Mirror repair

[Sheriff41]

I needed to repair the driver’s side sport mirror on my 70 Mach 1 since it was missing the remote control cables. You can see how a previous owner improvised half of a door hinge (really!) to fabricate a means to mount the mirror portion of a passenger’s side mirror. Not a bad idea but it could have been executed a bit cleaner by shaving the hinge portion of the plate. It did function well.



I picked up a 1971 Mustang sport mirror off eBay for cheap and needed to remove the remote assembly to retrofit into my 70’s mirror housing. This required removing the remote control knob and housing so I could get the rest of the remote control and mirror out of the donor housing and into mine.

To begin, I marked the cables with Sharpies in the corresponding colors to those marked on the knob housing. I used a small chisel and a pin punch to carefully open the crimps holding the cables in housing – this can be seen in the pictures. NOTE: Be careful how you brace the housing while opening the crimps. This is a soft metal and you can easily mess up the threads for the retaining nut or misshape the housing by squeezing it in the vise. This was probably the most difficult part of the project.



Next, I used a small Vise Grip to hold the spring-loaded tensioner (for lack of a better word) which I fastened into a bench vise. (Picture is from after I had removed the cables and knob from the housing.)



This removed tension from the knob allowing access to the cable retainer.



This held the assembly in place while I used a 90° pick to lift and remove the cables from the knob assembly. I pulled up on the knob to access the cables with the pick and maneuver the ends out of the retainer.



All that was left was to remove the plastic tubing from the cables, remove the screws holding the mirror into the mirror housing, and feed the cables out through the mirror housing.

Reassembly is the reverse of these steps.

 

[Sheriff41]

Here are the tools I used in this project:

 

[Cleveland Crush]

I needed to repair the driver’s side sport mirror on my 70 Mach 1 since it was missing the remote control cables. You can see how a previous owner improvised half of a door hinge (really!) to fabricate a means to mount the mirror portion of a passenger’s side mirror. Not a bad idea but it could have been executed a bit cleaner by shaving the hinge portion of the plate. It did function well.

View attachment 96799

I picked up a 1971 Mustang sport mirror off eBay for cheap and needed to remove the remote assembly to retrofit into my 70’s mirror housing. This required removing the remote control knob and housing so I could get the rest of the remote control and mirror out of the donor housing and into mine.

To begin, I marked the cables with Sharpies in the corresponding colors to those marked on the knob housing. I used a small chisel and a pin punch to carefully open the crimps holding the cables in housing – this can be seen in the pictures. NOTE: Be careful how you brace the housing while opening the crimps. This is a soft metal and you can easily mess up the threads for the retaining nut or misshape the housing by squeezing it in the vise. This was probably the most difficult part of the project.

View attachment 96800

Next, I used a small Vise Grip to hold the spring-loaded tensioner (for lack of a better word) which I fastened into a bench vise. (Picture is from after I had removed the cables and knob from the housing.)

View attachment 96801

This removed tension from the knob allowing access to the cable retainer.

View attachment 96802

This held the assembly in place while I used a 90° pick to lift and remove the cables from the knob assembly. I pulled up on the knob to access the cables with the pick and maneuver the ends out of the retainer.

View attachment 96803

All that was left was to remove the plastic tubing from the cables, remove the screws holding the mirror into the mirror housing, and feed the cables out through the mirror housing.

Reassembly is the reverse of these steps.

Sheriff, I wish my dentist was as gentle and articulate as you!

 

[Stanglover]

While you're in there, why not take advantage and add larger mirrors, both left and right.
I know you've seen my thread/posts on this subject, but believe me, size matters!
Here's a copy for the aluminum backer plate. Left side fits opposite to the right and is of course plain glass with convex on the right side. It will be worth every penny, believe me.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

Concour with @Stanglover. The bigger mirrors make a huge improvement in safety AND driving enjoyment.

 

[Stanglover]

Concour with @Stanglover. The bigger mirrors make a huge improvement in safety AND driving enjoyment.

Thanks and that they do.
I also have a small convex spot mirror stuck onto my driver side mirror and that add even more safety.

 

[Cleveland Crush]

Thanks and that they do.
I also have a small convex spot mirror stuck onto my driver side mirror and that add even more safety.

Yep, I run a drivers side stick on convex also. The SportsRoof's especially, need all the visibility they can get!

 

[Stanglover]

The SportsRoof's especially, need all the visibility they can get!

Yes they do.
Short of a full time rear view camera system, that is not easy to install.

 

[Sheriff41]

While you're in there, why not take advantage and add larger mirrors, both left and right.
I know you've seen my thread/posts on this subject, but believe me, size matters!
Here's a copy for the aluminum backer plate. Left side fits opposite to the right and is of course plain glass with convex on the right side. It will be worth every penny, believe me.

I definitely have that in mind for both of my cars. I have printed a copy of your template and just need to get by a glass shop.

 

[Stanglover]

I definitely have that in mind for both of my cars. I have a copy of your template and just need to get by a glass shop.

Sounds good.
Don't forget, you can alter the template size to suit your needs. Make it as big as possible, but still have enough clearance for adjustment to different drivers.
Finding suitable convex mirrors with appropriates script size as donors, can be a challenge.
If you need further help, you know where I can be reached.

 

[Idaho Chris]

Sounds good.
Don't forget, you can alter the template size to suit your needs. Make it as big as possible, but still have enough clearance for adjustment to different drivers.
Finding suitable convex mirrors with appropriates script size as donors, can be a challenge.
If you need further help, you know where I can be reached.

Geoff-

I am not where I can measure my stock mirror size, do you know what the stock dimensions are? I'd like to know how much bigger your template is.

Thanks!

-Chris

 

[Stanglover]

Geoff-

I am not where I can measure my stock mirror size, do you know what the stock dimensions are? I'd like to know how much bigger your template is.

Thanks!

-Chris

Chris, I can't get to my spare mirror either, but I can show a couple of pics to compare. The new mirror will be at least a 1/2" wider. Doesn't sound like much, but being convex, it makes all the difference.
First pic is my current mirror. Pic 2 is an original, pic 3 shows backer plate compared to factory. Pic 4 is the original backer plate.
I also found that the sport mirror bodies do vary in size and I think that is dependent on how the rough casting was trimmed on the front face. I have seen as much as a 1/4 difference on width. Pics 5 & 6 show difference between my left and right housings, 0.170". This is why I say you may need to adjust the new backer plate and mirror to compensate to get the max width possible.
By the way, As I did NOT want to disassemble the remote mirror, I double face taped the mirror and new backer plate to the original. It's been there since 2017 with no sign of it coming loose.