Power Mirror Tutorial by Austin Vert

Austin Vert · Oct 2, 2016

1971-1973 POWER MIRROR TUTORIAL PART 1 - GETTING STARTED.

INTRODUCTION.

Hi to all and welcome to my first power mirror tutorial, one in ten. In this first tutorial i will be dealing with getting started for the whole project ahead. As i said in my initial post, the work involved in carrying out this project needs to be precise,and accurate as possible, to achieve a good finished product that performs in all departments.YOU WILL NEED TO STICK WITH MY PLANS IN DETAIL TO BRING THIS OFF. If for whatever reason you decide to deviate from what i have done in any way, then any potential problems that may occur,because of that, will be your problems to sort out yourself. On the other hand, if you find that i have made a mistake with any aspect of my plans that i have presented to you, then i will humbly apologize, and do my level best to help rectify that problem for you. If you approach the project with patience, enthusiasm,and care, then you should get the payoff at the end to enjoy the mirrors for yourself. It also must be said that please, always use and wear safety gear and work with safe practice when your on the job. It's your health and your responsibility.As we go through the tutorials step by step, you will see that i have laid it all out to approach the whole thing in a step by step progressive order.Follow this progressive order, and the project should fall into place quite well for you.I forgot to mention also in my introduction post, that there was a gentlemen in America, Robin, that had made up a power mirror setup for himself for his '69 Mustang driver's and passenger's doors. I managed to touch base with him many months ago, and we exchanged some working ideas between ourselves. I pay credit to him here as he gave me some good basic advice on what he had done,and i found it of good help to me when i sat down and designed my own power mirror system for the '71 - '73 Mustangs. I do thank him for his help and input. So moving on, let's look at what we have here.

WHAT ARE YOUR OPTIONS?

OK, you own a '71-'73 Mustang.You may or may not have sports mirrors on your ride. If you do, you may have either reproduction mirrors or original Ford factory mirrors installed. With my invention, one of the biggest concerns i had, was not to damage your car or my car, by installing my power mirrors.THAT WAS VERY IMPORTANT TO ME. The reasoning is, that some time in the future, you may want to get rid of the power mirrors, and go back to how your car was before you did the install.It's good to know that you have the option of doing this, and not have to go out and buy new replacement parts that you destroyed in putting my system in.That's smart - that gives you options.The only exception would be cutting out holes in the doors and A pillars for the rubber bellows. However, you can come back later and put in rubber blanking grommets if you choose when you take out my system. However, the bottom line i say, without any doubt, is to go out and purchase a set of new, reproduction sports mirrors, left and right,for your 1971-1973 Mustang mirror project. Why? There are two main reasons why. The first is that if you have existing sports mirrors installed in your car, the drivers side mirror cables that control the adjustment angles, will need to be cut. I don't know of any way to disassemble the cables, and remove them from the mirror body without any damage done. If i am wrong here, do let me know. As far as i know, when you cut the cables, that's it, there's no going back. Secondly, on the passenger's side mirror, the internal metal mounting block located on the floor of the mirror housing, that holds the existing mirror backup plate and glass in position, has to be grinded out and removed completely, so my new mounting mechanism can be installed. Again, once done, there can be no turning back to reusing and reinstalling your original mirror backup and glass.With my system you have the option of using your existing original, factory Ford Mustang sports mirrors for the project. I SAY DON'T USE THEM. Remove them, and save them for a rainy day. Some folk may say, i don't care about permanently damaging my original Ford sports mirrors. That may be so, but if you want to remove my power mirrors, and go back to what you had before, then you will need to go out and buy new repro ones.They are not cheap to buy. Even if you have existing repro sports mirrors installed on your car,like i do, i would still say go out and buy another pair of repro mirrors again. I did,and that gave me options for the future.I will be storing my existing repro mirrors away in case i want to go back to manual mirrors, or if a future buyer of my car wants manual mirrors only, then there will be no problems.One last thing here.If you don't have any sports mirrors installed on your Mustang at all, then on your driver's door card, there should be no cut out hole on the card, where the chrome toggle lever is located. Believe it or not, this was the case on my '73 Convertible when i first bought it back in 2011. If this is you also, then think hard about installing my power mirrors, as you will need to make a hole or make use of a hole, 1 inch or 25mm in diameter where the existing manual sports mirror adjustment toggle lever is located. On the back of my original Ford factory drivers door card, there was an original stencil mark out line on the cardboard. It was a circle mark with a 25mm / 1 inch diameter mark out. That dia measurement represents the correct size hole for installing the toggle lever mechanism for the manual adjust setup. So, if you cut out that hole in your door card,you have then put a hole in your door card that wasn't there before. Buying another door card later on would be your only option if you wanted to go back to what you had before.So that exception aside,there IS only one way to go here, and that's to buy a set of reproduction sports mirrors for the project. JUST DO IT! IT WILL BE MONEY VERY WELL SPENT. I think enough said there.

Another option i want to talk about is if you want to commit to or push ahead doing the project in earnest, then you will need to get hold of my important detailed drawings of the project. The drawings give you all the details to reproduce various components of the system for yourself. I found that the easiest way for you to reproduce these parts, would be for you to use templates provided by myself. That said, my detailed drawings can be used by you in two ways. When you get them from me via Email, you will be able to print them out using A4 size paper. Print two copies of my plans.One copy will be for using my measurements as verification and a reference guide, and the second copy, you should be able to use for cutting out templates only.All my drawings are produced in real life size,on A4 paper, with a scale of 1 to 1. I discovered that if i send you an Email with the plans as PDF attachments, you should be able to print out those plans to a real life size the same as what i drew them. You can grab a good ruler and check or verify that the measurements i have provided, match accurately up with what you have on the drawings. That is important.I tested this out myself, and the drawings i sent back to myself via Email were spot on with my originals. Sending the plans via Email seems to work well. I can't post them up on the Forum, as they will not end up being presented in real life size for you to make proper use of. So the idea is then, if you want my plans, then you can Email me through my Forum connection, and i will send them on to you with a reply Email. If you find that when you print out my plans, the sizing is not accurate, then let me know, and i will post the plans to an address of your choosing using the normal mailing system.TIP. When you print out the plans, try to use a thickest plain white paper as possible. The thicker the paper, the easier it will be to draw with when you are doing your stencil template markups. Also, if you find that the drawings i sent you are not accurate,then look around at your printer settings, and make sure you are printing out at 100% size, not reduced or increased on your A4 paper. Also, print out one plan first and check to see if my measurements are the same as what your ruler is saying.So before you take on, or get started on the project, have a good think about your options and which way you would want to end up going. Also, because Forum members live around the world, my measurements and specs are provided in metric and imperial for your benefit. Also, my advice to you would be that before you contact me for getting hold of my plans, be patient, and wait till you read a couple of my ongoing tutorials first. Then you will get a better idea if you want to commit to doing the project or not. That idea makes good sense to me.

Lastly, you will have another option to do with the passengers side mirror. In the case of the original factory and repro passengers mirror glass,they are both shorter in width than the drivers side glass, by approx 1/4 inch or 6mm. The mirror heights are the same.If you choose to buy the convex mirror glass for the passengers side, it will fit perfectly onto the existing shorter mirror back up plate, that came with the repro Mirrors. However, you will be buying new mirror glass for this project for both sides, and so, you have the choice of making the passengers side glass the same size as the drivers side, or, shorter, as per the original Ford factory design.In that sense, it comes down to whether you want convex glass for the passengers side or not.In my case, i chose not to use convex glass for the passengers side, but the same size glass as the drivers side.If you choose the convex glass, you will be making the shape of the mirror glass back up plate a smaller size than the drivers side back up plate width wise.After test driving my car around the streets, i really like the wider plain mirror glass which as i said, is the same size as the drivers glass. I get better vision from it than the convex glass gave me, would you believe. Why Ford, decided to put a less wider glass in their passengers side 1,2,3 Mustangs, i don't know.

