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Late model rear view mirror in early classic? Opinions?
As the title states, I’m considering installing a later model rear view mirror with compass and temp in my 69 Cutlass. I have installed several of them in cars that never had them I enjoy them and passengers always comment. However, I have never put one in a car as old as mine, I’m wondering how out of place it would look. My concern is glueing the mounting button to the glass, once it’s there it’s not coming off!! Opinions??
As the title states, I’m considering installing a later model rear view mirror with compass and temp in my 69 Cutlass. I have installed several of them in cars that never had them I enjoy them and passengers always comment. However, I have never put one in a car as old as mine, I’m wondering how out of place it would look. My concern is glueing the mounting button to the glass, once it’s there it’s not coming off!! Opinions??
Given how many of those mirror buttons I've had to glue back on, "not coming off" will not be your problem...
Seriously, I've been considering this also. The two problems I have are 1) appearance - the newer mirrors are all black, not chrome or stainless, and don't look right from the front, and 2) removing the original mirror arm leaves a big divot at the front of the headliner, not to mention that the mirror support is also the inboard pivot anchor for your sun visors.
Years ago someone here demonstrated how he had adapted the newer mirror to the stock mirror arm, which looked a whole lot better than gluing the button to the windshield. I haven't been able to find that thread.
Given how many of those mirror buttons I've had to glue back on, "not coming off" will not be your problem...
Yep. Many times I've come back to my car to find mine dangling from the wires.
With a little fabricating it would not be too hard to hook a more modern mirror to the old mounting arm.
My 90s cars have some of the first higher production auto dimming mirrors. The ones in the mid 80s "98" cars had a dimming sentinel dial on them but by '89 they ditched that and it was a basic electrochromic mirror.
I've looked at the ones with the compass in the JY and they have an extra sensor box of some kind at the windshield and five wires. That's where I bailed on the compass.
If you can do without the compass and want just the auto dimming feature they are a cinch to wire. That type has three wires; one key on hot, one ground, and one for the trans position switch (for full brightness in reverse gear). You can forget the switch wire and have just power and ground.
You can find them on Cadillac Deville's too and they are plentiful in the JY:
They do go bad though; I've had two bite the dust. The top one in the pic below is no good.
Yep. Many times I've come back to my car to find mine dangling from the wires.
With a little fabricating it would not be too hard to hook a more modern mirror to the old mounting arm.
My 90s cars have some of the first higher production auto dimming mirrors. The ones in the mid 80s "98" cars had a dimming sentinel dial on them but by '89 they ditched that and it was a basic electrochromic mirror.
I've looked at the ones with the compass in the JY and they have an extra sensor box of some kind at the windshield and five wires. That's where I bailed on the compass.
If you can do without the compass and want just the auto dimming feature they are a cinch to wire. That type has three wires; one key on hot, one ground, and one for the trans position switch (for full brightness in reverse gear). You can forget the switch wire and have just power and ground.
You can find them on Cadillac Deville's too and they are plentiful in the JY:
They do go bad though; I've had two bite the dust. The top one in the pic below is no good.
the little box I assume is the sensor for the compass. The only wires that are absolutely required is a switched power (pink) ground(black) and the 2 wires for the temp sensor (green/white tracer, black/white tracer) there is also a gray wire (I think) that is a signal wire for the dimming outside door mirrors, and a green wire that is connected to the reverse lights ( mirror clears when shifted to reverse). Not much to the mirrors. I installed one in my daughters neon, dads 81 GMC truck (455 Olds powered of course!) my bol 87 Cutlass, plus many others.
Well, I’m deep into this project!! I have a couple minor hurdles to overcome. I’m trying to decide the best way to go with adapting the old mount to the new mirror. One thought I have is to install the old mounting stem into the new mirror pivoting stem. I’m leaning this way due to the mirrors i bought don’t have the same internal structure as shown on the thread Joe found.
Second issue is what to with the compass sensor “box “. Originally it snapped onto the mount that clipped to the button on the glass. Obviously, that won’t work in the Olds. My thought is to epoxy the sensor to the back of the mirror, or maybe fabrication a mounting tab on the mirror stem. I know a picture is worth a thousand words, I have no idea how to include pics.
