U-build Signal Mirror? Help!

[YW84U]

OK, I want one! But, as most of us, I am not willing to spend $200+ USD for the Muth Co. variety.

I have an idea; let me bounce this off of you.....

LIGHTS:
LED's are cheap to buy, as are resistors and wiring. I figure, from my rusty math calculations, that you can easily put 7 red LED's in series in conjunction with about a 100 ohm resistor to run off our average 14 Volt system (when charging). These materials should cost less than 10 bucks at radio shack.

THE MIRROR:
I took an old mirror off a Pontiac for experimentation. I found that the silver surface is on the outside. Small circles for the 'dots' can be made by either masking and using some sort of etching solution, or what I did was take some metal tape, zip it through a hole punch, apply it to the mirror, and wire wheel the silver off with a dremel. Seems to be quite round and uniform this way, and makes that portion of the glass clear. I looked at a Denali last night to compare, and it seems that Chev etches the dots into a sort of "AT&T" style striped dot. Too technical for me.....

MOUNTING:
Each of our mirrors has the black plastic bezel - should be able to drill out the back and epoxy the LEDs in a chevron pattern, then solder up the wiring to go thru the mirror mount to the door, and onto the turn signal harness.

HOWEVER ----------
I am not sure how to remove the mirror & bezel from the housing! I phoned a local glass place, and they said that the glass itself is likely held by double-side tape or urethane, and 99.99% chance you will break it if trying to get it off. ($24.95 CDN for new glass OEM style). I viewed the Muth instructions for the 96+ Ex at:

Dead Link Removed

and it seems that on these models, you can remove the glass and bezel by disconnecting the two friction pins in the housing, and prying out the assembly. I have a 1991, and do not know if the housing shares the same internal parts.

Would anyone know from experience how to take the mirror/bezel out without damage? Once removed, I imagine some drilling with finesse may do the trick for the mounting......

Please lend me your suggestions!

TIA

 

[arturogof]

Hi there, well I got my bezels stolen about six months ago, I bought a pair of new ones and saw that the thing is only attached by pressure, you should be able to get it out of there only by pulling it out from one of it's sides.

Hope this helps.

 

[YW84U]

I'm just a wee little reluctant to use the old 'yank hard" method - I don't hold out much hope for it going back in like it used to......
Did you replace them yourself? Any damage after having them pried out?

TIA,

 

[arturogof]

Hi there, yes I did replace them myself, they just fall into place with a ball joint. You only have to make sure that you allign the ball joint(center) and the two electric mirror rails(for up-down and left-right actions).
The ball joint is very very tight so you have to push hard.
I think the mirror is pretty strong though.

And no, there was no damage after they were stolen. Im sure it is very easy to get them out only by applying some pressure. And they were stolen in like 2 minutes so I think it is not that difficult.

Please keep me posted on how you did this, I was also thinking of doing it with RadioShack leds!!!

 

[tenikiwon]

I want heated and signal mirrors which I can't find. I have found either or, but not both. If this is successful for you PLEASE take notes and pics.

Then I could do it, but it sounds scary, esp after paying $$ for new mirrors

 

[YW84U]

Well,

I decided to pay a visit to Ford, and they have no idea how to remove the guts without trashing the glass... So, I went to the local wrecking yard, and found a passenger mirror on a 92 Ex and thought to myself "heyyyyyyy....".



Needless to say, I'm glad it wasn't the one already on my truck! Took less than .0005 of a second to convert it into several mirrors! I left broken hearted and a little wiser, no less. Shoots the next 7 years all to hell, I guess.

I then looked at a 98 Ex (no, I didn't break anything) to see if the Muth Co. instructions were accurate. I did not see either of the friction pins they speak of, and could see no obvious way of removing the assembly as they stated.
SO -
It would appear that the only way to accomplish the conversion is to break the glass. It'll cost $25 a side to replace the mirror glass, and I still do not know if it will go back together properly if the assembly is yanked out. I'm debating whether I want to add another 14 years to my lucky streak, or maybe wait until some catastophe breaks them for me.

Any suggestions or thoughts on this?

 

[Bill Kemp]

I just got some Gus ? signal lights off ebay for $30. I was thinking I may be able to do the muth thing with them and here is your post.
I going to the glass co. to see about removal and will let you know what I find out.
I havent got the lights delivered yet so I dont know if they will work.
Breaking a mirror on purpose is excempt from the 7 yr. curse. I'm kinda sure about that.....

 

[YW84U]

Keep us up to date! I'm still debating over $50 worth of replacement glass and the possibility of hosing my power mirrors........