Resolved Talon mid section tailight

[SNAKE_15]

My ocd kicking in and I can't for life of me figure out why the rear "talon" midsection piece has a gap. All studs are intact and I even used all the nuts to tighten it down. I even removed the driver and passenger tailight and tried to align the mid piece by itself by hand with no luck. I also tried a different mid tailight piece with the same result. Car is a clean title and never wrecked to my knowledge. Any ideas and if possible can someone send me a close pic of how the body looks on yours where the mid piece goes?

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[ileagleracing]

More room to put your fingers after you pop the hatch and want to lift it?

 

[gst-turbo]

My car has the same gap also

 

[SNAKE_15]

More room to put your fingers after you pop the hatch and want to lift it?

It's really hard to tell by the pictures, but the gap is noticeable in person. Here's how its supposed to look (first pic). Mine sits right from the left side but sticks out and sits lower on the right side (2ND pic)

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[ileagleracing]

I don't have any close up pictures of my cars, but my gap looks closer to your first picture in the above post. It seems that all 3 of your tail light pieces are sitting to low. Has this car ever been wrecked? Because the lower gap with the bumper doesn't look off, and the upper gap on the right hand light has a bigger gap from the body panel compared to the left.

 

[SNAKE_15]

I don't have any close up pictures of my cars, but my gap looks closer to your first picture in the above post. It seems that all 3 of your tail light pieces are sitting to low. Has this car ever been wrecked? Because the lower gap with the bumper doesn't look off, and the upper gap on the right hand light has a bigger gap from the body panel compared to the left.

Never wrecked since I owned it. I couldn't say if the previous owner did other then it has a clean title.

 

[PlanZero]

Thought you would've figured it out by now! If it makes you feel any better:

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[SNAKE_15]

Thought you would've figured it out by now! If it makes you feel any better:

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I just got my car going a few days ago after being out for a few months so I left this issue on hold and never got around it. I'm gonna remove all the tailight and post pics of the body and see what you guys think. I'll keep you guys updated.

 

[simplejoe]

95-96 Have the finger gap, the 97-98 doesn't.

 

[ileagleracing]

Thought you would've figured it out by now! If it makes you feel any better:

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Is that with the hatch fully closed or the with the release popped?

95-96 Have the finger gap, the 97-98 doesn't.

I've got a 95 and a 98, and I never noticed the difference. Funny how many little differences there are between model years.
That being said, the OP's 3 light segments look to be aligned together, but the gap is way too big and looks to be sloping to the right.
Gonna be hard to fix. Unless you want to snowman some holes and you'd still need to adjust the bumper.

 

[SNAKE_15]

Is that with the hatch fully closed or the with the release popped?



I've got a 95 and a 98, and I never noticed the difference. Funny how many little differences there are between model years.
That being said, the OP's 3 light segments look to be aligned together, but the gap is way too big and looks to be sloping to the right.
Gonna be hard to fix. Unless you want to snowman some holes and you'd still need to adjust the bumper.

Can't I just use a mallet to adjust the body how I want it? I remember my brother did the same thing when the driver tailight was not aligning when we installed the 2gb rear bumper?

 

[PlanZero]

^ that's with the hatch closed.
On a related note, when I pulled off my bumper cover to install my fmic I discovered the crash bar wasn't straight, although everything looked straight with the cover on. Perhaps even though the OPs rear bumper cover looks straight the support behind it is actually bent sloping downwards. I would pull the bumper cover and lights, then try to line up the lights even with the hatch and quarter panel, then reinstall the bumper flush with the lights.

 

[ileagleracing]

^ that's with the hatch closed.
Perhaps even though the OPs rear bumper cover looks straight the support behind it is actually bent sloping downwards. I would pull the bumper cover and lights, then try to line up the lights even with the hatch and quarter panel, then reinstall the bumper flush with the lights.

This along with re-drilling / slotting the mounting holes (and maybe some washers) should be the solution. I would expect to see some evidence of prior repair though, something seems to have pushed in the lower right of the car. It's hard to tell, but looking again it seems the lower gap between the outer lights looks different side to side as well.

You could try a mallet, but I don't think you'll get the results you want

 

[SNAKE_15]

This along with re-drilling / slotting the mounting holes (and maybe some washers) should be the solution. I would expect to see some evidence of prior repair though, something seems to have pushed in the lower right of the car. It's hard to tell, but looking again it seems the lower gap between the outer lights looks different side to side as well.

You could try a mallet, but I don't think you'll get the results you want

Well Shit . I'm hoping something simple. I was honestly thinking of selling the car even though it has 88K original miles

 

[chiefvest]

Maybe even add small shims under neath to push it up a little. Usually theres a small gap for fingers but i can tell its crooked.

 

[PlanZero]

I can't remember if I noticed this before, but the OP has a damaged taillight below, and a dented hatch above, the particular area in question. Coincidence? I think not.

 

[SNAKE_15]

I can't remember if I noticed this before, but the OP has a damaged taillight below, and a dented hatch above, the particular area in question. Coincidence? I think not.

Damaged tailight and hatch?? Where?

 

[PlanZero]

Unless my eyes deceive me, aren't there two small dents on the hatch directly above that area? And the bottom of the right taillight is broken on the corner and looks f**ked up by the reverse light.
If this area was hit, there's your problem. Take it all off and tap it straight from behind.
Edit: I just realized you changed your hatch. The lights are still hinky though. I thought you swapped taillights at one point? If those are the originals I'll stick with my original diagnosis.

 

[SNAKE_15]

Unless my eyes deceive me, aren't there two small dents on the hatch directly above that area? And the bottom of the right taillight is broken on the corner and looks f**ked up by the reverse light.
If this area was hit, there's your problem. Take it all off and tap it straight from behind.
Edit: I just realized you changed your hatch. The lights are still hinky though. I thought you swapped taillights at one point? If those are the originals I'll stick with my original diagnosis.

Yeah I changed to a 2gb talon hatch. The tailights are the same except the middle piece. I changed that one because my old one didn't have all the screws. I'm gonna take it all of tomorrow, you think this can be an easy fix or at least fixable? Things like this bug me.

 

[SNAKE_15]

Update:
Before pulling off my bumper I wanted you guys to see how the body sits. I don't see anything out of the ordinary. Opinions?

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