Cheap Hatch latch w/wire mod

[Gomez]

I was tearing the Capri apart today and found the hatch latch with the blue wire on it. I need one for my Stiva but don't wanna pay the going rate of $45+. I took the wire off the Capri latch and retrofitted it to the Stock Festiva latch, lengthened the wire and maybe a total of 1/2 hour worth of cutting, bending, and sanding, I had a working Cargo light in my Festiva. A while back I did Skeeters mod but wasn't totally happy with it as it is prone to leaking and corrosion.

The reason it is cheap is because Capri's are a dime a dozen. Festiva's with wired latches are not. lol

It works awesome and will do me good until the day I find a useable one from a yard or something.

[crazyrog17]

Good job, sounds like a straightforward mod.

In the theme of mods, I've found the mercury switches in many cars can accomplish the same task. The junkyards around me are full of Mercury Grand Marquis and Ford Crown Victorias that have hood and trunk light assemblies which house a little mercury switch.

Essentially it's a little metal cup with a ball of mercury inside. The cup has a pin pointed into the center held by an insulating cap. When the cup is upright the mercury doesn't contact the pin, but when you turn it over, it completes a circuit between the cup, mercury, and pin.

Since the cargo light is waiting for a ground, I used some heavy gauge solid wire to wrap around the cup and bolt it into the hatch. I soldered the hatch light wire to the pin. You can adjust the sensitivity angle of the switch too by bending the mounting wire. Simple, cheap and quick cargo light switch.