Back to the car after the cold snap and I have fitted the boot catch and lock. I’ve had a go at this before and failed to get the lock working so thought I’d get to the bottom of the problem. I guess like a lot of people I’ver left tricky jobs until last, and I now have no choice but to address them!
For anybody removing or fitting the lock and catch there are a few hints that might prove useful. Firstly, note that the catch has to be removed before the lock can be removed. The lock is held in place by a large 30mm nut that can not be reached with the catch in place - at least not with the tools that I have available. So the catch should be removed first, by undoing the four retaining screws and then by swivelling the mechanism carefully through 180 degrees in line with the plane of the rear panel. There is just enough room with some jiggling to get it over the lock. Once it’s over it can be lowered and then tilted to get it from behind the vertical bracing struts. The lock/release assembly can then be removed, by removing the 30mm nut that holds it in place.
Refitting is the reverse of this, with the lock assembly fitted first. Note that the lock assembly should be fitted with the protruding arm at the end of the plunger pointing upwards. That means that when the mechanism is locked with the key, the teeth on the key face upwards. The lock assembly has locating lugs either side (visible in the picture below) that locate in cutouts in the rear panel. Being a new rear panel on my car, I had to file these cutouts. Also note that the large washer that fits inside the boot under the 30mm nut also has cutouts. I marked the position of these with a pen so that I could ensure that they stayed in position at either side of the lock as the retaining nut was being tightened - the cutouts themselves being hidden by the retaining nut. The cutouts do not engage the relatively shallow lugs until the retaining nut is partially tightened.
One other hint is to push any cable running across the top of the boot rear up over the lock assembly before putting the catch in place. Again, fitting the catch is the reverse of the procedure outlined above: pass it through the two vertical bracing struts, and with it inverted 180 degrees, tuck one end over the lock assembly and rotate it until it passes over the top and into position. The third strip of pictures show this maneouvring of the catch.
Having done all of that my lock still did not work - as I had found the previous time I tried it. Normally there are only two variables: the lock position and the catch position. But on my car a new rear panel had been fitted so any increase in the distance from catch to lock, or vertical misalignment could stop the lock release from engaging. I suspected the former, but it turned out to be the latter. The top of my rear panel is about 3 to 4mm below where it should be. That means the lock assembly is similarly 3 to 4mm lower than the catch, enough for the plunger on the release to now miss connecting with the the place where it pushes the hinged portion of the catch forward to release the boot.
I refitted the catch with 4mm spacers on each of the two forward retaining screws for the catch. This tilted the catch downwards at its leading edge such that the release plunger would now align and engage. I then tried closing the boot. The boot striker would not engage with the catch lowered, but rotating it 360 degrees lowered it just enough to now catch. To do this, the 13mm nut above the striker is loosened, the striker then rotated to required position, and the nut retightened.
So all now working properly.
