No argument! I replaced the passenger’s regulator once and the driver’s side twice and on all 3 installs I did not drill a hole or make it larger. I did however; install all the regulator bolts before tightening any of them. No you are not losing your mind you can elongate the hole if you wish but I did not see that it was necessary.

 

Gus, giving it some more thought, you might be right. I think I tried to line it up and it looked off so I did make the hole a little bigger but might not have been necessary. Thanks

 

The fuse for my window is fine, and if the connection to the motor looks good, then I'm just gonna go ahead and replace the regulator and the motor (with that Lincoln LS part). Easier than just replacing the motor. Seems like an easy enough repair, thanks to Gus' photos, and some other threads on the UK site. Thanks all though.

Next up: sunroof. Hopefully I have solved my water in the spare tire well issue (silicon around the rear light housing, new drain plug in the bottom of the spare tire area).

Then, if I'm feeling motivated, I will try to get that cassette that's stuck in the tape deck (so I can use one of those ipod tape adapter things).

 

I ordered the Lincoln window regulator from A1Auto online--$67. It took me about an hour to install (front passenger side) with help from my brother in law. Gus' instructions on his website were fine, but it was nice to have the JTIS procedures on hand too. For example, they show exactly where all the door panel pins are. I did buy a door panel tool ($8). The guys at O'Reilly said to use one if you don't want to scuff your panel. Lining up the screw holes was a bit tricky, and the replacement had a screw on one (the middle bottom hole) where the original had a post and a nut. But that was it. I had to really pull the regulator to the rear while my brother in law put the screw in there (that sounds kinda weird).

I should say that this was my FIRST car repair of any kind (I've owned cars for 22 years), so I was totally stoked to have accomplished this--and to have saved hundreds of dollars. Plus, summer is here and it's hella nice to be able to roll that window down!

The only thing is--and this is minor--is that regulator is a bit noisy. I can hear the wire in there. Maybe that will go away though.

Anyway, thanks so much to this forum and Gus and others for the fantastic advice. This is such a great resource.