Before and after still in progress

[Mainemantom]

87gtVIC I agree with you 100%. Finding someone who will care and do the job as well as ourselves is almost impossible. I get so frustrated/angry at other shops. I used to do the majority of work prior to getting hurt/sick. I enjoyed it. If I messed up, I had no one else to blame but me and I did the job over. When I complain or tell a shop how I want a job done, I am the bad guy. Hello, I am the one paying the bill !

[EaOutlaw1969]

You guys are so right.

[DerekTheGreat]

I cannot. If I dont want to do it the likely hood of someone else not wanting to do it and do it right is far greater. I refuse. I also understand not everyone can do everything themselves and they have to have other people do it. If I am capable I am the one doing the job as no one will care and do it right like myself will.

87gtVIC I agree with you 100%. Finding someone who will care and do the job as well as ourselves is almost impossible. I get so frustrated/angry at other shops. I used to do the majority of work prior to getting hurt/sick. I enjoyed it. If I messed up, I had no one else to blame but me and I did the job over. When I complain or tell a shop how I want a job done, I am the bad guy. Hello, I am the one paying the bill !

I agree with all of this. Dave, I'm about as anal as you are but the thing is I lack the tools, equipment, skill, desire and time in most cases. If I had access to the stuff I've seen in your photos, I'd be like kid in a candy store. Also, there's no one there for positive reinforcement or to provide technical assistance or a work around should I get in a jam. I think everything through, so if there's a potential for it to end up on a tow truck, it'll get dropped off at a shop. So I'll let them do it, fix what they fuck up or sell the car if it's that bad. I'm already debating on selling the Town Car if the dash shakes like a can of skittles once the heater core is done. For me it's akin to having to pay taxes. I'd rather not, but there's no way around it so I'll work with what's left over..

[P72Ford]

I removed window tint from the back of my silver P71 SAP.

I did it on a warm sunny day, which the OP should have plenty of down in FL (just got home from Jupiter last week). Park the car in the sun and get some ammonia based window cleaner, and spray the window really well. Put the trash bag up in there; it will cling to the wet window. Wait a half hour or so and the film should start to lift. Try and get some more ammonia based cleaner under the film, and things will start to move quickly. Just work the edge, and keep getting the cleaner in there. If you're patient, the ammonia will break down the adhesive. A heat gun on the outside of the glass helps too. Once removed, I used the cleaner and a microfiber towel with some elbow grease to get any remnants off.

It is not fun, and its not a 15 minute job. Side windows are a cinch with a heat gun and a razor... defrost rear windows... not so much.

I will be doing it again in the spring on my Mustang.

[Birdofprey]

Get stainless steel razor blades, the stainless is a softer metal is a LOT less likely to scratch the glass.

Use Windex to completely dissolve the chepo tint adhesive.

[EaOutlaw1969]

I removed window tint from the back of my silver P71 SAP.

I did it on a warm sunny day, which the OP should have plenty of down in FL (just got home from Jupiter last week). Park the car in the sun and get some ammonia based window cleaner, and spray the window really well. Put the trash bag up in there; it will cling to the wet window. Wait a half hour or so and the film should start to lift. Try and get some more ammonia based cleaner under the film, and things will start to move quickly. Just work the edge, and keep getting the cleaner in there. If you're patient, the ammonia will break down the adhesive. A heat gun on the outside of the glass helps too. Once removed, I used the cleaner and a microfiber towel with some elbow grease to get any remnants off.

It is not fun, and its not a 15 minute job. Side windows are a cinch with a heat gun and a razor... defrost rear windows... not so much.

I will be doing it again in the spring on my Mustang.

I pretty much did what you did to remove the tint, The back glass was too hot to touch in just 10 minutes. most of the tint came off easily yet there are plenty of spots where the tint was bubbled up where the tint tore leaving small bits of tint behind.

For now I am leaving it this way because it hurt my neck and back way too much being at that angle, once i recover i will remove the passenger side window tint which was much easier on my body.

I will add I used a steamer also injecting the steam between the tint and the glass which helped alot to stop the tearing from getting worse than it was. If I did not have the steamer on my back glass I would have been a total mess.

[EaOutlaw1969]

Get stainless steel razor blades, the stainless is a softer metal is a LOT less likely to scratch the glass.

Use Windex to completely dissolve the chepo tint adhesive.

Thanks for the input. I always use stainless blades when dealing with tint, yet Stainless is a harder metal ask anyone that has had to cut or drill it.

[Birdofprey]

yeah 'softer metal' was not the right way to put it, just that its not as likely to scratch/cut glass. Regular razor steel is different than mild steel and stainless. Its kinda a pain to find ture Stainless steel razors. I had to go to a couple different ACE hardwares to find one that carried the stainless blades for their scrapers.

[EaOutlaw1969]

It has been a while since I have updated this post. ( I am mainly posting this so I have a log of repairs done plus a list repairs or upgrades that still need to be done )

From what I can remember so far since I purchased this car I have done the following work.

