- Joined
- Jul 27, 2012
- Messages
- 3,128
- Reaction score
- 500
- Location
- Brisbane - Australia
- My Car
- 1973 Mustang Convertible
1971 - 1973 POWER MIRROR TUTORIAL PART 9 - PAINTING THE MIRROR BODIES AND INSTALLING THE DOOR RUBBERS.
INTRODUCTION.
Hi and welcome. OK, a change of pace here of sorts. If you have come this far with the project,and it's going pretty well for you, then congratulations on a job well done and keep up the good work. In this tutorial, i look into doing up and spray painting the two complete mirror housings as well as installing the rubber door bellows for the wiring to connect up with the car body. First to the painting. Here's the big question first up. DO I SPRAY PAINT THE MIRRORS, OR DO I PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THAT FOR ME? Well i guess only you can answer that one, as it's going to depend mainly on your own skill set regards spray painting. My tutorials will be going out to worldwide circulation, but in regards the '71'73 Mustang Forum, i am aware that there are a real mixed assortment of guys or even gals who can and do spray painting themselves. I'm a pro spray painter myself, so doing something like this is a walk in the park for me, but not for others maybe. I guess at the end of the day, you will make up your own mind on whether you will do this work yourself or get someone else to do it for you.
REFINISHING THE MIRROR BODIES.
That said, i won't go into too much detail here regards the paint job, but just pass on some basic helpful tips for all to take into account. Firstly, the primer coat used on the repro mirror bodies is pretty good in a way, but from my point of view, it's too thin on. At a pinch, you could just dry scuff the primer with say 800 wet and dry paper to get your adhesion happening, and then move in with your base coat and then use a clear coat 2 pack system.(a solid 2 pack enamel if you own a solid colored Mustang). But you really need to sand down the existing primer well,with say 240 wet and dry, the apply about three good coats of 2 pack primer over the mirror bodies and pedistal base. That will give you a much better quality finished result, and better looking too. So yes, then you guide coat the primer, and then wet sand it down with 800 wet and dry paper. Then you move in with the color base coats or top coat clear to finish off. Finish, by buffing and polishing out any dirt that's gone into the job. You will also need to spray paint all the gal steel locking plates in a satin black color, to prevent any rusting that may occur later on. I chose to use a 2 pack satin black paint for good wear and durability factor. If you will be painting these parts yourself, i recommend using a light coat of etch primer on the bare steel first, followed by a 2 pack primer, followed by the 2 pack satin black to finish off. That approach should give good durability to the parts for wear and tear. Powder coating is another option for you to go with. That's your choice. You will notice that i have chosen not to purposely paint any aluminium parts. I intend to leave them alone because i want maximum slippage with adjustment of the parts when i do the mirror installs.If the parts were all painted up before assembly, i felt that would create drag or friction problems with the parts rubbing up against each other, thus reducing the ability to move them around on each other. Anyway, the raw aluminium won't corrode in this application - it's not an issue. However, it is my intention to be masking off the motors later on when they will be finally installed into the housings, and spraying some mat black lacquer into the housings last.
After you have sprayed the mirror bodies,and given them about 2 days to air dry out and start curing out, you can move in and paint the inside of the mirror bodies in a 2 Pack satin or mat black.What's needed here is to start by using 1/4 inch fineline masking tape, and on the drivers side mirror body, come in from the edge about 15mm / 5/8 inch, and lay down a line of the tape running paralell to the edge perimeter of the body.Try to be as neat as you can here as this line will show up in the finished product. Now back mask away from that tape line, and cover the whole of the outside of the mirror body with paper and tape. Next, dry scuff down the interior of the mirror housing with say, 1200 wet and dry sand paper so the black paint will stick properly. Now spray 2 decent coats of the 2 Pack satin black to the inside of both mirror bodies, and let dry for a day or so. When you mask off the passengers side body with the fine line tape, come in from the edge about 20mm / 3/4 inch as the mirror glass sits further back into the body. We paint the inside black to give the final product a good look in regards being able to peek in and see what's behind the mirror glass between the edge of the glass and the mirror body all the way around. So that's the mirror bodies all painted and ready for the install later on.
When it comes to getting a good color match to your present car, you may be lucky enough to have some matched paint left over from a previous spray job. That's great if you do, but if you're doing this job at home for example, color matching could be a hassle for you. If that's the case, then drive your Mustang to a good spray shop and get them to make up and match some color for you to match your car's present color. If they are a good pro shop they will be able to do this for you for a reasonable price. If they can't forget them and move onto another paint shop who can do it for you. I know the Mustang colors are hard to match in a way, but doable at the end of the day.