PROBLEMS AND LIMITATIONS.

Thank goodness there were not too many.I only had two or three not so good setbacks.The first involved the mirror motors.In regards selecting parts for the project, i didn't want to get into using second hand or used older parts. My initial research led me to trying out Ford Thunderbird power motors from a 1994 T Bird. They turned out to be ideal for what i was trying to achieve. I was aware that there were at least two American companies that made new repro '94 T Bird complete replacement mirrors assemblies.I ordered a pair, had them shipped to Australia,but very sadly discovered that the motors in the repros were different to the original Ford factory ones. They were too big for the 1,2,3 housings.That was a major setback, as i was hoping very much to make use of them instead of the older used '94 ORIGINAL product. As i said before, i did not have the money or luxury of experimenting with different types of motors for trying to get a good fit up, and so, i decided to run with using the original '94 T Bird motors. Ringing up companies and doing research on the Net, bought very limited results as well. Dealing with people and companies proved difficult, as they didn't or couldn't give me any specs on the mirror motors i was thinking of trying. Also, i was warned that there might be a possibility of the size of the T Bird/Cougar motors varying slightly in size between the years between 1989 to 1997. That said, my advice would be to try your hardest to buy '93/'94/'95 vintage T Bird assemblies, 1994 being your first and best option target. The other setback i encountered was to do with the choice of power mirror switch, in relation to the left/right mirror action.I chose to use a 2005 / 2009 Mustang mirror switch. My research showed me that this switch should have been ideal for my purposes. The original 1994 T Bird switch was not suitable for my use, as it was the wrong shape and size,(triangular) and would not have looked very good when placed on the door card.(too cheap and nasty looking, and out of character with the 123's.) I worked with a pro auto electrician on this project, and after spending many hours and lots of money trying to solve this problem, we ran into a brick wall,and out of options and gave up. What happens is when you push the mirror angle control knob to the right for the mirror to turn to the right, it goes left instead. When you push the mirror switch to go to the left the mirror glass goes to the right. It's like a reversed action to what it should be.. Up and down works as normal. Control knob up,you get up, control knob down, you get down.I feel the problem here lies in the newer Ford factory 2005-09 switch having probs talking to the '94 T Bird mirror motors properly.Oh well, i guess i can live with that.They say you can't win them all.

Lastly, i want to make comment on mirror body sizes. I own a 1973 Mach 1, and to the best of my knowledge, the sports mirrors that are on the car are original. With my research, i bought a set of so called 1,2,3 original Mustang sports mirror housings or bodies, left and right off E bay... These were supposed to be original Ford '71 - '73 housings, yet the funny thing is that these so called original Ford housings i bought on E bay,are slightly smaller around the front mouth face than my Mach 1 original factory mirrors, which come in at the same size as my newly purchased repro mirror bodies. So, if you are hell bent on using your original mirror housings for this project, i would again say NO, as you may find that my mirror backup plates won't fit in, or will be slightly too big for the original housings to function properly. (that's top and bottom of both mirror backup plates.) I don't think that's a gamble you would want to take. Why that turned out for me that way, i really don't know, but i would say again, don't gamble with using your original Ford bodies. If you are still hell bent on using them however, then do a comparison test with your vernier ruler, using my drawings and measurements provided as a guide. You will see i have given you accurate measurements of the repro mouths, and when you take measurements of your own original mirror mouths, they should be the same. If you find that your original mirror mouths are smaller than the repro ones are, then DON'T use them for the project, as they are not suitable. I have provided some mirror body and backup plates drawings below. Use these drawings for measurement references only. If you look at the top of page 3 of the mirror mouth drawings, you will see a quick ready reference comparison chart, showing you the different sizes of the three different mirror body mouths.

In my next Tutorial, i talk about gearing up and tooling up for the project, and having everything ready to go.It will be time to start spending some money!

THREE OF MY DRAWINGS SHOWING THE DIFFERENT MOUTH OPENING SIZES BETWEEN THE NEW REPRO BODIES, MY OWN ORIGINAL MACH 1 BODIES, AND THE SO CALLED ORIGINAL 1,2,3MUSTANG BODIES I BOUGHT OFF E BAY.

ANOTHER DRAWING SHOWING THE MEASUREMENTS OF THE REPRO BACK UP MIRROR GLASS PLATES

Many thanks,

Greg.

EDIT: Link to Part 2:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-s-power-mirror-tutorial-part-2

Austin Vert · Oct 2, 2016

1971 - 1973 POWER MIRROR TUTORIAL PART 2. - GEARING UP FOR THE PROJECT.

INTRODUCTION.

Welcome to my second tutorial. So moving on, if you're keen to start the project, and you've got the plans from me, then the next move is to start prepping up by doing some shopping and tooling up for the job ahead.But i will warn you again,before you start spending any money on parts, materials or tooling up, i think it would pay you to be patient and wait till you read more of my tutorials ahead to see what's involved in the project, and whether you want to take on or commit to the project for yourself. If you are at this stage,confident, focused and happy to dig in then this is where we start. Let's look at shopping first. You will see below, that i have provided a list of items for you to buy. To help you out and try to make life simple for you, i have provided contact links of where i or you would end up buying the parts or materials from.Hopefully, these contacts will be of good help to you.By going with my contacts, you will also be doing your best to faithfully stick to my design as close as possible, and end up getting the same results as i did with looks and performance. So...................LET'S GO SHOPPING.

MAIN PARTS NEEDED FOR PROJECT.

Ford Thunderbird Original factory 1994 power mirror complete assemblies - buy TWO DRIVERS SIDE complete setups as passengers side contains the wrong parts for the project. TIP: From 1989 to 1997 T Bird and Cougar assemblies are supposed to be the same. Be careful and only try and buy 1994 assemblies, as other year mirror motors may be larger in size. (E bay buying is your best bet here or though your local wrecker may stock them as well) TIP: When buying these assemblies, try your best to select the best quality condition stock available for sale. Avoid the cheap and rough ones for sale. In this case it will pay you to try and buy the best stock, as you want reliability from the motors mainly. The seller should tell you that the motors are in good working order as part of the add or sale. On the flip side of that, it would not be wise to pay out for assemblies that are very over inflated in the asking price.So try and buy the best ones for the fairest asking prices.

REFERENCE:http://www.ebay.com/bhp/thunderbird-mirror

1971-1973 Repro sports mirrors complete assemblies for both sides of your car.TIP: Look for the letters CAS stamped on the underside of both pedistal mounting bases.That's an assurance of the product is a quality one.

REFERENCE: Any American '71-'73 Mustang repro parts supplier.(you choose)

2005-2009 Ford OEM power mirror switch. TIP: Both OEM and repro will do the same job, but i like the OEM version better.

REFERENCE:http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Ford-Mustang-Edge-Explorer-Power-Side-View-Mirror-Control-Switch-OEM-8F9Z17B676A-/191737203551

http://www.tascaparts.com/oe-ford/8f9z17b676a

2005 - 2009 Ford OEM pigtail wiring plug for connecting to the Ford mirror switch. TIP: Sadly the pigtail comes with all green colored wires, but that won't be an issue with my wiring diagram to help out.

REFERENCE:http://www.tascaparts.com/oe-ford/3u2z14s411dlb

Burco mirror glass model. 2124 TIP: Buy two glasses if you want to use this mirror glass for the passengers side as well. If you want convex glass for the passengers side glass, then only order one Burco 2124 glass. (You can also buy from Burco themselves - these mirrors are a top quality buy)

REFERENCE: http://www.ebay.com/itm/1969-1977-FORD-MAVERICK-MUSTANG-RIGHT-PASSENGER-SIDE-BURCO-MIRROR-GLASS-2124-/291436173341

Artistry chrome switch selector knob plus circular bezel. TIP: Buying these two products is an option, as the kit dresses up the look of the power mirror switch.A nice finishing touch.

