just starting on the left side, see a small gap when I open the hatch....I replaced the hatch shocks about two years ago with ones considerably stronger than the stock ones
Any suggestions?

 

maybe hysol 9460 epoxy? Very very strong stuff.

-Dana

 

It can be fixed; your hatch isn't done. I don't know if it is a DIY job.

 

Resealing a hatch is not easy. I have a black belt in DIY, and when I tried resealing the hatch, the new seal failed in 1 day.

 

My body shop guy (Bodystyle in San Jose, CA) had a guy who came in to reseal mine. I have the no-wiper-hole hatch variant and I really wanted to save it because I like the clean look. I think I have seen DIY procedures posted, but there must also be other pros with experience with this.

 

if you're patient you can do it, requires patient and a tube of 3m window weld

 

some directions...

944/968 Hatch Reseal Procedure
By Kansas City Wrenching Society (www.kcws.org)

Thought this might help some people out who are scared or don’t know how to fix their rattling rear hatch. The rattle is typically caused by the hatch glass separating from the frame (UV rays from the sun, and slamming the hatch both contribute to this problem).
Some of these pictures are shot of a 944 hatch, and some are of a 968 hatch. The hatches themselves are different in a few ways, but the procedure is going to be the same, besides a few differences when removing the spoilers. This is pretty much a do it yourself job, as most window repair places will not touch this project with a 10 foot pole. We were lucky enough to find a glass guy that would come out and reseal the glass and frame, if we separated and completely cleaned the glass and frame. This takes away the liability of him breaking the hatch during the process. I would imagine if any shop would actually do the whole job start to finish, they would charge in the $500 range minimum. Our glass guy will come out and seal our hatches for less than what we can buy the chemicals for, so it was a no brainer. Plan on 4-8 Hours for this job (Depending on the hatch), and 24 hours for the new sealant to cure. We are lucky enough to have a few spare hatches laying around, so that means no downtimes to our 944’s. The Frame must be installed back onto the car before you glue the glass on it. This is to ensure that the frame sits on the car correctly. If you seal it off the car, the frame can be out of alignment and you will have leaks when it rains. Some people think that the rear hatch glass is formed to the exact size of the car body, but it is not. It is the frame that is sized exactly to fit the body, that is why the frame and glass must be sealed while the frame is on the car.

The Plan:
Remove the frame from the glass, and completely strip all remnants of old silicone, primer, etc from both the glass and the frame, and then re-glue the glass to the frame (using a glass professional)

Tools to be used: (Pictures later will explain all these)
1. Power drill with a wire wheel attachment
2. Modified Putty Knife
3. Utility knife with lots of sharp blades
4. Stainless steel or brass braided picture hanging wire (from home depot in the hardware section, and a couple wooden dowels to use as handles.
5. Modified flat tip screwdriver to remove nuts for rubber trim/spoiler
6. Possibly a 6mm cheese head socket, or Phillips screwdriver to remove hatch pins
7. Flat Razor blade.
8. Box of Rubber gloves/latex gloves. Your hands will become very black otherwise.





Chemicals used to reseal the hatch: (Use 3M products only)
1. The "glue" to use is 3M "Window-Weld Primerless Super Fast Urethane Auto Glass Sealant", part #08609... comes in a cartridge gun tube of 10 fl. oz. One tube will do one hatch.
2. The primer for the hatch frame is 3M Super Fast Urethane Primer, Part #08608. Thoroughly cover the area to be glued with this stuff, and follow the directions as to temp, application and time.
3. Use 3M Glass Cleaner, part #08968 to clean the glass prior to priming it.
4. Prime the glass with 3M Super Fast Urethane Primer, part #08608. This provides for UV protection of the bond, which is most likely the reason why the bond failed in the first place.
5. Clean up using 3M General Purpose Adhesive Cleaner (great for removing old decal and pinstriping glue residue, too)... part #08984 or 08986.

The Modified Putty Knife


Drill with wire wheel, Utility Knife, and flat razor blade (for cleaning window off)

Working on the hatch: It is easiest to remove the spoiler and trim while the hatch is on the car. Once that is removed, the hatch needs to be removed from the car to work on. There are many sites that describe how to do this (such as Clarks-garage), it is very easy, so I won’t go into the details. Your options are to work on the hatch with it on sawhorses or lay down some carpet on the garage floor and go at it like that. I found the floor worked the best, and being able to lean it up against a wall while I worked on it also helped. Laying on the carpet is easiest, because you can flip the hatch over and work on both sides without fear of dropping it. I am sure sawhorses work as well, but you take the chance of dropping the hatch onto the ground, which at that point you would not have to worry about resealing your hatch anymore.

