so it will move. Then loosen the outward most bolt. Use your hand as a gauge and pull the decklid down and retighten. A little goes a long way. Believe me, it can be done without the barbarism.

[fy469rtse]

What patronos said , you can adjust it with bolts to hinge, if you do it little by little , you will get there, adjust one side down and the other side up if you can ,
Just do little adjustments so if you go the wrong way , you can reverse easily , note a bit of electrical tape around bolt heads will stop the paint becoming too marked up

[tsmithae]

Find someone that will fit in your trunk and hand them a wrench, ratcheting works best!  Then have yourself and one other person to place shims in the gaps and hold the corners in the appropriate places and flush.  I did this and it worked out great! 

[HeavyFuel]

Would disengaging the trunk springs make this job easier?   

[Dino]

Spend a few bucks and replace the trunk seal first.  It'll make adjusting the deck lid a little easier and the seal won't be compressed on one side.

Releasing the springs can seem to make it a bit easier but there's really no need for it unless one of the hinges is bent.

[Lord Warlock]

No, you don't want to disengage the trunk springs.  The bolts holding the lid in place float inside the hinge, just loosen, adjust to proper height and then tighten down.

[cazz]

I LIKE THE WOOD ONE YA JUST SMASH IT INTO PLACE geeS THAT A SMART ONE NOW ISN'T!!!!! fu#K

[Lord Warlock]

When i said use a block of wood, I meant to put a small block of wood in between the forward edge of the trunk lid and the sail panel to maintain the correct distance, you don't use it to wedge or leverage or bend the trunk lid. It simply saves you from loosening the lid too much and having it slide into the sail panel scratching or denting the panel. 

[oldchevelle541]

Thanks everyone for you input. You have given me some ideas and when it gets a tad warmer we will take a closer look to get it adjusted.