Even More Disassembly and Documentation

This has been an unusual week for me in that it's rare that I have THREE weekday evenings free without some sort of meeting or commitment.  I actually got to spend an evening with my wife on Monday.  Of course, it included a trip to the newly opened "Orange Leaf" custard shop.  If you haven't been to one of these, I highly recommend it.  But be careful.  They charge by the ounce and it doesn't take long for 2 dessert cups to hit the $8 to $9 mark with all the toppings.   Anyway....    Back to the fastback. 

This disassembly part of the process seems like it's going on and on and....on.   Every time I take a couple of parts off, I see something else that needs to be removed.  There are more bits and pieces than I imagined, but they must come off.   My last entry had a pile of parts on the floor.  That pile has since grown quite a bit...

I got these all bagged,  tagged, and boxed up in all things but an Eastwood box.  It makes it easy to find later.

I hadn't removed the drip rail and stainless door/window trim on the driver's side of the car.  I guess I overlooked it or got distracted in the process while removing the passenger side trim.  I drilled out the three rivets that held the rear B-pillar cover piece in place.  Then I got the "church key" out of the kitchen utility drawer that I used as my drip rail removal tool.   I put some painter's tape on the can opener end to protect the molding from scratches.   Here's what it looks like "before" tape and "after" tape...

The only other opener I have plays "The Victors" which for the uninformed is the University of Michigan fight song.  I didn't want to hear it every time the end made metal-to-metal contact, as much as I like U of M.   This method is an old trick a number of you are probably already aware of, but figured there may be someone out there who hasn't done this before, or has and screwed up their trim trying flat head screw drivers or pulling on it.   Here are some removal pictures.  I started at the front lower A-pillar and worked my way toward the rear of the door opening...

My wife's Fusion is in this shot.  It's the last of the "3 pedal" Fusion SE's.  We do love our manual transmissions!

It pops off easily and quickly.  Take your time and don't pry on it more than a 3-4 inches between pry points.

The trim was removed easily with no damage.  I did take an "after" removal shot to document what the headliner attachment looked like after removing the vinyl trim.   This is the way it was done at the factory in 1968.   Not very neat and tidy, is it?

The next step was to remove the door striker from the B-pillar.  It has those huge oversized Phillip screw heads that were not budging with my ginormous screw driver.  So I got out my impact driver I bought to remove the set screws on disc brake rotors.   It doesn't get used often, but when I need it, it's really handy.

The upper screw loosened up with no problems.  The bottom one, on the other hand, wouldn't budge, even after using my "persuader" (i.e. 10 LB. sledge hammer).   I tried the passenger side with the same results.  I  will come back to them later in the week after a couple of soakings with PB Blaster.

I needed to remove the side vents and sprayed all the screws down with PB.  Both the inside housing and the outside vent all came loose fairly easily.  So did the fake scoop trim on the rear quarters.  Then there was the fold down rear seat locking latches on each side.  Then there are a ton of itty bitty brackets with Phillips head screws that hold interior panels in place.  Those needed some PB soaking time before they'll loosen up.  I drilled out the rivets that held the rocker panel molding clips in place on the driver's side.    It was getting late and I decided to quit for the evening around 9:30 PM.   Now I have another pile of parts to bag and tag...

The old gal is getting down to the bare necessities.   I may work on it a little Thursday evening and try and get the rest of the parts off the body, bagged, tagged, and boxed.   I'll make another trip to the storage unit to get them out of the way. 

 If things work out, I'm hoping to start on the underside floor weld seams and get them finished off this weekend.   However, with all the rain and storms we've had in the past couple of days, I can hear my yard calling out, "Cut me!  Cut me!"   And my wife is ready for a truck load of mulch to put around her thoroughbred rose bush garden.  Maybe it will rain Saturday and I'll have a good excuse to spend it in the garage.  One can only hope, right?