fedex says mine will be here tomorrow- boss said its ok to use the booth at work this weekend, so unless the honey-do list gets priority, might have them on Monday...If, but, maybe... anyway, cant wait to see them!

 

Thanks guys, we're getting them out as fast as we can inspect and ship them. We even started adding the "Made in the USA" flags to the boxes today

So do the parts look like what you had hoped? Are they arriving safely and without any damage to them? It's always tough with a "big" launch like this, because there is no small feedback on any tweaks to packaging - you learn real fast if it's working or not.

We're running the honeycomb boxes at the moment since the box company has thrown us under a bus with our order... but given that the louvers are capable of supporting the weight of a truck without damage, I'm thinking they will fare a lot better than the honeycomb panels do when handled by the "bag mashers".

Also note, we're trimming the louvers at the gate a little high, so that they can be sanded smooth prior to paint. Trimming flush is almost impossible to do by hand, and trimming to low turns the part into a chip tray, so that's why they are a little above the top surface, and not below. Just FYI.

Other than that, I guess it's a race to see who is first Pre-paint people: we're working on it !!

 

The bubble wrap you guys use is the COOLEST I have ever seen And mine did arrive in perfect condition. The pictures do not hold a candle to them, very impressive piece!

 

Thanks - my wife is wanting you to know she "pushed the button" to make the bubble wrap

LOL - seriously, we just bought that machine like a month ago - not that it is cheap by any stretch, but as you see it makes some kick-butt bubble wrap, and it is much more compact than the old method of backing a semi up to the door and unloading it all at once... we figured if we didn't get the machine we were going to need around 15,000 feet to cover the next month or so of shipments - with the bubble-wrap maker, I have like 6 small boxes of the plastic just stacked up waiting to be loaded, and the machine is no bigger than a regular roll of 48" wrap.

Ok, back to sorting - more people want their parts shipped out tomorrow

 

Ew, ew. ME ME ME!!! I can't wait!

 

Hey there marcello, glad to hear everything is going as expected on these beautiful pieces. I just wanted to remind you, that you said you would ship a shr window banner with this shipment, since you couldnt get it added to my last order. I really appreciate it, and I would like to get your name on my ride as you have some awesome pieces. Thanks

 

Just got off the phone with Marcello and he said mine were shipping out today!
I can not wait to get them. I just may have a project to do next weekend

Thank you again Marcello!!

 

Yes! Mine are shipping today as well!

 

funny, I was waiting for the fedex guy, nope...checked the tracking site for the umpteenth time and- delivered??? they were sitting out by the garage and I didnt notice the box when I came home- DOH!

looking these over closely- wow...that had to be a tough part- even the inside is 'finished' with none of the usual little divots you see on the underside of a molded part...the only prep work should be sanding the perimiter edge smooth- very nice

thinking I shoulda went prepainted though- I spent 55(!) bucks for a pint of vista blue deltron basecoat a few weeks ago (already have hardeners,clearcoat/etc) but needed to get some black primer - ppg recommened stuff for plastic was 68 bucks for a quart with the hardener- add a couple hours prep/masking, prepainting option is a bargain- if I screw up the paint I'll really be kicking myself

monster trucks tomorrow, hopefully painting Sunday

 

I got mine too. The look fantastic and exceed my expectations. Truely a first class part. My darn FedEx guy never gets to my house until just before 5:00 - and go figure, of all the weeks this is the first when I'll be out of town on Monday. So, to the bodyshop Tues. I can't wait to see these things in gleaming Torch Red paint!

Edit: So excited I almost forgot: Marcello, thanks for the great product and all the time and effort you put into making our cars look good! Just an idea - maybe send a set to Ford and score a big order for a 2009 special edition?

 

I'll second that one!!!

 

Can't wait to see some pics on a sonic or vista, since I have a sonic and am seriously considering ordering up a set.

Also for those of you who did a self install would you recommend going to an autoglass place and having them do it if I have no experience at all. I'm just worried even if I do everything right I may miss something and have leaks etc.

 

STUPID FEDEX DRIVER !!!! I checked the tracking number. Said it was to be delivered yesterday. I got to work around 1 pm...no box! I go online, check the link Marcello gave me, and its still on the truck awaiting delivery. Problem is, Fedex already came. Truck was coming straight from Philadelphia Airport. Anyhow, I waited, and waited, and still nothing. I hit refresh on the tracking number. An update in the log at 4:37 pm, "Delivery Exception: Business closed or customer not available! WTF, we're a Ford dealership, and the parts department is open till 5 pm. Plus, if they were closed, everyone knows to head to the showroom, as someone will sign for any package that is dropped off by UPS, DHL, whoever. So I called the FedEx 1-800 number and call on the driver who logged that info in the system. I told the lady that we WERE OPEN at the time of the entry, and that the guy didn't deliver the package, and that he probably didn't feel like driving all the way back up here, so he just put in business closed! Problem buddy, were still open when you did it, you lazy P****!!! Now I won't get these till Monday, and I am PI$$ED!!! STUPID LAZY FEDEX DRIVER!!!

