Heated front Windscreen project for Mk 1, 2 & 3 (Group Buy)

[manifold]

Oh I thought you were talking about the rear quarterlight. Not the front ones.

I just sealed the front ones up with black sikaflex. Use a razor blade or bare stanley knife to undo.

[Stuart]

And there was I thinking you had all three side-windows opening now rear side windows look great, I hope to do the same.

I had a real struggle to get the glass out of the frame with just the rubber seal holding it in, with a full sikaflex I'd be amazed to get the glass out in one piece

[manifold]

Dont you take the door off and do it properly?

I only pipe a bit of sika round the edges. I dont go mad

[Stuart]

Dont you take the door off and do it properly?

Yes you have to remove the frame from the door, I'm checking it all out on a loose mk 2 frame that somone else removed before I get to grips with redoing both doors on my Mk 3

[manifold]

not that difficult really.

just a pain getting the openers to line up again if you get it wrong

[Hans Efde]

It's not really difficult if you follow the right procedure. I just finished my left hand door and it's almost perfect. I had to take everything off again to install the glass (door off, frame removed, glass in, frame in, door in and readjust).
Steps are as follows when you have refurbished the door:
1) if not already done, remove doorseal and strikerpin.
2) hang door (frame and glass installed, frame not yet fastened if it is a convertible door!) and fasten hinges with normal bolts (replace with selflocking bolts one by one when all is finished)
3) check that front edge of door aligns with monocoque, if not remove, place washers underneath hinge(s) and refit. (if the door sticks out too much there may be a problem with the hinges, usually the door falls inside the line of the monocoque)
4) align upper line of door with monocoque. Loosen hinges a bit and push door up or down, then fasten again.
5) check that door is not warped.
6) if it's okay poprivet frame and install anchornuts.
6a) if it's not okay, use a diagonal steel wire to twist the door (twist may be a bit more than necessary)
6b) if the curve of the door is inside the curve of the monocoque, drill holes and poprivet the frame
6c) work out where the new holes for the anchornuts have to go for the inner doorcard, drill, remove wire and install doorcard
7) all lines of the door are now correct
8) install striker pin and check door position, correct if necessary (I had to move my pin 0,5cm up and 0,5 cm inwards by elongating the hole, on the coupe this works differently being a Ford system)
9) install doorseal and hope for the best, if it pushes the door out too much find a smaller diameter doorseal. On the coupe the doorseal should contact the door, NOT the doorcard at the lower bottom, this will cause the lower edge of the door to be pushed outwards.

Job done! Don't forget to install the selflocking nuts on the doorhinges.
As a final step (I had to remove the doorcard again) on my convertible was the shortening of 2 steel rods that go from the unlocking mechanism to the door handles. From the beginning I had problems opening the door because the doorhandles had a large dead stroke. It seems the position of the doorhandles on the convertible is not exactly 1 on 1 with the Metro.
If I have time I'll knock up a pdf file with plenty of pics to illustrate.

[manifold]

Keep the tips coming Hans!

Your last documentary was great on the doors.

[Alan D.]

Hello All,

Just an update on the HFS. The price will be in the order of £230 per screen (collected from me), with a minimum order of 25 screens, but I have managed to get this reduced to 15 screens. I think that I have tentative orders for about 9 screens, so we need a few more people to participate in the group buy! I think this is the last time I will be doing this as it is a lot of work,so if you are in two minds go for it know!! Read the positive reports of the Midas owners already using the screens. The general consensus being; that the cars are much more usable and pleasant to drive. Even if you don't want to fit one now, it would be worth getting one as a spare, as I'm lead to believe that standard screens are no longer available! So if you break your screen then your car is off the road. which seems to be the position, with regards to the Mk 4 Midas at the moment. So in blunt terms if you do not participate now and your screen breaks then you will have to buy 15 screens yourself!

Heated rear hatch

With regards to the hatch, I am awaiting prices. I hope to do the two group buys together, but the same comments apply as above, nobody makes them any-more!

Just looking back, we started the first group buy back in 2008!!!

Regards Alan

[manifold]

I agree on that Alan. Get one while you can!

The Enfield 8000s are a good example (an Electric Vehicle from the 70's). They have a special screen (with heated element! as they dont have an engine to heat the water).

Not a chance of getting a screen these days (they only made 170) so they are gradually coming off the road one by one. People are breaking damaged 8000's just for their screen. Either that or pay a few grand just to get a screen. Hardly economical.

[DavidL]

I've been having a bit of a think about this. I still hope to eventually find myself a Gold (Mk 3) coupe, and 9 years of running a Bronze with demisting courtesy of what was basically a Mini-based heater has warmed me (sorry**) to the idea of a heated windscreen.

If I put my name down for one of these (and I appreciate that this is a "cart before the horse" course of action), would anyone else who's buying one be able to store it for me for an indefinite length of time? I would, of course, pay for it up front, but I don't have storage space for a windscreen at present, hence this request.

I'd also consider a heated rear screen. I had a stick-on one on the Bronze, but it didn't work very well. Have you got a price for that yet?

** not really.