Removed the rest of the rotted body side molding and doublesided tape. ( what a PITA )

Removed the window tint from the back glass and most of the winodws ( I still have two windows left to do) It will be replaced it with Chrome looking tint I think I am on the fence about Chrome tint

I diagnosed with help of my new friends here the Blend door issue and replaced the Blend door actuator with a new Ford part ( works great !!! )

I attempted to strip and polish one wheel and center cap ( I hurt myself and the wheel so I think will just be buying new wheels ) on the fence as to what to get

I diagnosed with help of a member my no start no crank problem the repair was cleaning the connections at the battery and starter. still works great.

I washed, and used a clay bar on the paint plus did a quicky wax job a full detail will be done after touch up paint.

I stripped the old faded pin strips off the car and wrecked the blended clear coat on the drivers fender ( off to the paint shop to get some panels resprayed after touch up painting the entire car)

I spot treated many chips in the paint that had surface rust with ospho wet sand and touch up is next for the paint

I replaced the drivers rear window regulator and motor I still have a new spare for the Passenger side rear which will get done before the Vinyl top.

I replaced the Wiper arms and blades plus analy cleaned the windsheild inside and out and wiper linkage tray. I still have to replace the wiper linkage bushings or transmission- linkage assembly

I cleaned the nasty to be replaced or removed vinyl top just to make it look bttter for now.

I replaced all the lenses, Headlight side marker and tail lights.

I repaired (well made better) the front bumper with a heat gun it had and still has some warping from a tall parking stop incident ( I still have more work to do to the front bumper )

I did a pretty close inspection of the entire car making sure the car was worth my efforts

I did my best to clean the leather seats ( I may attempt to do some leather repair and dye work ) after I price leather panel replacements.

I diagnosed a weird sound after a cold start turned out to be a dirty idle air control motor ) I cleaned it by submerging the non electronic parts in my ultrasonic cleaner filled with seafoam
this cleaning job has seemed to do the trick the noise has not returned.

I did a pretty good engine bay cleaning more detail work to come plus I still need to remove the battery and clean up or replace battery tray parts that have some rust from seaping battery acid. a sealed battery like a Optima will be in this car future.

I programed the built in the visor garage door opener ( cool feature )

With help from members here I diagnosed down to the burnt circuit in my Antilock Brake Control Module. It had a ABS light on traction control button still worked with no codes( I replaced it with a used one found on ebay ) the new to me part came in with a broken plastic housing so i will have to source another part for a proper repair. The eBay vendor refunded my purchase price. I still need to test the ABS to make sure it functions after other work.

I still have to replace the master cylinder and possibly the brake booster flush the system and I may or may not replace all the calipers pads and rotors plus parking brake shoes and hardware plus other parts like the rubber lines all for preventive anal preventive maintence and to make up for years of neglect.

During my inspection I found a high side nylon barrier hose with the outter rubber lining severly cracked yet not leaking ( something to source and have with other ac parts for when the time comes to repair the AC ( right now my AC works great and does not seem to have any leaks )

MY car still has the OE plastic intake and had signs or seapage where the intake meats the heads on the passenger side it has taken about 1/4 gallon to top off the cooling system so far.

I plan on flushing the coolong system, replacing the intake with the alluminum replacement, installing a new t-stat water pump and hoses with HD police hoses and I will replace any other part in the cooling system eventually that even looks questionable.

The Air filter, fuel filter, plugs,and coils are all in decent shape yet I plan to replace them with better than OE parts. from vendors like MSD K&N ETC

I repaired my broken lower dash cover with a 3 inch x 9 inch velcro strip

I still need to source some used parts or new parts like passenger side rear small window

A memeber here found a new apillar cover in the color I need yet I still have not purchased it yet.

I signed up for a 5 year subscription to Mitchell ondemand DIY yet I will be purchasing a factory service manual set to make up for missing data not found in Mitchell

All the fluids and filter will need to be done as well since I do not know how old they are.

I need to replace both key fobs and get a second key ( I am considering trying to source a complete lock and key set from Ford ) right now I have one Key and one semi functional key fob.

The audio system is way down on my list yet one day I plan on some major upgrades, new headunit with bluetooth and GPS, multiple amps multiple subs and caps, cross over network and a high amperage alternator.

I really do not listen to music much and I cannot handle music very loud any more due to serve hearing loss yet I still do enjoy a quality system with excellent sepration and powerful bass
but not so much bass that people three counties over can hear and feel it LOL.

So with all this being said I would like to thank everyone that has helped me so far.

[87gtVIC]

I thought the wheel looked pretty damn good after your first go around. Aside from you hurting what else happened?

[EaOutlaw1969]

The wheels could be saved but the one I am nearly finished with is wrecked because of the polishing process rounded some of the openings where the edge was flat now it is ground down.

I am positive if I kept going the balance would be way out and it wouldn’t look right. When I get time I will try and take pictures of it.

Besides the minor damage to the wheel It proved too hard of work for my neck and back to handle, I still haven’t recovered from the little I did to it. I couldn’t t possibly do any more to them.

I was so disappointed in myself I just left the wheel and my mess and walked away from it.