 

revceived my unpainted louvers yesterday afternoon...gonna try and put em in today. I'll post pics of the process...

 

Quick note guys - unpainted you will see the glue line - even with the opaque finish to the outer edge of the part. At a minimum I would paint the outer edge black like we did on my car with the pre-production pieces. Even on a black car I'd recommend this...

Also, paint is mixed and ready - all unpainted pieces have now shipped, and we are starting the painting Monday, so things are underway to get everyone taken care of! Thanks.

 

Awesome!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can't Wait.
Well I tell you what man, lately fed ex has really taken a crapper. Last like 5 times I had something delivered thru fedex I was here, and they never even knocked probably never even showed up were just too lazy. Then it takes like 3 attempts to actually get the **** thing. I have lost all faith in FED-EX.

 

My last delivery they hit my stone wall and then tried to deny it, after much BS, I got 500.00 for repairs

 

That sucks. I overnighted a set of jets for my motorcycle a few years ago and the driver unfamiliar with my street address (new street) delivered them to my work place (I was off). So I waited all day and periodically would refresh the website tracking when it noted Missed shipment. I called UPS and they called the driver. Needless to say I had to drive over 1.5 hours (there and back) to get overnight shipping to my house. I disputed the charge with UPS and Dennis Kirk but just got a load of BS from both. I haven't used UPS or DK since.

 

Installing the louvers isn't the problem - if you can use a caulk gun, then you can lay a bead of adhesive and put the louver properly in place... assuming your eye is good enough to line it up in the opening... which should not be hard.

The more difficult part, (though still not hard) is the removal of your factory glass. I tried to do it without taking the interior apart - and ended up wasting 15 minutes before I realized that the interior was coming out. It's really not difficult, just follow the instructions, and it's not necessary to remove the lower seat belt anchor (T40 bolt), you can leave it in place and work around the belt.

After you get the interior out removing the glass with cutting wire is a little tedious. Once you get about half way around (12:00 - 6:00), you can work the rest of it from outside of the vehicle. Just be careful to be aware of both ends of the cutting wire to make sure they're being pulled away from, and not against your paint. I did it by myself, and once I was almost done cutting out the glass, I used a large piece of masking tape to hold the glass in place so that it wouldn't fall out unexpectedly.

Use a flat blade razor and remove all but a thin amount of the factory adhesive (I left a little less than the thickness of masking tape). I had a little bit of touch-up paint available and touched up the edge of the mounting flange that will get scraped by the wire... just for piece of mind.

Now, I just need my bodyshop to be open, but I'm out of town on Monday - so it's Tuesday at the earliest before I can get there to get the louvers painted. But - by the end of next week:

 

I just assisted a local customer with his set - as I wanted to make some tweaks to the instructions anyway, and wanted to make sure I didn't miss anything for everyone. Anyway, you are correct the lower bolt does not need to be removed, and there's a couple of other things I want to add, but nothing major. The big news though, is they look absolutely awesome painted and installed. When he was pulling away, it was just unreal to see how the car looked. Here's some pictures of what I claim is the first car in the world to sport a pair of these louvers completely installed correctly. (My car doesn't count because it still only has one pre-production piece in it, not a finished pair...) <-- The old shoemaker's story you know!!


One important note to make it go easier - ditch the factory alignment pins. On the driver's side we worked around them just like on my car, but on the passenger side we just twisted them until they popped off or snapped, which allowed us to run the cutting wire around in one shot, rather than two. Made for a much quicker cut-out. Other than that, no big deal, 3 hours from start to finish, including over 460Mb of photos...

Also, all unpainted orders have shipped. Prepainted will be going as fast as they get done, so expect phone calls to be coming shortly as we start getting them out.

Who's going to have set #2 in? I'm sure it won't be me, somebody's got to do the work around here !!

Finally, the visibility out of the passenger side is unreal - it's almost as if the factory glass were still there. The angle (depending upon seating position) is as close to perfect as you can get and still have a louver there - once he gets the interior back in tomorrow, we'll probably get some more pictures - but there's one in the bunch below where you can see the steering wheel from the passenger side.