REFERENCE: http://www.cjponyparts.com/power-mirror-switch-2005-2009/p/HW2538/

http://www.cjponyparts.com/action-artistry-remote-mirror-switch-trim-billet-aluminum-chrome-2005-2014/p/HW2797/

Convex glass for passengers side mirror assembly. TIP: This glass is an option for you if you want a convex mirror for your passengers side (Remember, the convex glass is not as wide as the drivers side mirror glass).

REFERENCE: https://www.ohiomustang.com/store/order_page.asp?itemid=3286

Connector plugs and wiring for wiring up the project: TIP: You should be able to find a local auto parts supplier for your cable and connectors and fuse - i gave the Aussie links here mainly as an example reference)

REFERENCE:http://www.narva.com.au/products/browse/bullet

http://www.narva.com.au/products/browse/single-core

1979-1993 Door to pillar bellows x two TIP: Not exactly the same size as the factory Mustang 123 door rubbers, but almost the same, and can be used as a great replacement.

REFERENCE:http://store.encorempw.com/1979-1993doortopillarbellow.aspx

Chrome mirror mounting cover for mirror switch. TIP: I found this product to be of very good size and quality looking for the project.Good chrome. Worth the trouble of getting hold of.

REFERENCE:http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Shower-Arm-Cover-Plate-Back-Plate-/172078522839?hash=item2810ade1d7:g:GswAAOSwzhVWqInN

All steel and aluminium products for the project. TIP: You may find a dealer close to where you live who can supply the sizes and profiles that i will be using in my project - great - but here is a good American supplier who has what you need.

REFERENCE: https://www.metalsdepot.com/products/alum2.phtml?page=plate&LimAcc=%20&aident=

My apologies folks, as i cannot get some of the above links to work for me. It might be a security issue - i don't know. In any event, if you read what the dead link says, you can use that info as a guide to locking in and finding the website you will be needing. Very sorry about that - Greg.:chin:

MATERIALS LIST FOR MIRROR PROJECT.

Aluminium flatbar - sizes 50mm / 2 inch wide x 3mm / 1/8 thick x 1mtr / 3 ft long & 22mm / 7/8 inch wide x 1.8mm / 1/16 inch thick x 1mtr / 3 ft long.

Galvanized steel flatbar - sizes 50mm / 2 inch wide x 5mm / 3/16inch thick x 500mm / 1 1/2 feet long & 50mm / 2 inch wide x 3mm / 1/8 inch thick x 1 mtr / 3 feet long

Aluminium flatsheet - sizes 300mm / 1 ft wide x 240mm / 9 1/2 inches long x 5mm / 3/16 thick & 300mm wide x 240 long x 3mm / 2/16 thick & 300mm wide x 240mm long x 2mm / 1/16 thick

One length of American red oak or Tasmainian oak(must me a hardwood species, not softwood)- size 90mm / 3 9/16 wide x 19mm / 3/4 inch thick x 500mm / 1 1/2 feet long.

Bolts and nuts (high tensile preferred) - sizes M5 / 3/16 X 30MM / 1 1/8inch long (1 pkt) & M5 / 3/16 x 20mm / 3/4 inch long (1 pkt)

Flat washers - sizes M5 / 3/16inch (1 pkt) & Machine washers M5 / 3/16 inch (1 pkt)

Elecrical wiring or cable for the project - Guage.3mm / 1/8 Long.7 meters / 21feet Colors.Blue, yellow, red. ........ Gauge: 4mm / 3/16 Long: 7 meters / 21 feet Colors: black, brown(or pink or purple)

Electrical terminals - Bullet type(Ford style connector) Insulated male and female connectors. Size: 3mm / 1/8 inch terminals.Quantity: Male 30 Female:30 Size: 4mm / 3/16inch Quantity: 30male 30female.

Elecrical fuse - (To be announced)

Loctite 5 minute Araldite epoxy glue (140 lbs breaking pressure) TIP: Please, please try and buy and use this stuff - it is just a fantastic glue that will meet all your glueing requirements for this project perfectly.

Sandpaper - types 80 grit dry, 240 wet & dry, 800 wet & dry, 1200 wet & dry, 40grit dry for machine sanding.

Paints - 2pack primer 500ml / 1/2 pint, 2 pack primer hardener 250ml / 1/4 pint, base coat color(your car) 500ml / 1/2 pint,2 pack clear coat 500ml / 1/2 pint, 2 pack clear hardener 500ml / 1/2 pint, 2 pack reducer 1 litre / 1 pint, 2 pack solid color for switch backup plate(optional), Acrylic lacquer clear in a mat finish 500 ml / 1/2 pint, walnut wood stain for switch backup plate (optional)

Masking tape - sizes 2 inch roll & 3/4 inch roll. Buffing compound for polishing mirror bodies.

TOOLING UP FOR THE PROJECT

Marker pens, permanent small and fine,black medium ball biro,steel square, small steel ruler, hacksaw with 18 tooth steel blade,electric jigsaw with metal cutting blade(3 to 6 mm thick),vernier gauge, sliding beval,electric/battery drill,full range of metric/ imperial steel twist drill bits (1/2 mm / 1/16 rises), bench grinder (should be set up with a face or belt sanding attachment, plus a wire wheel and/or grinding stone is needed as well), Flat metal bastard file, rat tail file, flat wood worker's rasp file,wood worker's vice, engineer's steel vice,club or claw hammer,Open end spanner set in metric or imperial, Socket set with long throat sockets in metric or imperial,Tap & die set in metric or imperial ( sizes needed will be 5mm / 3/16 inch & 3mm / 1/8 inch), center drift punch, G clamps & F clamps of various sizes, Dremel tool with cut off wheel,compressor, sprayguns for primer, clearcoat and basecoat ( two guns needed), scissors(sharp), scalpel tip knife, full screw driver's set, wood worker's circle cutter, air or electric die grinder with steel rasping bit, multi grips (large size), rubbing block, wire cutters/strippers crimpers ,bench drill press, Steel cut hole saws - sizes needed 70mm / 2 3/4 inches, 65mm / 2 9/16 inches, 44mm / 1 3/4 inches,35mm / 1 3/8 inches,(ALWAYS use cutting lube when cutting steel with your hole saws)

So these are the main materials and tools i used to work through the project. There would be nothing to stop you from using your imagination or skills to diversify and end up using different tools of your choosing if you felt the need. Regards materials, if you subbed out the painting side of the project to a spray shop, you obviously don't need to buy the above paint supplies.That pretty much covers it then. Good luck and good hunting. In my next tutorial we get stuck in, down and dirty, and working on the project, hands on.

Many thanks,

Greg.

EDIT: Link to Part 3:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-s-power-mirror-tutorial-part-3

Austin Vert · Oct 3, 2016

1971 - 1973 POWER MIRROR TUTORIAL PART 3 - STARTING THE BUILD PROJECT

INTRODUCTION.

Hi and welcome to my third tutorial.In part three, we will be looking at starting the build by dismantling the two '94 original Thunderbird mirror assemblies,and then attending to the two '71 - '73 reproduction mirror assemblies and getting them prepped up for further usage later on.I will be providing some photos in this tutorial which will help to explain what is going on with the work involved.

THUNDERBIRD MIRROR PULLDOWN.