Here are a few pictures to show the trim/spoiler removal for the hatch. Again, some are from a 968 hatch which is a little different, but you get the idea.

Here you can see the hatch nuts that hold the side trim on. To get these off, you need to take and cut a notch in the middle of the blade on a flat tip screwdriver. This nut is almost off all the way, but as it tightens down, you can see the bolt will travel up through the middle of the nut, hence why you need a “special tool.” There are roughly 6 of these on each side.












This is a 968 hatch, so it is a little different. The hatch pin in the middle comes off with 2 6mm cheesehead bolts (same on 944). There are also some screws on the side of the picture that need to be removed. Off the spoiler will come.


This is what you are going to have once you get the spoiler off and the hatch off the car.
Again a 968 hatch. The 944 hatch will not have the metal tabs sticking off on the bottom




Now you want to cut out all the old sealant used between the glass and frame that you can: If you make a long cut right against the glass, and another right against the frame, you can pull out the old sealant in long strips like this picture. This is working towards the rear of the hatch.


Again you are going to be doing the same thing around the entire hatch. Here you can see the groove between the glass and frame.




This putty knife above is great for getting underneath the glass between the frame and glass. It is flexible enough that you wiggle it under and cut. Once you can get a gap between the glass and frame (usually done first at the top of the hatch as that is where it separates first), you can slide a piece of stainless steel braided wire, and make a saw. I stood the glass on end and using my a little downward pressure, sawed back and forth through the old sealant. Again, you must be patient and take you time, and be careful not to cut into the frame too much. You will find the corners give you the most trouble. Also sawing at the correct angle, it should cut through pretty easily.



















Once you finally are able to peel the frame from the glass, this is what you will be left with (along with a frame that looks about the same, covered with old sealant). You can see at the bottom (actually the top/front as it sits on the car), that is there is very little black sealant/primer on the glass. This is because the UV rays destroyed the primers ability to stick to the glass, and thus you have the separation and rattling hatch).



You must remove all old black material from both the glass and the hatch frame. For the hatch frame, cut the biggest stuff off with a utility knife, and attack the rest with the drill and wire wheel. For the glass, I took the flat razor blade and scrapped off all the old stuff. Again, just make sure you have new sharp blades, and it should go pretty easily for you.












Again, all the old black primer must be removed, it scraps off the edge of the defrost wires without too much trouble, just don’t scrape too hard in that area.





After a ton of scraping, and grinding with the wire wheel, this is what your frame should look like. You can see on the inside edge, there is just a hint of old black sealant that has since been removed. Get this frame very clean, and do not get oily fingerprints on it, otherwise the new sealant won’t stick.
























What your glass and frame should look like once it is clean:

 

I believe this was on Pelican, but can't guarantee that.

 

But I really have no choice

 

Porschephile 924 found an Elite Autoglass in Highlands Ranch that quoted him $150 to reseal the hatch and claimed to have done several 924/944's. Here's the link to the original thread

I have a contact name and number, drop me a PM if you're interested. I've been intending to check it out for a couple of months now but I'll be happy to go to school on you

 

thanks, I know the place...across the street from Big Bill's NY Pizza

on edit, just called them $200.00 but really pushing the fact the glass breaks fairly often
Still, I'm more than likely to break it myself and the above directions look daunting

 

So don't drop the glass. I mean some things are pretty basic. Get a couple of extra pairs of hands to help put it down and to hold it when you put it back.
You also need to find out if they are going to replace it for you if they break it.

 

I'd doubt it, hence the disclaimer.

 

If you go to Clarks Garage and use the search and type in hatch you will get a procedure.

 

Mine was starting to separate on my 86 944 when I bought it. I got a tube of flowable silicon and poured it into the 4" section that had separated, just a little bit is usually enough. Once it had dried I added some more (since it had flowed in the top wasn't quite flush). Initially it leaked water like crazy every time it rained or I went to a car wash. After this it was dry as a bone. 2 years later when it burned the hatch was the same as the day I re-sealed it. Sure it had one section of the frame that had visibly separated a little bit, but for the $4 it cost me and a 0% chance of breaking the glass, I'd do it again.