[Joe gandolfo]

My trunk will not open it appears that the cable has come loose in the trunck has anyone had this problem and how was it solved

[poncho62]

Got a key?

[Joe gandolfo]

no its a cable release wish it was that simple

[327NUT]

Pull your seat and crawl...or have someone crawl in the trunk and unlatch it.......then you can re-install the cable and make it work. It's a very simple latch mechanism.

[Joe gandolfo]

tried that but cannot do it because of trunk upholestry installation in trunk prevents it thanks

[OneMoreTime]

Ouch!!! well what can you do carefully to move the upholstery out of the way with minimal damage seems to be the only recourse..

Sam

[327NUT]

Ok that's not good news....but I'm assuming your gas filler and battery are in the trunk sooooo you have to get in there someway. As OneMoreTime eludes to about the uphosltrey, that can be replaced, usually just a piece of 1/8 luan with whatever vinyl, cloth yada covering it. ..... up to you.

[hpete]

Can you cut a hole in the trunk floor large enough to fit your hand through? I think if you used a holesaw it would be easier to patch.

[Joe G]

Are you sure the cable came loose AT the trunk latch? If you're lucky, it may have broke at the trunk release lever in the driver's doorjamb.

Otherwise, maybe seeing what you're up against will help.

The trunk latch release lever is on the left side of the latch. If you push the latch release arm down, the latch opens.


The rods and belcrank are something I made to connect the latch to an electric trunk release actuator...something you might consider doing once you get the trunk open...



Measuring from the left....

to the center of the latch release lever is 15.5"


Here are a few pics to help you visualize how far forward the latch release lever is.




I'm thinking some kind of custom tool could be made to reach through the weatherstrip and trip the latch release lever, although it would have to be more refined than the tool in the picture.


To get through the bulkhead into the trunk area would be tough because the forward trunk trim panel is 1/4" hard plastic and is keyed into the floor trim panel, and also trapped in by the trunk side trim panels. If you push at the top of the panel, you might be able to bend the it enough for it to pop out. If you could get through the forward trunk trim panel, I believe you could easily reach the trunk latch release lever and trip it.

Hope this helps....Good Luck.....

[MARTINSR]

Joe, what a beautiful job you have done here to help a fellow rodder out! Going out of your way so far was awful nice of you.

How about this, if you can't get thru past the rubber to push that latch down, how about getting a hole saw and cutting a hole behind the license plate? Can you get in there with the perfectly placed hole? Then if you cut it with a hole saw you could use a pre-made plug to fill the hole, put the plate back on and wham, cruising with a smile on their face.

Just wondering if that could work?

Brian

[Joe G]

Thanks, Brian. I sincerely hope it helps Joe out. That's a heck of a predicament that he's in.

[MARTINSR]

I have been in that position more than once. The first time was with a 57 Porsche 550 Speedster! Thank goodness the spare wasn't in there. I was able to drill the spot welds out from the lower panel to the front apron and push the metal apart and using a long screw driver go straight up thru to the striker in the latch. I unscrewed the striker right out of the hood. Luckily the jam nut wasn't tight! I plug welded the spot welds back after a little hammer and dolly work and none was the wiser....except ME. That was the day I learned the very valuable lesson of using a rolled up ball of dumb dumb (3M strip caulk) on the latch, bring the hood down carefully and tap the ball of dumb dumb to see where the striker is hitting the latch. If I had done that I would have seen that the striker was off quite a bit and it wouldn't have gotten stuck in the latch. I guess I was the dumb dumb! That is one of the most valuable tricks I have ever learned.

Brian