We will start by pulling down and taking apart the T Bird assemblies. The best place to start is by using your Dremel tool with a very thin cut off wheel attached.Go to the top of the miiror housing or body and cut out and remove, a large section of the mirror body. We do this because this is the best and easiest way to gain access to take apart and remove the parts we want.Speaking of that very thing,here is a list of the parts that you will be keeping from the assemblies. The mirror motor and the wiring that is attached to it,colored red, yellow, and blue, the plastic back up mirror plate,the plastic tubing that acts as a wire protector, the big flat neoprean packing washer that goes between the motor and the back up plate.Take care when handling these old parts as you don't want to damage any of them.

Once the top section has been cut and removed, we now remove the mirror glass and back up plate part. Be careful here again when doing this. The best way is to try and get your finger tips under one end and the edge of the back up plate and apply firm but not too hard pressure upwards. Our aim is to prize or lift up the pack up plate off the circular mirror motor bezel. It also pays when you are prizing one end off, to support the opposite end of the back up plate to avoid putting too much strain on the motor bezel or back up plate.I find this technique works pretty well.

Once removed, you will see that the motor is held onto the mirror mounting bracket with three small but long screws with star heads on.These screws might be tight with age, so try not to strip out the heads.Remove the three screws, and remove the motor off the mounting bracket.If the motor is dusty or dirty, use a soft dry paint brush to clean it up. Never use and fluids or try and clean the motor.If the wiring came with an end plug, cut it off as you won't be needing that part. Feed the wiring back through the body, and take out the motor. TIP: Don't throw any thing away at this stage. Keep it all till the end of the project.

Next, we will soak or pickle the mirror glass and back up plate in a shallow container of wax and grease remover for about a day. NEVER use harsh solvents like thinners or acetone, as they will destroy the back up plate completely. That plastic is solvent sensitive. Wax and grease remover does the job very well without damaging any parts.After a day or so in the soak tank, the glass should separate from the plastic back up plate fairly easily.Clean any glue residues off the back up plate and dry off. You will be repeating this process the same for the second drivers side mirror assembly as well.So you now have taken all the parts you will need for the project off the original assembly, given them a clean up, and now they are ready to be used later on.There was a circular rubber bezel that acted as a water/ dust barrier and was located where the back up plate meets the motor bezel. I wanted to reuse this part in my system , but sadly when i tried to mount it on lastly, i found it would not fit properly as there was not enough room in the repro bodies to let that happen. On that point, my advice to all would be try to avoid as best you can, getting water back into the mirror housing when the project is finished. I myself, never wash my Mustangs in the traditional way with hose, bucket and sponge or rags. I think it would be foolish to let your garden hose blast water back into the mirror housing at all. I would be trying my best to keep it as dry as possible inside the housing area. That just makes sense to me.

PREPPING THE REPRO ASSEMBLIES.

In the case of the repro assemblies, we will only be keeping the mirror bodies themselves, and the two mirror glass/metal backup plates that come with the kit. These back up plates will serve as perfect templates for us to use when we later on construct the proper back up plates that we will be using for our project.Start on the drivers side assembly first, and unscrew the mirror back up plate and remove it from the body.Sadly, you will now have to cut the cable wires that link the toggle lever to the back up assembly. Unscrew the pedistal base off, from the upper body. You won't be keeping any hardware here.That's it.The two metal support profiles that are located on the inside walls of the body don't get touched, as they don't interfere with my operating mechanism at all. Next, we pull down the passengers side assembly.Simply unscrew the mirror back up plate assembly from the body, then unscrew the pedistal base off the upper body.Now, you will see a raised metal bar profile located in the middle of the hosing on the body floor. That was there of course to hold and capture the original back up assembly.We won't be needing that bar at all. It has to be removed. The best way i found to remove it was to use a air driven die grinder with a cylinder shaped metal tip filing rasp.

The metal we are dealing with here on the mirror bodies,is an alloy of sorts, and the rotary filing rasp takes care of the job quite well. Forget using your Dremel tool here. For this app, it's a toy and won't cut it. So work away at back grinding down the raised bar section in a careful manner. YOU STOP GRINDING WHEN YOU GET DOWN TO FLOOR SURFACE LEVEL. Don't start grinding into the floor itself. I would say, remove three quarters of that bar back into the housing. You can remove it all if you want. Once you have carried out this procedure,and you're happy, than that's it. You're now ready to move on. The two housings are now prepped up and ready for the next phase of usage in he project. BTW - If you insisted on using your original Ford factory sports mirrors for this project, (which i sincerely hope you have not) i hope you first checked out if the mouth opening measurements were exactly the same as the repro ones. If they were, then the procedure that i have talked about above, will be exactly the same for you in prepping up your original assemblies, as it is for the repro ones.

The next phase of the project concerns the building of the two motor support brackets. Building the brackets is a big part of my system where accuracy will really count in delivering a good final product.

Many thanks,

Greg.

REFERENCE PHOTOS. (Sorry, they are not in correct order)

Austin Vert · Oct 3, 2016

1971 - 1973 POWER MIRROR TUTORIAL - PART 4 - BUILDING THE MIRROR MOTOR BRACKET ( DRIVERS SIDE)

INTRODUCTION.

Hi and welcome to part 4. We will now construct the drivers side mirror motor bracket. These brackets are a main part or the heart of my invention. It took me a long time and a great deal of research to come up with my final designs. What it's all about, and what is very important is the way the motors are positioned and placed in the Mustang mirror bodies themselves. Measurements and alighnments are crucial to carry it all off as gaps and tolerances are small. So the brackets play an important part for the end result. Also, the brackets must be strong and robust by design, yet functional and practical as well. I chose Aluminium for my bracket components, as the material is very light yet strong, and is very corrosion resistant in it's raw state. It is also an easy metal to work with and fashion etc. Accuracy counts here - so make it happen.

THE BUILD.

So getting started, you will have received my plans or drawings via E mail.These drawings should print out in real life actual size. First do a print out of one page, and with ruler, check to see if my measurements provided on the drawings match up accurately with what the ruler says as well. TIP: When you do the printout, make sure your printer settings are set to printing out the page 100% and not shrunk down in any way. If you're not happy with the accuracy, and you have tried every trick you know to get it right, then Email me again with your address, and i will go to the trouble and expense of printing out my original plans, and posting them over to you my normal mail. If you are happy, then the next step is to get your sharp scissors and neatly and as carefully as possible, cut out my bracket shapes, as to use these cutouts as templates. TIP: WHEN PRINTING OUT, TRY TO USE THE THICKEST PAPER YOU HAVE. This makes it more easy to draw around your cut out templates.

The drivers side bracket consists of two pieces - the foot plate and the upright or upper main section.

