Side Marker Lights Lense Removal & Restoration

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4mm

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Joined
Aug 26, 2012
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Location
S. TX
My Car
1971 Mustang 351C 4V Fastback
I've removed all the exterior side markers and tail lamps. Is it possible to remove the side marker lenses from their housings? Are they glued together?

I have noticed the repro housings don't have any Ford logo or part numbers on the originals. Just the lenses have the correct logo and numbers.

Also what are you guys using to remove the side marker original gooey gaskets? Are the Daniel Carpenter gaskets any good?

Thanks in advance,

 
Last edited by a moderator:
original gaskets should be a soft foam. the repos i got fit well. i used a little buffing compound to clean them up. they came out great

 
I believe that the lens and the housing was ultrasonic welded. That was a new thing back then. No glue just high pitch sound waves that melted the plastic together and no good way to get apart. I guess you have noticed that the side marker lights were in place before the last application of spray undercoat under the front fenders and the spatter paint in the trunk was applied. Some say not but I have never seen a clean housing to this day. All have the spatter paint on them and undercoat on the fronts.

Do They actually look at all of those Ford markings in a show? I have never seen them look that close. I know that they now have lifts at shows they did not use to have.

 
Worked on this for about two hours and found out the following. To me the markings on the housings is important plus the aftermarket housing plastic looks and feels different.

You can separate side marker OEM lenses from OEM housings if you pry then apart carefully with a plastic chisel.

You cannot pry apart aftermarket lenses from aftermarket housings without breaking the lenses. Since the aftermarket lenses have all the correct markings and are hard to distinguish from the originals (originals weigh slightly more).

Additionally since OEM NOS housings and lenses are extremely hard to find and very expensive, it would be ideal to be able to buy just aftermarket lenses to be able to glue them on OEM housings.

 
There is a noticeable difference between OEM and aftermarket. I actually prefer the aftermarket lense attached to the OEM housing.

This way both parts will have the correct part numbers and Ford logo.

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