Another way to look at it is if you do all the spray work your self, you save well on the labor costs. The material cost you will have to bare if you don't already have the paint at home to work with. Some would argue then, that for a small job like this one is, it'd better to just go out and pay a shop to do both mirrors, start to finish. So good luck which ever way you end up going. Also, don't forget i'm on the Forum to help any members with technical Spray painting advice they may be needing.
SETTING UP THE DOOR RUBBERS.
Now let's talk about the door rubbers. Wires from the power mirrors and door switch, will have to be run back from both doors to the fuse box. Ford made and sold the correct size rubber door bellows back in '71-'73 for Mustangs to cater for the power window systems installed on some of the cars. These door rubbers were of a good thick practical size. Sadly, these original Ford door rubbers have not been re made or replicated to this day. I was very lucky to be able to find and buy a set on E bay recently. If you already own a Mustang with these original rubbers already installed, then that's great. If not, there is another way around the problem. There is an American parts company called Encore who sells used door rubbers for 1979-93 Fords. I have bought a set of these door rubbers, and the sizing is almost identical to the original Mustang ones. On that basis, i would recommend folk to buy them and make good use of them. If you hunt around, there are other door wiring connectors available out there of certain shapes and sizes, but i felt it would be better to stick with the original Ford concept as much as you can. I have included Encore on your shopping list as well. I used a Vernier gauge to measure the end throat sizes or diameters of the original and the Encore rubbers. I will give these measurements here. Ford originals........ Door end: 1 7/8 inches or 47mm. Pillar end: 1 1/4 or32mm. Encore used ...... Door end: 50mm or 2 inches. Pillar end: 42mm or 1 5/8 inches. If you are going to install a set of door rubbers for yourself, i have provided pics and measurements as a guide to where to drill out your holes, and what size drill bits you would be using. I was fortunate to own a '73 Mach 1 Mustang which has original Ford factory power windows installed in the car with the door rubbers. I took my location measurements from my original Ford setup as a guide. These measurements are as follows - Door hole: From bottom edge of top hinge to the center hole of rubber = 70mm or 2 3/4 inches and from vertical edge of door to center hole of rubber = 133mm or 5 1/4 inches. Pillar hole:From top of bottom hinge to edge of hole rubber = 60mm or 2 3/8 inches and from leading edge of pillar to edge of hole rubber = 20mm or 3/4 inch. But the good news is, that i discovered that Ford has provided little dimples marked out in the steel exactly where these holes should be drilled or positioned. Locate each dimple and drill accordingly. It's that easy.Just check that my measurements come in at the same as where the dimples are located.This hole layout applies for both sides of your car.
DRILLING OUT THE HOLES.
Sorry folks, but at this stage, you will be needing to remove both your doors to carry out this operation. Unbolt your doors from hinge to door. Leave all hinges on the pillars. Before removing, mark out around the hinge plates where they meet the doors. This will provide an accurate positioning guide when you come to put them back on again. Drill out the doors first. Now using your hole saw and cutting oil, low speed drill out the hole. If you are using the Encore rubbers, your hole saw diameter size will be 48mm or 1 7/8 inches. Ford oem rubbers will be 46mm or 1 13/16 inches.Now clean up the area, and do a trial fit. Feed the rubber in from the inside of the door back outwards. It should be a nice tight firm fit, and when you push/ pull the rubber when in position, it should not come out of the hole. If you find it does for any reason, then mix up some epoxy Araldite, and glue that rubber into the door so it will never come back out again. Next, we drill out the pillar rubbers. Locate the dimple marks and drill using a hole saw 42mm or 1 5/8 inches diameter for the Encore brand rubber and 32mm or 1 1/4 inches for the Ford Oem rubber. I have included the Ford OEM measurements as well here, because you may have found a set on E bay and bought them to use. Now that drill out on the pillars should capture and hold the rubbers to the pillars. Mine did. But if not, then use the glueing technique to permanately hold and capture the rubbers in the pillars as well. Lastly, with pencil brush and suitable paint, go around and touch up the edges of the holes you have drilled out. This will prevent rust from coming in the holes. Before pencil brushing, you would have carefully filed or sanded the edges down on all your holes you drilled to take away any rough edges off the metal. Once the drilling work is done, then leave your doors off and put them on stand by ready for the last part of the project which will be the final install.
We will talk about the final install in the next and last tutorial.
Many thanks,
Greg.
REFERENCE PHOTOS:
View attachment PART 9 - G 1.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 2.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 3.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 4.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G5.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 6.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 7.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 8.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 9.jpg
LINK TO PART 10:
http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-s-power-mirror-tutorial-part-10
INTRODUCTION.