You will start by placing your paper template of the foot plate on the 50mm / 2 inch wide x 3mm / 1/8 inch thick aluminium flat bar strip. Carefully mark out around the template with your permanent fine marker pen. TIP: Get a little bit of masking tape to hold the paper template down on the metal strip.Now with center drift punch, mark out where the center of the holes are and punch a point mark in the metal.These tiny point holes will provide a starting point for your steel drill bits and help prevent the bits from wandering. When you do this procedure, you can also include marking out your upper bracket piece as well with paper template. Next is to cut up the flat plate as per your markings. The secret is to cut off the marked lines a little, as you can sand down the metal to the marked lines accurately a little later on.Make your cuts, and then go to the 40 grit dry sandpaper machine attachment on your bench grinder. The metal will sand down quickly and easily, so be careful and accurate with this process. Sand down to the marked lines. TIP: BE WARNED, THE METAL HEATS UP VERY HOT QUICKLY. Try using leather gloves to protect your hands from burns. Smooth off your edges with the wire wheel on your bench grinder for a good fast result. You could also do things a harder way and use 40 grit paper with a sanding block or a metal flat bastard file to take down the excees metal. That works too, but is a much harder and slower process. Once your two pieces have been cut and shaped and edge finished off, use a 9mm / 3/8 drill bit to drill the three holes in the footplate.Be accurate - it matters.TIP: It always helps to start off by selecting a smaller dia bit first, and then move up to the bigger bit next. That helps for drilling accuracy. Use a drill press if you want here. You will notice that the front and back holes a slightly elongated. Use your rat tail file to carefully elongate these two holes to spec. Now place paper template over the top bracket and center punch the three holes to be drilled out on the front of the bracket. Using a 10mm b / 3/8 bit, drill out the three holes. Don't do anything about the remaining two holes at the back of the bracket yet. Leave them alone for now.You will have marked out the fold line on your top bracket piece as per the template drawing. Now go to your engineer's vice, and place the bracket in the vice right on the fold line. With club hammer and a block of scrap timber gently bend and fold the bracket towards you till in comes down to a right angle on the vice.In my drawings, i have provided an angle guide for the correct angle the mirror bracket should be bent back to. Set your sliding beval to this angle dead on, and use the beval as a guide to set the bracket angle correctly back.This procedure is a trial and error one, as you will place your bracket in the vice and gently tap the bracket down till you get to the correct angle. Don't be rough here, as a little tapping goes a long way.Check with you beval for final angle accuracy

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You are now ready to glue the footplate to the upper bracket. I chose to use Loctite brand epoxy 5 minute Araldite. This glue is just a fantastic product. It is very strong bonding and has good filling qualities as well. It's the perfect product to use for this project. After you do a glue job, wait about 20minutes or so, and you're ready to move on with your job - it's that good.Remember, when ever you use the glue you must sand down both surfaces to be glued with 80 grit dry sand paper. This helps to make a great glueing bond. Before glueing, line up the footplate with the bracket to make sure the cut out shapes are close to the same. If you're happy, then mix up your glue very well, apply to both surfaces, line up and position plates, then clamp together using a spring or G clamp. Wipe any excess glue off the job. REMEMBER, YOU HAVE A 3 MINUTE WINDOW OF OPERATION. Once the glue starts going off - that's it. After about half an hour,drill out the remaining two undrilled holes in the top bracket. You will of course use the already drilled out two holes on the footplate as a drill guide for this. IMPORTANT UPDATE: I have just described above the details and method for marking and drilling out the footplate holes.. However, you will notice that in my photos i took a different approach by drilling out the upper bracket holes first, and the footplate holes last.To be honest, you could approach this matter either way and get good results. But i think what i have written above is a slightly better approach to take.Sorry about that little technical hick up.

Finish off by doing any detail work needed. For example, you may find that the shape of the footplate does not marry up perfectly with the upper bracket shape it was glued to. If this is the case, then gently sand down both edge surfaces to mach perfectly.Make sure your edges are nice and smooth too. This bracket is now ready for testing. But first, we need to make another component for this bracket assembly. It's called a locking plate,and is made out of gal steel.I am using these steel gal locking plates for my two mirrors left and right, for the back lock downs only. The reason why, is if i was to use a normal nut for the bolts used, i found that you cant get a tool into the back of the mirrors when you are installing the brackets themselves.There is no access here. So i invented specially designed locking plates to get around this problem. These steel locking plates are made from gal steel flat plate 50mm / 2 inches wide x 5mm / 3/16 thick . You will see my template drawings for the locking plates. Choose the drivers side plate and mark out template on the steel.Cut the steel to shape using a hacksaw or jigsaw, and sand down to lines accurately.Now using your template and center drift punch mark a hole to be drilled out for your tapped thread.Drilling procedure is important here for threads. My threaded holes will be taking an M5 metric bolt or an 3/16 inch bolt. You MUST go down one size for your drill bit selection. So your drill bits used will be 4.5 metric and 5/32 imperial. Drill the hole out, and then using a 5mm or a 3/16 Tap, tap a thread into the hole you have just drilled. Use cutting oil here for tapping threads.When finished, check out bolt thread compatability. These tapped threads are a fine pitched thread too, not course. Once you're happy with the locking bracket, you are now ready to carry out some basic tests to see how accurate your bracket assembly went.

As i said before, positioning and alighnment are important for the mirror motors. In my designs, i have allowed for slop and adjustment of my bracket and motor mounting components to allow for any final adjustments that might be needed.In one of my pics, you will see the line up sequence for your nuts, bolts and particular washers to be used.The pic shows the use of a 25mm bolt with an extra nut attached. you could go this way, or just use a 20mm long bolt instead. So now, install and assemble the bracket into the mirror housing. Use a 30mm / 1 3/16 inch bolt for the back and a 20mm / 7/8 inch bolt for the front. Don't tighten down nuts at this stage. Now check for slop and adjustment. You should be able to move the bracket a little to the left and right, as well as to the front and back within the mirror body or housing. Also, check to see if the center hole for the wiring lines up fairly well too.This adjustment in the bracket will play an important part in your final adjustment setup at the end of the project.Now nip up the bolts and nuts so there is a little grab on the bracket, but you can still move it around using a little force. Get yourself a plastic cap off a rattle can of paint. This cap will be used as your tester tool.When the motor sits on the face of the upper bracket, it must have a correct alighnment.

This alighnment has to do with the vertical and the horizontal, or up and down and left to right so to speak. Place the plastic cap on the bracket face, and hold the mirror up to sight or line up. You will be looking for vertical alighnment first. The protruding edge of the plastic cap must run parallel with the vertical front edge of the mirror body. If it does not, then the back angle of the upper bracket needs to be adjusted either bent a little inwards or outwards.You can do this by hand without taking the bracket off and on if you want. I took my bracket off and back on again myself. The second alighnment is looking down along the top front edge of the mirror body. In this case, the protruding plastic cap must again be parallel with the front edge of the body. To adjust or correct this if not right, you should be able to move the bracket assembly to the left or right to bring the bracket into correct alighnment with the body.(See my pics) If you find that there is not enough slop or play to get it right, then you will have to remove the bracket, an enlarge the front and back bracket footplate holes with a rat tail file to provide more adjustment play. Lastly, the in and out alighnment of the bracket is important as well. You should be able to move the bracket in a little and out a little in the housing.With steel rule, measure from the face of the upper bracket to the front edge of the mirror body on the body floor. You should end up or settle for a 41 mm / 1 5/8 inch distance.(See my pic) Also, with marker pen, trace an outline around the floor plate. This will aid you when you come back later to do the second alighnment test.

Once you are happy with the alighnments and feel that they are correct, then your done. Congratulations, as you have now finished making your first bracket. In my next tutorial, we will build the passengers side bracket. This bracket will be of a different design in some respects.

Many thanks,

Greg.

DK73 · Oct 3, 2016

Wow cool Greg! Thank you very Much [emoji41][emoji106] Regards Lars

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Austin Vert · Oct 3, 2016

Wow cool Greg! Thank you very Much [emoji41][emoji106] Regards Lars

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Hi Lars,

Thank you very much. I hope you enjoy reading what i ended up doing and how i went about it all.

Take care,

Greg.

Austin Vert · Oct 3, 2016

1971 - 1973 POWER MIRROR TUTORIAL PART 5 - BUILDING THE PASSENGERS SIDE MIRROR BRACKET.

INTRODUCTION.

