05GT-O.C.D.

OK, can anyone answer this question: Why does the interior have to be removed?

It appears that the factory window is cut from outside the car. It looks like the adhesive is stuck between the glass and the outside of the sheetmetal.
Then, the directions say to reinstall the interior prior to louver installation. I don't think that the interior doesn't need to come out to remove the glass... so what gives?

06Tungstang

In short, You have to remove the interior panel in order to access the glass mounting flange to cut the urethane to remove the factory glass without scratching the paint.

If you plan on making an absolute mess and breaking the factory glass in order to remove it, then you wouldn't necessarily have to remove the interior.

05GT-O.C.D.

That still doesn't make sense to me. Why can't you tape around the window, then use the cutting wire from the outside? What are you doing from inside the car? You can't use the cutting wire from inside... can you? I've never seen that done before.

06Tungstang

The cutting wire has to pass from outside to inside in order to cut the urethane. You have to some how grasp the cutting wire on both sides of the glass in order to "saw" the urethane. Therefore, if you are planning on using cutting wire to remove the glass it is absolutely necessary to remove your interior panels. (Unless you don't mind destroying them)

05GT-O.C.D.

Aaah, I've got another thing to try first.

SilverHorse-----Racing

Hey guys (and girls if they are hiding)

We are swamped, and of course I do have a couple small children who make this time of year even more "interesting", especially when they are out of school... anyway, I've been lurking a little, mostly been trying to get things done, EOY inventory, etc...

So...

05GTOCD - the interior has to come out to protect it from damage when using the cutting wire technique. I'm pretty sure that snap-on makes a nice air tool for the job that would quite possibly negate requiring the removal of the interior, but I always try to make up the directions for the "regular guy" - which I am one of - who might not have the largest tool library in the northern hemisphere. This way, anyone who has the desire can tackle this job, and not break the bank on specialty tools. I used to be "da bomb" when it came to doing A/C evaporators at a Lincoln dealership, but it was because I had every tool I needed to knock out a 13 hour job in 4 hours - gotta love book time.

Remember too that the removal of the interior takes all of 10 minutes of the entire job. It literally snaps together, with the exception of the seat belt bolts and the coat hook.

**UPDATE**

Newsletter coming Monday night - we were supposed to be at the mold shop tommorow, but they don't think they will have the mold producing until late in the day, and may run into the evening / Saturday to get it where they are happy with it. So... I will be there Monday to inspect and approve / disapprove of the modifications to the driver's side piece. You should know that at this stage, I get real picky, because once I say go, there is no going back... at least not without a very large loss both financially and time-wise - plus I've heard I've got a reputation to keep or something like that...

If I approve it, the passenger side gets green-light for completion (it is holding at the 90% level so we only make modifications to one side hopefully). If it is not approved, it will be another week of waiting on the molds for re-sampling.

4,000 Lbs (yes, 2 tons to everyone here) of resin is paid for and on order with the plastic company, so we have been told to expect delivery of it the 2nd or 3rd week of January. We couldn't order the main load until we were sure about the color, but now that we're good with that, the order was placed the week between Christmas and New Years.

The piece that is installed in our car has been outside in the elements for over a month now. It looks great, and doesn't have any issues. This is good news - no warpage, weird changes, nothing.

That's about it for the moment. Unless of course you want to hear about our new shifter bezels, door handles, or other "black" projects in the works

pegasusphototx

One quick question about the resin... after repeated wiping down with microfiber, do feel it will 'spider web' over time? Sure would hate to end up 5 years down the line with a window that is all swirled due to cleaning.

Thanks,
-danny

SilverHorse-----Racing

All plastics can scratch, and so eventually you might get some marks on them, but no different than the headlight covers on the cars - solution is the same, a plastic polish will remove minor imperfections and keep it looking good in the long term. I wouldn't be worried about it, unless of course you dry your car with steel wool

sodaman

Hey there marcello, thanks for the update. Do you have any updates on the painting options. Some examples perhaps, or any idea on pricing yet. Just would love to see one of the new ones painted a couple of different ways to see what works best, like just the outside edge like factory , or with half the indented louver painted plus the outside edges, also if any of the inside will or can be painted to match the outside etc. Want this thing to look awesome, well it already does, so awesomerrrrrrrrrrrrrr, LOL Thanks for any info, wasnt sure if you had heard anything back from the painters. Thanks for a great product.

pegasusphototx

OK, I can't stand the wait... so I photoshopped one of the images from the latest batch of pics onto my car. I think these are going to ROCK!

-danny

praztek

Sweet, I want them even more Now!

05fordgt

This is getting VERY exciting. Hey Marcello, if everything is good with the driver's side, and you go onto the passenger's side, any idea on when these will be shipped out? I can't wait to add these in my car. The only question, to paint, or not to paint? Mmmmm.

SilverHorse-----Racing

Just got off the phone with one of the paint shops...

We're looking at possibly painting from the outside using a PPG epoxy for the black edge parts, and then obviously regular PPG paints for color matches will be fine. The trick is we want to approximate the black of the door edge trim, and painting it from the outside might make for an easier (read lower cost) option in the long term... they aren't sure yet.

Anyway, they ordered some of this special stuff, and should receive it today. He said they should be able to mask and spray it next week, and then be able to quote us the job for production in "trim" black or colors.

It's about to get real interesting around here as this ramps up. Again, Monday I should be at the mold shop, and late next week our new packaging machine should arrive which will help insure everything arrives safe to everyone - who knew how expensive bubble wrap could get?

WarningSLO

So are just the most outside surfaces going to get painted in colors or are the louvered parts going to get painted too?

I guess what I'm trying to say is, will the pre-painted peices still have visibility through the "slats"?

jayguy

I'll take mine unpainted, and get the job done locally. The guy that has painted my hood and both bumpers still has some paint leftover to do these. Besides, I still don't know how much paint I want on them. Gonna definitely mock it up with painters tape before I figure it out.

SilverHorse-----Racing

ALL parts will have visibility through the slat, no matter how they painting is done - by us anyway. So whether it is just the edge, the whole part, flat black, screamin yellow, etc... you will still have the rearward visibility.

That said, like Jay is alluding to, there are a lot of ways this part can be painted and look good - look at the prototype (white) vs. production (black edge) on our car, and it is two completely different looks that both look good. We are NOT doing "one off" jobs here - it's just not possible given the volume we are dealing with, so whatever way gets settled on will be the way they all are PTM, optional stuff will either be Hireman's work (we work directly with him), or it will be up to you to do locally.

I know this is getting close - that's the fun of a deadline, you're allowed to work all the way up to it

(And yes, in our case, I'm allowed to move the deadline as needed !! )

WarningSLO

Thanks for the reply Marcello.

SilverHorse-----Racing

No, thank you for being a customer - it's my job to take care of you and answer your questions - it's just some companies forget that...

WarningSLO

05GT-O.C.D.

Awesome. If you're keeping tabs on how to paint - I'm really hoping to get them done as you did the original white ones! That's the reason why I signed up for the pre-order. That way makes your product the most uniqe. It's getting close to Peanut Butter Jelly Time!