Bronco II Power Mirrors ???

[WNYBroncoBill]

If you do find a donor Bronco or F150, check for reinforcements inside the door. The weight of these mirrors on a Bronco II door unsupported could cause the doors to buckle in time after opening and closing the doors and hitting bumps.

If they don't have supports, possibly the support/reinforcements from a Bronco II with "Western Style" mirrors might work.

Good luck,

Bill

 

[Dave01234]

Bill, Getting ready to go to the u-pull yard. I if I find something I will check for support plates on the inside of the door panels. If they are not spot welded on I will get them also. Might be able to fab something if needed.

 

[Dave01234]

Went to the U-pull-yard and I did find something but first a few pictures of my stuff. My 89 BroncoII XLT

 

[Dave01234]

This is the donor for my engine and axles swap. 1994 Explorer Sport 4.0L Auto with manual lock hubs and manual transfer case.

 

[Dave01234]

My 1997 Explorer XLT stock no upgrades as of now

 

[Dave01234]

Now for the mirrors. I found mirrors from what I think was a 86 Escort. There was no door tag so I looked at the front turn signal and it said 86. These mirrors weigh 1pound 13oz. The stock mirrors only weigh 7.5oz they are very light. The door from the donor Escort had a re-enforcement running from the top to the bottom of the door and the mirrors were bolted through the re-enforcement. The bolt holes are the same from center to center but they are bigger and they are studs so you have to put the nuts on from inside the door but I did the passengers side and it was no problem. The studs do not interfere with the operation of the window. Running the power cord might be a little challenge as there is nothing to tywrap the cord to. Maybe get some of those metal tywrap pads and epoxy or superglue them to the inside of the outside door skin. Might have to re-enforce the mirror with a heavier metal plate. The following are pictures of the donor mirrors both front and back and along side the stock mirror. Then I took pictures of the mirror mounted on the passenger side door. The donor Escort did not have the master control so I took one from a 97 Explorer I think it will work ok just have to think about where I want to put it.

 

[Dave01234]

Here are some pictures of the donor mirror on mounted on the passenger side door.

 

[Dave01234]

I wanted to add that my dear wife Patty went with me in 91 degree temp and walked through the weeds and dirt. She found a BroncoII spare tire cover hidden in the weeds. Its in pretty good condition just needs some stitching around where the cord goes... also need a new cord.

 

[WNYBroncoBill]

Dave,

Nice work! The Escort mirrors appear to be on the correct angle to have them positioned horizontally - so they look very good. If you can find a BrII with the Western Mirrors, those are the one that have the reinforcement that goes from behind the mirror to the bottom of the door. The hole is factory drillled in the bottom of the door, and the top bolts are the same as the small stock body mirrors.

Since these mirrors weigh more, you might consider the brace for strength.

I believe you are on to something here, hope the wiring works out.

Bill

 

[Dave01234]

Bill, That's the way the Escort was reinforced from top to bottom but it looked like the reinforcement was spot welded in. Are the reinforcements for the first gen BroncoII's removable or do I need to take the whole door? Just getting to know the BroncoII's I've only had mine for about a month. Have had Explorers for the last 10 years.

 

[WNYBroncoBill]

Dave,

The reinforcement "bolts in" on the BII. The mirror bolts hold the top (and a small sheet metal screw as a placeholder) and the support then attaches to the bottom of the inside door panel. One bolt, I believe 10MM. For the "Western Mirrors" two holes need to be blind drilled in the center of the outside door panel. For the Escort mirrors you will not need to drill the center holes. Just clean up the bracket where it rests on the inside of the door at this point and paint them with rust preventative paint. Rangers have the same reinforcement as the doors are the same - and most had the 'Western Mirrors".

Send me you e-mail address to bbarnhart@rochester.rr.com and we can continue this there. I have a 1988 XLT parts Bronco that has the same interior as yours. I will be parting it out soon.

Bill

 

[ragajungle]

AWESOME!!! AWESOME!!! AWESOOOOOOOME!!! I couldn't have found a better set up!!

 

[rookieshooter]

Very nice job.

 

[Dave01234]

Thanks

 

[Dave01234]

Update. The hole spacing is different on the Escort mirrors. My passenger side mirror was not attached with the factory bracket they just ran screws through the mirror into the door. Today when I took my drivers side mirror off it has a bracket screwed to the door. So I was wrong when I said that you just have to make the holes bigger. You will have to drill a new hole. Sorry for the mistake.

 

[will1862]

Did you ever wire up the mirrors? I have been thinking of doing this mod to my ranger for years. Late 80's mustang convertible mirrors are the same as the escorts as well. I want to put a set on my 90' BII as well.

 

[Dave01234]

I haven't wired the mirrors yet. I'm doing an engine/axle swap so I figured I'd wire them then. The door wiring for my 89 B2 XLT runs behind the front fenders all the way up to the front of the truck. I was thinking about using the same wire loom except as soon as the mirror wire exits the door I was thinking about going through the kick panel. This way if I mount my control switch on the drivers side door panel I can just go through the kick panel, under the dash, through the other kick panel and into the passenger side door for control of that mirror. I have the fenders off because I painted the truck and I'm leaving them off until the swap is done but I took a quick look at the access to the kick panels from the location of the window and door lock wiring and it doesn't look good. I have to look at it better, I just took a quick look as I was installing body mounts and had some rusted mounting brackets that I had to weld some custom plates on the top to fix. If I can't access the kick panel looks like the wiring will have to either go all the way to the front of the truck and back or maybe I can go through the inner fender well and across the fire wall to get to the passenger side door. It's going to be a while before I get to it and I haven't forgot about this thread. I will updated it when I get the mirrors mounted and wired. I'm still looking for the western style mirrors reinforcement brackets because the Escort power mirrors weigh three times the factory mirrors. I may just make a plate out of some 1/8 inch steel. Any way it goes I have to have some kind of reinforcement behind those power mirrors. If anyone has suggestions on wiring please post. Also I'm not dead set on mounting the control switch on the door panel I may mount it on the dash. As I said I will keep this thread updated. Have a great day.

 

[WNYBroncoBill]

Power Mirrors

Dave,

Why not mount the control switch on the console? Run the control wires from each door through the same holes as the power windows, then into the kick panel and then under the carpet to the console. It seems like all you would need then is a power feed from the fuse panel under the carpet to the mirror switch.

This is the way I installed the control switches for the snow plow on one of our Bronco II's.

Bill

 

[Dave01234]

Bill, That's an option. My new Rav4 has the mirror control switch in the center console and I like that. My Bronco doesn't have a center console as of now but it will. It originally came with a 60/40 front bench seat I took that out and put in those blue seats from an Explorer. Those seats will be coming out as I'm changing my interior to a mocha/ tan interior. Depending on what kind of console I put in that is definitely an option. I like the consoles from... I think they are from the 95, 96, 97 rangers but I will look at all options. The key is if I'm able to go through the kick panel. Have a good day. I'll email you in a few days when there's more to report.

 

[Dave01234]

Couple of pictures of the door wiring. Notice how high up the wiring comes out of the door. If you drill a hole across from where the wire exits the door you will be into the dash. I have my truck apart because I'm working on it I'm looking at this as if someone was to upgrade and their truck was not tore apart. I guess you could drill a hole lower in the door and have the wiring exit lower even with the kick panel but that would require removing the door and there is no slack in the wiring to the window and the door lock. Drilling the kick panel can be done from the inside. There is a grommet lower in the door frame and the kick panel is double wall just have to make sure there in no wiring going through there... I don't think there is. Anyway here are a few pictures for those thinking about this project.