Hi and welcome. In this tutorial we will build the passengers side mirror bracket, which will incorporate a different design or shape to the drivers side bracket. The passengers mirror body has a wider opening to it than the drivers, as well as a different throw out angle and mouth shape. As i said before, motor placement or positioning and alighnment are important. The motor should sit as close to the middle or center of the housing as possible. To achieve this, the bracket design had to have a much bigger or wider upper face bracket to make that happen. On the original T Bird passengers side set up, Ford used the same motor as the drivers side, and as well, placed, mounted or positioned that same motor the same way as the drivers side as well. I stuck with that same approach, so my passengers side bracket is a different shape to the drivers bracket. Also, you will notice that on the repro assemblies, the passengers mirror sits further into the body than the drivers side does. That meant that i had to design a packing or spacer plate to build back out the mirror towards the front of the housing more. That gets explained in my tutorial.I went to a good deal of detail to explain the building of the drivers side bracket assembly. The detail will be less in this tutorial, as the step procedures are very similar in method and approach.

THE BUILD.

So we start with selecting the aluminium flat bar again. 50mm / 2 inch x 3mm / 1/8 inch size. First, cut out your paper templates of the foot plate and upper bracket. Start with the footplate first, and lay the template down on the flat bar. Mark out with fine marker pen the outer shape and then center punch the holes to be drilled. The next procedures are the same as the drivers bracket. Cut out shape, sand down to edges, drill your holes out. In this case we will make the holes 8.5mm / 3/8 inch diameter on the footplate. Elongate the front hole as per my drawings.Now we construct the upper bracket. Using the aluminium flat sheet which is as well, 3mm / 1/8 inch thick, mark out using the paper template the outer shape and hole positions. Center punch them as well. Don't bother marking out the back hole that will line up with the footplate hole, as that will be drilled out later using the footplate hole as a guide. Now cut out your shape, sand down to the edges, drill your holes out. The three holes for the motor mounting on the upper bracket will be 10mm / 3/8 in diameter. Now we will bend the bracket to put the back angle into it.Using the engineers vice apply the same method as you did the drivers side bracket. Check your angle for accuracy with the beval. Once you have completed constructing the footplate and upper bracket, you can now glue the two pieces together.

The same procedure applies as per the drivers bracket.Sand down surfaces to be glued, mix glue, alighn up pieces, and spring clamp together. Once glue has cured, then trim the footplate edges if needed.

Next we construct the packer or spacing plate for the upper bracket.You will be using the aluminium flat sheet for this. Select the size which is 5mm / 3/16 inch thick. I have provided a separate drawing for the spacer plate. Cut it out and then mark out on your flat sheet the outer shape. Don't worry about marking out the three holes for the spacer plate, as we will be using the already drilled out holes in the upper bracket as a drilling guide later on. Now cut your spacer plate to size using your hacksaw or jigsaw. Sand down to edge. Now lay down the spacer plate to the upper bracket. They should both be the same shape when alighned up. If not, then trimming can be done later once you glue the plates together.Lets do that then. Mix your glue, and clamp both plates together.After curing (no less than 20 minutes), you can edge sand the plates to marry up exactly, and as well drill out your 10mm holes for the motor mounts. When you drill out the back hole in the footplate, you can move up to a 10mm / 3/8 inch drill bit for that too.You will also notice that there is no center hole for the wiring like the drivers side has.This is because there is not enough space to carry this out. The wiring hole will be separately drilled out later and located just in the front of the front mount body hole.

Now we will construct the locking plate for the back of the footplate. This locking plate is a different shape and design to the drivers side one. You will see the plate in the drawings. Cut out a paper template, and do your mark out on the same piece of flat bar gal steel 50mm / 2 inches x 5mm / 3/16 inches thick. Mark where your threaded hole is to go, drill out as per the other locking nut you did. TAP YOUR THREAD TO A 5mm / 3/16 thread.

Your bracket is now ready for an install and alighnment test. Carry out the same procedure as you did with the drivers side bracket assembly. That is, check for good play adjustment side to side or left to right,as well as in and out, then using your plastic cap, check for paralell alighnment along the top edge and then the vertical side edge as well. You should be left with a depth measurement of approx 44mm / 1 3/4 inches from the face of the upper bracket to the front edge of the mirror body floor.You can also trace a marker pen outline around the shape of the foot plate on the floor of the mirror body. This will assist you for an easy line up when you are carrying out your second alighnment test later on. If you are happy with the way the bracket lines up, then your done building up the passengers mirror bracket. TIP: If you feel that the upper bracket is too close or just touching the inside of the mirror body on the far right hand side, you can sand a little off that right hand side of the upper bracket to gain a little bit more spacing or clearence between the bracket and the housing. The worst senario is the bracket touching the mirror body inside wall.

You don't want that to happen, and it should not have, but if in doubt, shave a little off the upper bracket right hand and top edge.

The next tutorial will deal with building up the motor mounting system.

Many thanks,

Greg.

Austin Vert · Oct 3, 2016

1971 - 1973 POWER MIRROR TUTORIAL PART 6 - SETTING UP MIRROR MOTORS.

INTRODUCTION.

Hi and welcome. We will deal with setting up the mirror motors in this tutorial. You will recall we did a motor alighnment test when we were making our brackets. The plastic rattle can top we used represented the Thunderbird mirror motors that we will be using in my invention. The design of these motors and the original backing mirror plates works in well with our needs to bring the project off. The motors themselves are well designed, robust and functional. For example, you will notice on the back of the motor an arrow and lettering which says TOP and is molded into the plastic. This arrow is important for us because it tells us we need to keep the arrow at 12 o"clock when we mount the motor to the face of the upper bracket. This is true for both left and right mirrors. Also, exactly where this arrow is located, you will see a notched line in the motor bezel as well.This notched line mates or marries up exactly with a little plastic spline or tab which is molded into the bezel of the plastic mirror backup plate. On that subject, you will find several plastic tabs on the circular bezel of the plastic backup plate.

The idea is that this circular bezel mates into another circular bezel on the motor and presses in and they click together. This action will hold the mirror glass and backup plate on quite securely at all times. If you ever need to remove the backing plate, then it will prize away from the motor housing by gently but firmly placing the tips of your fingers under one edge of the backing plate and prizing the plate upwards. When doing this, try to support the other end of the backing plate as well at the same time. That puts much less strain on the motor housing and backup plate.TIP: Try and minimize the number of times you remove and refit the mirror glass and backup plate as this will end up weakening the tabs on the circular plastic bezel and give you a weaker clamping grip of the backup plate to the motor itself. Also, on the back of the mirror motors, you will see a small rectangular raised piece where the wires come out of the motor body. We will talk more about that shortly.

THE BUILD.

So, getting started, here's how it works. The original T Bird motors were attached to the original housings using three small but long threaded bolts that go through the motor itself. You wont be using these original bolts, but buying new ones.They will be a fine threaded bolt featuring a phillips domed head. The size will be - 3mm / 1/8 inch and be 35mm / 1 3/8 inches long and 50mm / 2 inches long. The 35 mm bolts get used for the drivers side and the 50mm bolts are used for the passengers side.

With my invention i could have just used normal nuts to go with these bolts. But a much better idea was to make up another gal steel locking plate 3mm / 1/8 inch thick , that would accept all three bolts. This locking plate is a smarter way to go all 'round. That sits right behind the back of the upper bracket. Now as i said before, the idea is to have the motor mounted to the upper bracket face and be able to move around slightly in all directions for making final adjustments. The locking plate idea lets you do this quite well. Also, we need to take care of that raised wire tab at the back of the motor. This is done by inventing a circular spacer plate which is glued to the back of the motor housing. This spacer or packer plate levels up the back of the motor and provides a good even surface for the motor to move around the face of the upper bracket.

So we need to construct these two components first up.You will see drawings for both items. Lets make the locking plate first up.Taking your gal steel flat bar which is 50mm / 2 inches wide x 3mm / 1/8 thick , cut your paper template out with scissors and place on flat bar. Mark out with fine marker pen the outline of the shape i have given you. Now cut out the shape i have given you using a hacksaw or jigsaw. You could use a hole saw for this application - i tried to but it would not cut successfully through the 3 mm thick steel properly at all. (A top quality, new blade was used there with no luck)Looking back on it now, i have come to learn that you MUST use cutting oil at all times when you are using a hole saw to cut metals. That brings success. So cut out the shape, and sand down to the edge lines, and smooth off your edges. You will see on my drawings that i have provided the location of the three motor mounting holes. These should be accurate and line up with the holes on the motor housing.

