Writing this, I had a few 3M products nearby, forgot the post it notes & Velcro. 

The 3M company was started in 1902 in Minnesota, at the Lake Superior town of Two Harbors. Five men started out to mine mineral deposits for grinding-wheel abrasives. However, developing the grinding wheel abrasives with these deposits proved to be an unprofitable venture. The newly formed company, Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. (3M) picked up operations and relocated to Duluth, Minnesota to concentrate their efforts on sandpaper production.

Times were tough for 3M and the newly formed company had difficulty until it could perfect quality production and a distribution chain. A new investor, Lucius Ordway, was instrumental in moving the company to St. Paul, Minnesota in 1910. Due to 3M’s striving to improve their technical and marketing efforts, 3M began to profit in 1916. 3M Products paid its first dividend to it’s investors at a whopping 6 cents a share.

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VW New Beetle rear quarter window regulator kits are available.

In this how to auto blog, we mention the auto tools needed to complete rear quarter window regulator repair on the VW New Beetle. Fair warning though, this job may be too involved for the average DIY (Do It Yourself-er). Labor time in the Mitchell labor guide calls for 2.4 hours each side ( the first time it will probably take longer) for changing the rear quarter window assembly, no extra combination time is listed for installing the repair kit. Getting this job done at the dealer could cost from six to eight hundred dollars, or around two to three hundred for the repair kit installed. Even if you don’t do this job yourself, at least now you know your options.
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New Specialty tool for handling Ford broken spark plugs!

If you’re a subscriber to our automotive tool blog, you know we pointed out in a previous post, the need for a less expensive alternative to the Ford Rotunda 303-1398. The SPX Rotunda 303-1203 removes broken spark plugs on some Ford 5.4 engines, 2004 and up. But it only works after the broken porcelain piece is out of the way. That’s where the new Lisle LIS 65600 automotive specialty tool, comes into the picture. The best way to try to prevent Ford spark plugs from breaking to begin with (per a Ford Technical Service Bulletin-TSB) is to loosen the spark plugs slightly and then soak them with penetrating oil. Sometimes the carbon build up around the electrode shield will still separate from the main part of the spark plug. So, in many cases the porcelain part of the spark plug will stay in. This prevents the use of the 303-1203. Rotunda offers the SPX 303-1398 to remove the porcelain or ceramic piece, but the pins included in this six hundred dollar kit can only be used once. The pins are secured into the center of the broken spark plug (where the electrode was) with loc-tite, then the puller is used to hopefully pull the ceramic piece out of the way, so the two hundred dollar 303-1203 can be used to remove the metal electrode shield. Read the rest…