The good lady wife cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and moved a load of things around and found some bottles of drink we were given when we got engaged. We decided at the time to keep them for a special occasion as you do, and we put them right out-of-the-way for safe keeping and we promptly forgot about them, out of sight out of mind as it were. That special occasion day was today – they went down the drain as they had corked and smelt like vinegar when they were poured away. There is a message here, if you are given a nice drop of plonk – drink it while it’s still good. The others are OK but that’s not he point. I do however plan on opening a nice big bottle of champagne once I am holding that elusive MOT certificate for my car, then I can drive it legally, not after the drink of course, but you know what I mean. Oh, in case you are wondering – now things have been moved around, I can’t find anything!
The title suggests that I have been on the ol’ vino apart from what went down the drain, sadly that is not the case, but more about getting the rear quarter windows out of the car. For the past two weeks I have taken a complete side of glass out, which includes the frame, brackets and bolts all of which were cleaned up, then the whole thing repeated for the other side. The task itself sounds pretty easy, but the main issue is getting the glass out through the top of the quarter panel opening. Once the glass has been separated it’s not to bad a job at all, the technique seems to be unbolt the frame, undo the glass and separate it apart inside the frame. The dexterity of hand and eye coordination is put to the test where you have to hold the glass, lift it out of the frame rack itself and then guide it out the top. The glass is not heavy but I am aware of the age of the glass and I didn’t want to knock it and crack it or worse still drop it. The fact that the winding gears had dried solid grease, Waxoyl all over them and general lack of maintenance sort of explains why nothing wanted to move very much. The cleaning was a nightmare getting the guide rails clear and removing the caked on Waxoyl. All this hard work nobody will ever see once it’s fitted back into the car. As a result, my shoulders and neck ache for constantly looking down at it all, poor ol’ soul! But here is what I have been up too:
I have added a couple of before and after pictures as well. and I have added the full process under the Photos section or click here for the hyper link.
Right side glass
Left side glass
Left side glass track and frame
Both side winder mechanisms
The other thing I have tidied up today was a couple of boxes I had in from the USA a while ago which were some replacement dash gauges. These were in small boxes all over the place so I decided to make a little storage area for them. I had a sturdy box and created a cut out for each and placed them inside for safe keeping. A nice little idea, which I may turn into plastic instead of cardboard.
Quick links:
Photo Menu – Glass Work – Rear Quarter Window(s) Refurbishment or click here
Special Mention:
A special thanks goes out to Dana http://atlastracer.wordpress.com/ who has kept me laughing and motivated over the weekend. Pop over to check out her amazing blog.
Cheers from here!
Thanks Debbie. 🙂
What a greasy – dusty hobby you picked, Mart! 😉 Though you have clean nails every time you post them along your work done. I don’t know how you do that.
I always admire my “cats” (ford mechanics) very good people, without proudness, they are ones of the best in thier field. They always say i’m too kind with them, though no car came into our service and went out without fixing her. And doesn’t matter how much and expensive special soap I would buy, they always have lofty hands of a mechanic.
Not in the last, i’m very content you mention I have had a positive effect on your work, I had a good time too, thank you, Mart!
My pleasure Dana, I have a little tip for cleaning the hands, apart from the dedicated cleaners etc if you dont have any good try washing up liquid in your hands a tiny amount of water to mske it spread a little then add some sugar, about half a teaspoon. This will get pretty much most things off and cheaper too. Obviously a little work with a nail brush is also required but its passable. 🙂
That’s too sweet of you 🙂 thank you.
That’s a good sign when you and your wife age better than the wine. Those windows look like a lot of work.
The windows were a lot of hard work, especially for something you can’t even see hidden in the shell of the car. But they are now clean and ready for re-fitting at a later date. This is the slow process of taking her all apart again down to a bare shell ready for painting. The only up side is knowing at least it has been done properly and I shouldn’t have to worry about it for another couple of decades at least. lol
Lets just say the wife is ageing a lot better than I am. lol
That’s a good sign as well.