But i think a better way would be to place your locking plate behind the motor, hold in position while you dip the old bolts in some wet paint, pop them through the three holes with wet paint on the end tip of the bolt, and mark the locking plate in that fashion with the wet paint. That is a very accurate way of making sure your holes line up very well. Next, center punch these marked out holes, and drill out the steel ready for thread tapping.Your drill bit size will be 2.5mm / 11/32 inch. Drill the three holes out, then proceed to tap the holes using a 3mm / 1/8 inch tap thread. Now try the bolts you will be using into the locking plate and see how they line up coming through the motor housing. These threads are fine pitched as well.

Now we will make the spacer plate for the back of the motor housing. Again, see my template design, cut it out and keep aside. The material we will use for this spacer will be aluminium sheet plate 2mm / 1/16 thick. This thickness is ideal for clearing the raised tab on the back of the motor housing. The finished diameter will be 60mm 2 3/8 inches. Using your 65mm / 2 9/16 inch hole saw blade, cut out a perfect circle in the plate 60mm in dia. Best to use your drill press for this job. Now smooth down edge with wire wheel. Using my paper template, mark out where the notch out will be for the raised tab.Hack saw out the notched area to be remove and use your flat file to smooth out uneven edges. Also, mark out where the motor bolt holes are located and using a 9mm / 3/8 inch drill bit, drill out the three bolt holes. Now we are ready to glue the backup plate to the back of the motor housing.Sand both surfaces with 80 grit dry paper, mix up the epoxy glue, and apply to both surfaces. Position up the backing plate carefully to the motor housing. You can spring clamp these pieces together if you want. That then when done, will see these components finished, and ready for the install later on. BTW - You will have noticed that i have chosen steel for my locking plates instead of aluminium. The reason why is because aluminium threads are too weak to take up the torque needed to tighten up the fine threaded bolts securely.

In my next tutorial we will be building up the two mirror backup plates that will take on the mirror glasses.

Thanks,

Greg.

REFERENCE PHOTOS:

View attachment PART 6 - G 1.jpg View attachment PART 6 - G 2.jpg View attachment PART 6 - G 3.jpg View attachment PART 6 - G 4.jpg View attachment PART 6 - G 5.jpg View attachment PART 6 - G 6.jpg View attachment PART 6 - G 7.jpg View attachment PART 6 - G 8.jpg View attachment PART 6 - G 9.jpg

LINK TO PART 7:

http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-s-power-mirror-tutorial-part-7

Austin Vert · Oct 4, 2016

[No message]

DK73 · Oct 4, 2016

Wow that is so awesome stuff Greg! Weldone my Mate [FACE SAVOURING DELICIOUS FOOD] [THUMBS UP SIGN] Regards Lars

DK73 · Oct 4, 2016

Wow that is so awesome stuff Greg! Thank you very much for sharing this whit us All [FACE SAVOURING DELICIOUS FOOD][sQUARED COOL]

[THUMBS UP SIGN] Regards Lars

DK73 · Oct 4, 2016

Wow that is so awesome stuff Greg[sQUARED COOL][FACE SAVOURING DELICIOUS FOOD][THUMBS UP SIGN]Regards Lars

DK73 · Oct 4, 2016

Yes I have Greg[sMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES] Well I hope you are enjoying your work on thise[sMILING FACE WITH SMILING EYES][THUMBS UP SIGN] Regards Lars

Austin Vert · Oct 4, 2016

1971 - 1973 POWER MIRROR TUTORIAL PART 8 - BUILDING UP THE DOOR MIRROR SWITCH.

INTRODUCTION.

Hi and welcome. In this tutorial,we will be looking at constructing the mirror switch assembly for the system.I needed a mirror switch to go with my invention.It could be argued that the logical way to have gone, would be to use a '94 Thunderbird mirror switch. But sadly, the shape of that switch which is triangular,would not have worked from a practical mounting and looks perspective either.What you have now, is a little chrome lever with a circular chrome bezel that controls the drivers sports mirror.I wanted to come up with a switch which sort of kept in the feel of that lever look, and locate it in the very same spot.You should have a circular hole already punched out in your door card to accommodate that lever. The hole is 25mm / 1 inch diameter in size.After much time and research, i settled on using a 2005 - 2009 Mustang mirror switch. Why? It's round in design, is very compact in overall size, has an offset back plug location, does not have a memory function, heat control or indicator function as well. A simple plug that looked quite elegant and practical for my invention. My first idea was just to install the switch straight into the door card upholstery,and have the plug protrude out into the door shell. But i realized that to do this, i would need to enlarge the hole to a whopping 35mm / 1 3/8 inches diameter.If i did that, then there would be no going back to using the old toggle lever system as the hole is now too enlarged and wont accept and hold the old bezel and lever setup.Going out and buying a new door card, because you spoiled your original one, i don't think is a valid option really.So i came up with an idea to get around this problem, and let me install a switch which did not spoil or deface the door card or hole in any way, and would let you re install the old lever/bezel setup back in if you wanted to later on.Here's how it works. The Mustang switch sits in or engages with a circular chrome bezel or face cap which is then attached to a special shaped backing block which sits on the upholstery face.

The whole unit is attached to the door card and held in place by using two small bendable aluminium tabs located in the back of my assembly which go through the 25 mm hole in the door card, and then bend back behind the door card to hold the switch assembly firmly in place on the door card.It works and does a good job of holding the switch without damaging any of the door card upholstery. With my invention, you can dress the switch up or down to suit your own taste as well.You can change the color of the backing block to any finish or color you want. In my case i was going to make the block color cream, the same color as the door cards, then i changed my mind and made the block a timber finish to match the timber panel on the door card. Not a bad look indeed. Also, you can buy a chrome dress up kit for this model switch which consists of a chrome circular bezel, and a chrome control knob cover.I bought the kit and will be installing it myself. I will show you pics of the kit on and off as a comparison. So lets get started and make up the switch assembly.

THE BUILD.

Firstly,take your time and be accurate and be fussy - it will pay off in the end. We start with the chrome face cap. This part came from England. I used it because it has a good quality chrome finish and is of good practical size. Sadly, it comes with a raised lip on the inside hole. This lip must be removed first up. I did it by using an air driven die grinder with a steel rasping bit attached. So die grind the lip away very carefully until it has gone from around the edge. Be careful here as you don't want to damage any other part of the face cap. Whack a couple of strips of 2 inch masking tape on the front face of the cap for protecting the chrome finish. Next we make up a bedding plate which will sit on the back floor of the face cap. This is done by using your flat sheet aluminium which is 2mm / 1/16 thick, and selecting a hole saw which is 70mm / 2 3/4 inches in diameter, and then, using your drill press, cut out a hole in the ali. That finished cut out piece should pop in comfortably to the floor of the face cap. Smooth down the edge of the cut out, sand down both surfaces with your 80 grit dry paper, then glue the piece onto the face cap floor. Spring clamp if you want.Now we do some carpentry work.

