Side view mirror loose

[Jeffrey S.]

Hello all. The side view mirror on my '69 will not stay in position on a rough road. Has anyone had any success in tightening the head up? Would putting some Lock-Tite in the ball and socket help or will it ruin the whole unit? As always, thanks for your help.
Jeff

[Jack H.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

This has come up MANY times before.... Injecting 'goo' to absorb the slop between the swivel ball and it's tension plate might endure for a short period as a 'fix'. The real fix to the problem is to either buy a replacement exterior mirror (they DO come dated) or attempt disassembly and repair of your mirror.

The tensioning plate is held against the swivel ball behind the mirror glass by peened over rivets formed in the pot metal housing of mirror. Sometimes it's possible to 'save' an original and sometimes it's a fool's errand. The archieves have more info on this, but you essentially soak the head of the mirror in lacquer thinner to dissolve the RTV bond holding the glass in place and go from there....

[Berton E.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

I had the same problem with the side view mirror on my 1966. I looked over the responses in the database and saw several references to soaking in solvent to remove the glass. When I actually attempted to disassemble the mirror, it was easier than it appeared. There were three small springs in pockets behind the glass. All that was necessary was to push in on the glass to depress the springs. Once the glass was depressed, it was easy to remove the keeper ring with a miniature needle nose plier. Once the glass was out I set the mirror head on a padded surface and "adjusted" the tension bar with a small hammer and punch to make a tighter fit on the socket. It worked better than new. Good luck.

[Gerard F.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

Mike,

I had the same problem posted for my 67 last week, and was advised to soak it in lacquer thinner to remove the glass. To be honest, I'm a little afraid to do this for fear of ruining the mirror coating on the original glass.

Did you soak yours before you pushed yours in and removed the retainer?
I can see the retainer on mine, and I'd like to try your method without soaking. Is there any adhesive between glass and the housing which would pull the mirror coating if you tried to do it dry (without soaking)?

Jerry Fuccillo

[Gerard F.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

Jeff,

I've tried Lock-tite, and even JB Weld on the ball in the socket to roughen it up a bit on my 67. It's only a temporary fix.

I'm going to try Mike's method in this thread, and then Jack's second method. If I ruin the glass, I'll go to Jack's first suggestion.

Jerry Fuccillo

[Jack Beebe]

Re: Side view mirror loose

I have a different issue with the side mirror. It appears that the mounting casting is loose from the backing plate inside the door. The hex screw is tight to the mounting casting but still moves around. I took the inner door panel off but don't see an easy way to get at the backing plate unless I remove the vent window regulator. Any suggestions?

[Gary S.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

Jack, I am one of the proponents of using Lok Tite and it has been more than temporary. We did this on my neighbor's 73 and it was still holding wll over a year later when we painted the car. At that point, he elected to remove the mirror by soaking it in lacquer thinner and then "adjusting" the plate under the glass with a punch and hammer.

Gary

[Berton E.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

Jerry,

No, I didn't soak my mirror in anything before disassembly. I just pushed in on the glass lightly and it moved sufficiently to remove the retainer ring without difficulty. I'm sure mine is a repo. mirror, but the originals may be similar.

[Gerard F.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

Thanks Mike,

I checked mine out last night, and my original is also moves inward if you push on the glass. I'm going to try your method this weekend.

Jerry

[Gerard F.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

Jack,

I'm kind of an amateur at this and maybe someone else can chime in on your problem. They do make a mount kit and a replacement reinforcement. I think I'd try to tighten down the screws between the mount plate and reinforcement plate (if they are screws and not rivets) first, and then go to a mount kit, if that doesn't work.

Jerry Fuccillo

[Terry M.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

The C3 side mirror glass is held in with silicone, and requires a soak in lacquer thinner to remove the glass.
I am sure the C2 side mirror glass attachment is different, but I have no experience to speak to. Sounds like you have found the key though.

[Berton E.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

Jerry,

Just make sure the three little springs don't get away from you as you loosen the glass. They are only retained by the glass holding them into the shallow pockets in the casting. Since your glass moves you should have no trouble.

[Chuck S.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

I don't know about C2s, but the mirror mounting plate on C3s is screwed to a bolting plate riveted to the door. I suspect it will be the same on C2s, because steel attachments and bolting plates are typically riveted to fiberglass body panels.

You should be able to see what you need to do from the outside once the mirror, and maybe the mounting plate, is removed. If the rivets have somehow loosened, the appropriate repair will be to replace the aluminum rivets with new ones. On C3s, these rivits have smaller heads than the ususal aluminum body rivits. Refer to the chassis service manual to see what needs to done to gain access to the back side...if the rivits need to be replaced, then it's going to be a giant pain to fix.

[Harmon C.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

About 50% of the time when you try to tighten the head by repiening the stake one of them breaks and its time for a new mirror. Lyle

[Jeffrey S.]

Re: Side view mirror loose

Thank you all for your very helpful advice. I will try to take the glass out and tighten the head as per your suggestions. This is a Paragon dated reproduction, so the worst that will happen is that the mirror breaks or, as Lyle suggested, the rivets break, I will have to get another dated reproduction.
Thanks again everyone!
Jeff