Professionals replaced my Jeep's damaged windshield in about 1.5 hours

I have replaced the rear window of my Mercedes W123 myself but that one is not glued.

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Yesterday was very much a "car day". At 08.00 o'clock I was calling Marc who had just come back from his holiday about the Spider.

We discussed the oil consumption problem at length. I also checked the spark plugs. But they were fine.

If there had been a problem with the oil scraper rings and or the valve seals or guides, you would have noticed heavy oil and soot on one of the spark plugs.

We had two options, tear the engine apart again, or drive it and see if it improves over time. We opted for the latter for several reasons. Taking the engine out of the car and opening it up is a big job. It is also that you would like to prevent. On these old cars, when you fix one thing, you might break something else again. So it is a last resort.

Earlier Marc had spoken to the supplier/manufacturer of the piston, rings and liners. They had advised not to be too worried about oil consumption up to 4-5000 kilometres after an overhaul. So we decided I will take my Spider to Scotland in a couple of weeks, rake up another 2000 km and we take it from there. If there is still too much oil consumption we will need to open the engine once again. But if anything we will have met the criteria for running in as set by the manufacturer. Also, later this year, it is less of a hassle if the Spider is with Marc for several weeks. I want to drive it now! Come October or November it is time for the big maintenance jobs once again.

I did pop over to Marc later to pick up some extra oil, two trailing arms and the diabolo buffer. We think the rear axle might still have a bit of play in it. So I want to replace this before heading out to Scotland. About 25 years ago, Peter and I replaced the same parts on his and my Spider in an afternoon. As I don't have a proper car lift it is two man job. Peter is coming this Saturday to help me.

After I had spoken to Marc I popped over to my local CarGlass to have the Jeep front window replaced. Only a 10-minute drive from where we live.

I am still very annoyed with myself for having damaged this window.

New window at the ready!

Pulling the old rubber seal away was easy.

The next part was really impressive. I had not seen this before. As with most cars, the window is glued/kitted into the window frame, i.e. into the chassis. Getting it out can be quite a challenge.

These guys, being the ultimate professionals, (replacing windows is all they do) had this very nifty little tool. It is placed on the inside of the window.

It consists of several drums with very strong, thin wire and gears to wind the wire in. The wire is then stretched alongside the outside skirt of the window.

With everything set up properly, they take an electric drill to power this nifty device and the wire cuts through the old glue/kit like a warm knife through butter. All done in 90 seconds!!

The old window with some of the kit still sticking to it.

The chassis with the old window was removed. Still needed a bit of cleaning to get the old kit removed.

Once everything was cleaned we did a very careful inspection to make sure we did not have any rust anywhere. This was one of my main worries. But apart from a tiny spot, which they treated everything looked perfect. The only thing, during this operation of pulling out the window they also damaged the microphone wire as it is hidden behind the trim and somehow got caught up in all of this. Easy fix.

The new window was thoroughly cleaned and polished, with its rubber seal fitted and kit applied.

The window frame was all cleaned and prepared.

They popped it back in, which was a very fiddly job, to get it back into the correct position.

The window needs to be pushed into its correct position for about half an hour for the kit to set properly.

I am very pleased with the result. Took these guys about an hour and a half. I had been thinking about doing this myself. I have replaced the rear window of the Mercedes. But that one is not glued, held in place by its rubber seal only.

Removing these glued windows is very tricky if you don't have the correct tools and experience. Also, you don't want any leaks after you have replaced the window. So I was very happy to leave this to the professionals.

Drove the Jeep home, jumped into the Mini and drove to my local Euromaster for the new tires. Euromaster and Carglass are only about 150 meters apart.

With the Mini on the lift, I also could have a bit of a close-up look at the brakes and suspension components.

I had taken my special callipers and measured the disc brakes on the front and rear. The brake pads are fine. I will need to check that measurement against the value in the workshop manual.

A bit of rust here and there. Nothing out of the ordinary I would say. Also, very important, all the rubber on the ball joints and CV axle look in good nick!!

With four new Michelin Cross Climate 2 fitted I drove over to Marc to pick up the parts I showed earlier. Quite a difference with these new tires, a much more comfortable ride and considerably less noise.

Back home again, I put the Mini into my garage. But not before I had given it another very thorough wash. I also clay-barred the paint.

First time I have the Mini in my garage!

Started masking the various bits, for a very thorough polish with my fancy polishing machine.

It took about two hours to polish the roof! So it will be several days of working on the Mini before it will be all done.

I have put the Spider and W123 into their pyjamas. Just a precaution, with these machine polishers, before you know it, there is polishing paste everywhere!

Long day, fiddling with my cars from 0800 till 2000. I did manage to mow the lawn in between as well.

Looks like I have my work cut out for the next few days. I am suffering from a bit of a chronic elbow, so I need to be a bit careful with this repetitive polishing and waxing movement.

So I work on the Mini for 20-25 minutes, do something else for 20-25 minutes and so on. We will get there. The roof, although not waxed yet, looks a hell of a lot better already.

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