We need to make a packing block that will now sit on that bedding plate. You should have bought a piece of hardwood like American red oak or Tasmanian oak which is 90mm / 3 9/16 wide x 19mm / 3/4 inches thick for the timber work. (DON'T USE PINE TIMBER) So first, grab your hole saw which is 70mm / 3 3/8 inches in diameter, and using the drill press, make or cut out a circular piece from the timber you bought. Now change your holesaw over to a 44 mm / 1 3/4 inch size bit, and hole saw that same piece of timber you just first hole sawed out. Once done, you should be left with a circular ring of timber. Now using my paper template, mark out the two straight cut out lines that will locate on that inner packing block, and then gently saw the lines out using the engineers vice to hold the timber ring in place.Next, sand down smooth all edges of the ring. That timber ring is now ready to install to the aluminium bedding plate you just glued on before. Before you glue the ring in, place the ring on the bedding plate, and mark out a line around the top lip of the timber ring which will be protruding above the chrome face cap back edge slightly. Now sand the back face of the timber ring till it comes down right on your mark line. That should be the same finished height as the chrome face cap wall. TIP: If it's a little out or too proud of the chrome face cap edge, that's OK, as you can hand sand down the excess with 80grit paper and a rubbing block later on after the ring is glued into place. OK, so now sand both surfaces to be glued, and glue in the wooden ring to the bedding plate. It should self position or self line up as for the fit. The notched out section can locate at any angle - it doesn't matter. Next, we take a 35mm / 1 3/8 inches hole saw(sharp as possible), and using your drill press, drill out the face hole on the chrome face cap, that will be accepting the switch itself.(don't forget to use a little cutting oil) Once done, carefully sand down that edge so there is no raised metal burring on that edge.It must be smooth and even in thickness. Now, install the switch into the chrome face cap for a trial run. The switch should engage with the hole , and click in and hold position. Once in, it should stay in comfortably, but can be removed by pressing the switch body from behind back out again. Now lets make our outer backing block.

We start by using an adjustable hole cutter to cut out the backing block piece. Set or adjust the hole cutter to cut out a finished piece of our timber 72mm / 2 7/8 inches in diameter.Use a scrap piece of timber to check and test that your outer circle diameter is exactly 72mm / 2 7/8 inches . Using your drill press ,slowly cut out that piece, and when done, change over to a hole saw blade 44mm / 1 3/4 inches in diameter, and then cut out the inner piece of that block you just cut with the hole cutter. You will now have another timber ring.This ring will also need to be notched out as well. Grab my paper cut out template, and mark out where the notch out is to be located. Be accurate.Using a wooden flat rasping file, carefully remove excess timber and remove out that section. Hold the ring in the engineers vice when you do this filing work. Sand down and smooth all the edges of the ring. Now line up the backing block to the inner packing block. The profile cut out shapes should be the same. Also, when you place the chrome face cap onto the backing block, you should have a tiny overhang of the backing block timber around the circular edge of the chrome face cap. Now try popping in the switch again to make sure it clears the backing block as well. or sits in snugly in your cut out section of the backing block. If your happy with all that, then it's time to glue the backing block to the inner packing block. Mix glue, and line up accurately the chrome face cap to the backing block. I have provided a curved profile edge drawing to use as a profile guide for shaping and sanding down the back face of the backing block. You will use this template as a profile guide to check and see how you sanding down that back edge.IMPORTANT:When you sand down that back face, you will end up having a thick side and a thin side to the shape of the backing block. REMEMBER! - The fat side is where the square plug socket is located and the thin side is the side that goes to the top of the assembly. The plug socket should locate directly over the door card hole. This curved out profile of the backing block should match or marry up with the existing profile shape of your deluxe door card. IF YOU ARE PUTTING MY ASSEMBLY ONTO A STANDARD DOOR CARD, THEN YOU WON'T NEED TO PROFILE SHAPE OUT THE BACK EDGE AT ALL. It will sit straight onto the flat door card. So try out how the curved back face of the backing block lines up with the curved shape of the door card.If adjustments are needed, then sand down slowly to suit. I used the disc pad on my bench grinder attachment to quickly take down the unwanted timer off the backing block. If you're happy with all that, then you can now, paint up your backing block. For staining, i used a walnut oil stain, and finished off with mat clear acrylic lacquer. If you're spraying on a solid color, then i would prime up the timber backing block first, and then sand down and follow through with the 2 pack color of your choice.You will be masking up the chrome face plate in all cases. Give your paint a couple of days to dry out.

Now we will make up our metal tabs used to hold down the assembly to the door card. Grab my drawings of the two tabs, cut out, and place paper templates over your aluminium flat plate strip which will be 22mm / 7/8 inches wide x 1.8mm / 1/16 thick. Do the mark out for both pieces, and then cut out all pieces with your hacksaw. Using your metal flat file, file out unwanted excess ali as well as using your sanding disc on your bench grinder. Sand down to the lines you have drawn. Be accurate here as well. Once done, the two tabs can now be glued into the walls of the inner assembly. When the glue is dry, you will now carefully drill into the tops of the two metal tabs,and into the timber back up, and then using flat head self tap screws, screw them into the tab tops. The idea here, is to make sure the tabs don't pop off when you are installing the assembly into the door card later on, and bending those tabs over. A 1/8 drill bit with a 6 guage self tapping flat head screw should do the job here.(experiment if you feel the need to with drill bit and screw sizes) Make sure also you don't split open any of the timber back up in this process. Make sure you do a test, and pop in your switch again when you locate and position the two tabs. The tabs should just fit in snugly either side of the square switch plug and the timber walls of the assembly. (see my pics) If they don't, then a little final filing with the wood rasp may be needed on the timber walls. Remember, the switch is designed to be removed later on if necessary.Also, use your masking tape when you are working through on the building of the switch as you don't want to deface the chrome finish of the face plate. I bought two chrome face plates just in case one got damaged in construction. A good idea indeed. Lastly, be careful when carving out the timber for the backing block notch out. You will see that there is very little timber left where the plug is located on the backup block to the outer edge of that block. That calls for a delicate touch when you're working on that timber block. You don't want the block to split or break up in any regard. Take care. Well that should see you finished with the switch assembly. I hope it went well for you and the end product looks good.

In my next tutorial, we look at painting up the mirror housings and installing the door rubbers. Once those jobs are completed, we will then move into the final phase of the project, by doing the final installation and setup.

Many thanks,

Greg.

Carolina_Mountain_Mustangs · Oct 4, 2016

Greg that is great work. You must be a technical writer great detail to everything. I also viewed your videos of your car and it looks fantastic. This is probably the best write up on a project I have seen on the Forum.

Pastel Blue · Oct 4, 2016

A job well done!

Austin Vert · Oct 4, 2016

Greg that is great work. You must be a technical writer great detail to everything. I also viewed your videos of your car and it looks fantastic. This is probably the best write up on a project I have seen on the Forum.

Hi David,

Hey, thanks very much for your great wrap. It means a lot.::thumb:: Well i guess i've always been somewhat of a perfectionist by nature, and i try and get things right. It's like i said in my introduction post - i really have put a sh--t load of time energy, money and effort into this whole thing. It might sound corny, but what motivated me to get into this project, was i saw it as a chance to give something back to the world. I haven't got the time or the resources to set up a small company and make these mirrors, so the next best thing is to pass on what i did, and give people a chance to make the mirrors for themselves if they have any desire to have them as well as me. Sharing is what it's all about at the end of the day. That's what it comes down to i reckon.

And of course, giving folks lots of good detail on how to make them, will help them turn out a good product for themselves as well. Thanks again David - i appreciate your kind comments.

Hey Ken,

Thanks very much as well.

Greg.

Austin Vert · Oct 4, 2016

Wow that is so awesome stuff Greg[sQUARED COOL][FACE SAVOURING DELICIOUS FOOD][THUMBS UP SIGN]Regards Lars ??

Thanks Lars.

Greg.

DK73 · Oct 4, 2016

My pleasier my Mate [FACE SAVOURING DELICIOUS FOOD] [THUMBS UP SIGN] Regards Lars

Power Mirror Tutorial by Austin Vert

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