348 rear hatch release cable help

My rear hatch release wasn't working due to a frayed cable inside the cable housing. The emergency gas filler cable works fine, but I'm worried about the filler cap door switch failing, and me not being able to open the hatch or the gas filler hatch...

I thought about just sliding in the new cable and leaving the existing housing, but I can't remove the old cable from the housing due to it being frayed and locked up somehow inside.

My problem - I am having a heck of a time figuring out how to get the new cable and housing run from the seat handle to the back of the car. the cable makes a 90 degree turn into a frame rail just behind the emergency brake, and I can't figure out where it pops out. Going from the back of the car, I can't follow it past right before the radiator before losing it in the mess of wires and structural metal. So somewhere in between all that I am missing something....

Anyone done this before that can offer any pointers? Thanks, as I have been messing with this for the last few hours, and figured it would be about a half hour job... Story of my life...

 

After strugging with it for 4 hours, I got the job done. I ended up having to pull the inner fender liners, pull the left hand radiator, and partially pull the "interior strakes"... This allowed me to get a very long knife and cut the two factory zip ties that were keeping the cable from being pushed though...

I used the old cable and taped the heck out of the new one and pulled it from the back. I think once I had gotten everything out, I could have done it from either the front or back, but I started from the back in the hopes that it would go easy... So much for that...

I considered pushing just the cable through, but it was hung up somewhere inside so I couldn't pull the old one out.

Now all I have to do is replace the gallon and a half or so of coolant I lost when removing the radiator, and bleed the system. Piece of cake from here.

Never would I have thought that it would have been that hard to replace a cable, but now that it works properly, I'm very happy. FWIW, I did NOT replace some of the factory zip ties, as I just could not get to them.

I had ASSUMED that this was an easy job, and knowing what I know now, I probably could have done it in half the time, but it's definitly not a half hour deal...

If you are going to replace the rubber grommet, you'll need to be prepared to undo the wrap you put on to pull the new cable on. Based on what I saw, the old grommet is probably still good to go...

Thanks for the responses.

Tom