Hi and welcome. OK, a change of pace here of sorts. If you have come this far with the project,and it's going pretty well for you, then congratulations on a job well done and keep up the good work. In this tutorial, i look into doing up and spray painting the two complete mirror housings as well as installing the rubber door bellows for the wiring to connect up with the car body. First to the painting. Here's the big question first up. DO I SPRAY PAINT THE MIRRORS, OR DO I PAY SOMEONE ELSE TO DO THAT FOR ME? Well i guess only you can answer that one, as it's going to depend mainly on your own skill set regards spray painting. My tutorials will be going out to worldwide circulation, but in regards the '71'73 Mustang Forum, i am aware that there are a real mixed assortment of guys or even gals who can and do spray painting themselves. I'm a pro spray painter myself, so doing something like this is a walk in the park for me, but not for others maybe. I guess at the end of the day, you will make up your own mind on whether you will do this work yourself or get someone else to do it for you.
REFINISHING THE MIRROR BODIES.
That said, i won't go into too much detail here regards the paint job, but just pass on some basic helpful tips for all to take into account. Firstly, the primer coat used on the repro mirror bodies is pretty good in a way, but from my point of view, it's too thin on. At a pinch, you could just dry scuff the primer with say 800 wet and dry paper to get your adhesion happening, and then move in with your base coat and then use a clear coat 2 pack system.(a solid 2 pack enamel if you own a solid colored Mustang). But you really need to sand down the existing primer well,with say 240 wet and dry, the apply about three good coats of 2 pack primer over the mirror bodies and pedistal base. That will give you a much better quality finished result, and better looking too. So yes, then you guide coat the primer, and then wet sand it down with 800 wet and dry paper. Then you move in with the color base coats or top coat clear to finish off. Finish, by buffing and polishing out any dirt that's gone into the job. You will also need to spray paint all the gal steel locking plates in a satin black color, to prevent any rusting that may occur later on. I chose to use a 2 pack satin black paint for good wear and durability factor. If you will be painting these parts yourself, i recommend using a light coat of etch primer on the bare steel first, followed by a 2 pack primer, followed by the 2 pack satin black to finish off. That approach should give good durability to the parts for wear and tear. Powder coating is another option for you to go with. That's your choice. You will notice that i have chosen not to purposely paint any aluminium parts. I intend to leave them alone because i want maximum slippage with adjustment of the parts when i do the mirror installs.If the parts were all painted up before assembly, i felt that would create drag or friction problems with the parts rubbing up against each other, thus reducing the ability to move them around on each other. Anyway, the raw aluminium won't corrode in this application - it's not an issue. However, it is my intention to be masking off the motors later on when they will be finally installed into the housings, and spraying some mat black lacquer into the housings last.
After you have sprayed the mirror bodies,and given them about 2 days to air dry out and start curing out, you can move in and paint the inside of the mirror bodies in a 2 Pack satin or mat black.What's needed here is to start by using 1/4 inch fineline masking tape, and on the drivers side mirror body, come in from the edge about 15mm / 5/8 inch, and lay down a line of the tape running paralell to the edge perimeter of the body.Try to be as neat as you can here as this line will show up in the finished product. Now back mask away from that tape line, and cover the whole of the outside of the mirror body with paper and tape. Next, dry scuff down the interior of the mirror housing with say, 1200 wet and dry sand paper so the black paint will stick properly. Now spray 2 decent coats of the 2 Pack satin black to the inside of both mirror bodies, and let dry for a day or so. When you mask off the passengers side body with the fine line tape, come in from the edge about 20mm / 3/4 inch as the mirror glass sits further back into the body. We paint the inside black to give the final product a good look in regards being able to peek in and see what's behind the mirror glass between the edge of the glass and the mirror body all the way around. So that's the mirror bodies all painted and ready for the install later on.
When it comes to getting a good color match to your present car, you may be lucky enough to have some matched paint left over from a previous spray job. That's great if you do, but if you're doing this job at home for example, color matching could be a hassle for you. If that's the case, then drive your Mustang to a good spray shop and get them to make up and match some color for you to match your car's present color. If they are a good pro shop they will be able to do this for you for a reasonable price. If they can't forget them and move onto another paint shop who can do it for you. I know the Mustang colors are hard to match in a way, but doable at the end of the day.
Another way to look at it is if you do all the spray work your self, you save well on the labor costs. The material cost you will have to bare if you don't already have the paint at home to work with. Some would argue then, that for a small job like this one is, it'd better to just go out and pay a shop to do both mirrors, start to finish. So good luck which ever way you end up going. Also, don't forget i'm on the Forum to help any members with technical Spray painting advice they may be needing.