Lastly, does anyone know of a plastic paint or dye that looks like the polished aluminum the factory mirrors had on these cars? I thought maybe using some of the “spray can chrome” paint we all made fun of would maybe help the mirror blend in. Opinions? Thanks
Yeah, those glue on mirrors were either really stuck or they fell off. I remember glueing many back on in the 90's. But one time I wanted to remove a mirror off a parts car. I took a hammer and screwdriver and used as a chisel. It actually took a divot out of the windshield! Nice project Matt, keep us updated on how it turns out.
My project continues! I’m not sure what mirror the OP used on his car, every mirror I found had a small compass module that clipped to the mounting button on the glass. I don’t want to use a glue on button, so I had to find a way to use the compass module without being glued to the windshield. I first tried to simply glue the module inside the mirror, There is plenty of room inside opposite of where the compass is, some of the fancier mirrors have backup cameras, I tried glueing the module in the space that the backup camera screen would go. Once it was all buttoned up I tried to calibrate it, with zero success. It seemed to no matter how I oriented the compass module, either North/South or East/West was backwards. After much head scratching, it dawned on me that the module was tilted roughly 45*, combined with about a 45* windshield slope, means the module needs to be horizontal with the horizon. I’m attempting to epoxy the accelerometers inside the mirror, with them positioned correctly. I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet!
Try a mirror from a mid-to-late '90s full size Olds, Buick or Cadillac. They're self-contained and only need a power connection for the compass to function. My '95 Aurora came with a self-dimming mirror but no compass. Oddly enough, it wasn't even an option that first year, even though it was available on the Eighty-Eight. After having the car a few months, I upgraded to a compass mirror out of a '99 Aurora and other than gluing the button to the windshield, it was plug-and-play. The electrical connector was the same and the compass and dimming function worked fine as soon as I turned the car on after installing it. Of course, I still had to calibrate it by going to a nearby mall parking lot and driving in circles for a minute or two. That mirror was given to me by a fellow Aurora owner from his parts car. I'm not sure what method he used to remove it, but like Greg mentioned, a small part of the windshield was still attached to the anchor button. I had a devil of a time removing the buttons from both it and my old mirror so I could use the one from my old mirror to mount the new one.
Before removing the original mirror from my Aurora, I went out to a nearby Pull-A-Part yard, where they don't care if you tear things up, and practiced on a couple of their cars. There's a little trick to removing a glued-on mirror--no tools of destruction required. Sitting in the passenger seat, so the steering wheel isn't in your way, unplug the power lead from the back of the mirror (or cut the wires if you want to keep the plug). Grip the mirror with both hands so that your left hand is on the driver's side of the mirror with the back of your hand facing the windshield and your right hand on the passenger side with the back of your hand facing you. With your right hand, push the passenger side of the mirror against the windshield and hold it firmly. Then with your left hand pull the driver's side of the mirror toward you with a sharp, snapping motion. It should pop right off without taking any glass with it. The first one I tried this at the junk yard was on a '96 Seville and the plastic case actually came apart in my hands. So I moved over to the '99 Buick Park Avenue next to it and tried again. That one came off perfectly intact, so I bought it as a backup, even though I didn't really need it.
Next time at the salvage yard I’ll have to look for one of those mirrors. The mirror I’m attempting to install in the Olds has auto dim, compass and temp. If I can see how the Aurora mirror works with the compass components inside maybe it’s something I could copy.
I want to try a c8 vette, mirror, camera. It is both.
you can use it as a normal mirror, or flick a switch and it is an always on(while car is on) rear view camera with a wide angle lens.
Seems like the best of both worlds, problem is ,so far g.m. has only blessed the c8 with them.
G.M. should have been put in the Camaro asap.
Sounds pricey unless you're parting out a new Vette. What would you put it in? Got your camera and wiring figured out? I live a couple miles from the proving grounds and I've seen several makes/models with them. According to the mags they're good, but your eyes have to refocus when using them.
July 3rd, 2018, 08:30 PM