SETTING UP THE DOOR RUBBERS.
Now let's talk about the door rubbers. Wires from the power mirrors and door switch, will have to be run back from both doors to the fuse box. Ford made and sold the correct size rubber door bellows back in '71-'73 for Mustangs to cater for the power window systems installed on some of the cars. These door rubbers were of a good thick practical size. Sadly, these original Ford door rubbers have not been re made or replicated to this day. I was very lucky to be able to find and buy a set on E bay recently. If you already own a Mustang with these original rubbers already installed, then that's great. If not, there is another way around the problem. There is an American parts company called Encore who sells used door rubbers for 1979-93 Fords. I have bought a set of these door rubbers, and the sizing is almost identical to the original Mustang ones. On that basis, i would recommend folk to buy them and make good use of them. If you hunt around, there are other door wiring connectors available out there of certain shapes and sizes, but i felt it would be better to stick with the original Ford concept as much as you can. I have included Encore on your shopping list as well. I used a Vernier gauge to measure the end throat sizes or diameters of the original and the Encore rubbers. I will give these measurements here. Ford originals........ Door end: 1 7/8 inches or 47mm. Pillar end: 1 1/4 or32mm. Encore used ...... Door end: 50mm or 2 inches. Pillar end: 42mm or 1 5/8 inches. If you are going to install a set of door rubbers for yourself, i have provided pics and measurements as a guide to where to drill out your holes, and what size drill bits you would be using. I was fortunate to own a '73 Mach 1 Mustang which has original Ford factory power windows installed in the car with the door rubbers. I took my location measurements from my original Ford setup as a guide. These measurements are as follows - Door hole: From bottom edge of top hinge to the center hole of rubber = 70mm or 2 3/4 inches and from vertical edge of door to center hole of rubber = 133mm or 5 1/4 inches. Pillar hole:From top of bottom hinge to edge of hole rubber = 60mm or 2 3/8 inches and from leading edge of pillar to edge of hole rubber = 20mm or 3/4 inch. But the good news is, that i discovered that Ford has provided little dimples marked out in the steel exactly where these holes should be drilled or positioned. Locate each dimple and drill accordingly. It's that easy.Just check that my measurements come in at the same as where the dimples are located.This hole layout applies for both sides of your car.
DRILLING OUT THE HOLES.
Sorry folks, but at this stage, you will be needing to remove both your doors to carry out this operation. Unbolt your doors from hinge to door. Leave all hinges on the pillars. Before removing, mark out around the hinge plates where they meet the doors. This will provide an accurate positioning guide when you come to put them back on again. Drill out the doors first. Now using your hole saw and cutting oil, low speed drill out the hole. If you are using the Encore rubbers, your hole saw diameter size will be 48mm or 1 7/8 inches. Ford oem rubbers will be 46mm or 1 13/16 inches.Now clean up the area, and do a trial fit. Feed the rubber in from the inside of the door back outwards. It should be a nice tight firm fit, and when you push/ pull the rubber when in position, it should not come out of the hole. If you find it does for any reason, then mix up some epoxy Araldite, and glue that rubber into the door so it will never come back out again. Next, we drill out the pillar rubbers. Locate the dimple marks and drill using a hole saw 42mm or 1 5/8 inches diameter for the Encore brand rubber and 32mm or 1 1/4 inches for the Ford Oem rubber. I have included the Ford OEM measurements as well here, because you may have found a set on E bay and bought them to use. Now that drill out on the pillars should capture and hold the rubbers to the pillars. Mine did. But if not, then use the glueing technique to permanately hold and capture the rubbers in the pillars as well. Lastly, with pencil brush and suitable paint, go around and touch up the edges of the holes you have drilled out. This will prevent rust from coming in the holes. Before pencil brushing, you would have carefully filed or sanded the edges down on all your holes you drilled to take away any rough edges off the metal. Once the drilling work is done, then leave your doors off and put them on stand by ready for the last part of the project which will be the final install.
We will talk about the final install in the next and last tutorial.
Many thanks,
Greg.
REFERENCE PHOTOS:
View attachment PART 9 - G 1.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 2.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 3.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 4.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G5.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 6.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 7.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 8.jpgView attachment PART 9 - G 9.jpg
LINK TO PART 10:
http://www.7173mustangs.com/thread-austin-vert-s-power-mirror-tutorial-part-10
Last edited by a moderator:
[THUMBS UP SIGN] Regards Lars 
