Many years ago, I posted a thread questioning if a late model rear view mirror in a classic car would look out of place. It wasn’t as easy as I thought it woulda have been. It could be said I made it much more difficult than it COULD have been, I did it this way to minimize the “out of place” look.



The finished project. Please note the mirror is dimmed. The car is parked in the garage, there is lots of light coming thru the windshield.

Same as above, except I put the shifter in reverse. This turns on the reverse lights, the mirror goes clear regardless of the amount of ambient light.


Now, I’ll describe how I got to the finished project.


The mirror I used came out of a 99 Chevy Suburban. It has auto dimming, compass, and outside temperature. It was used on many GM cars and trucks. Make sure you get the outside temp sensor. I also got a couple other mirrors for parts, I’ll explain what was needed and why a little later.


I could have simply glued the mounting button on the windshield and screwed the mirror to the button. That is the easy way, and if it wasn’t for leaving holes in the headliner is the way I probably would have done it. Unfortunately, the headliner is fairly new. If I had needed a new headliner, I would have glued the button the the glass a d be done with it.

I bought a broken mirror from Scott Winn (Oldspackrat) so I would have a extra mirror mount to work with. All I needed was the part that screws to the roof and the mirror mount stalk.



This is the dimming mirror ball mount. I made a couple cuts with a cutoff wheel around the ball, then peeled away the metal crimped around the ball.


Once I had the ball exposed. I carefully ground and filled the ball pivot until it looked like this:

I drilled a hole thru the center of the modified ball pivot


Once the hole was drilled, the new mirror will fit onto the original mirror mounting stalk.

This is the original mirror mount.


Now, the problem of adapting the original mirror mount to the new mirror was solved. Now onto the compass sensor problem.

The original compass used sensor on the mounting button on the windshield. Since I didn’t want to glue a button on the glass, I needed another solution. After lots of brainstorming, I decided to modify the mirror housing and relocate the sensor.

My first attempt didn’t work, I couldn’t get the compass to calibrate. It dawned on me the orientation of the sensor is critical to accuracy. The sensor is tilted in the sensor housing at a 45* angle, and the windshield is also tilted at 45ish*. Add those angles together, the sensor is flat.

Sensor circuit board in the mirror mount, with the cover removed.

Here is the sender housing assembled in about the same position it would be on the glass.


My solution to putting the sensor inside the mirror housing was by far the most time consuming part of the project. I made room by basically glueing 2 backs together. I cut a hole in the “inner” rear housing for the sensor circuit board to fit in, with the orientation as needed.

2 rear housings. The one on the right with the hole cut for circuit board clearance.


Here is the sensor sitting in the mounting hole. I used some hot glue to hold it in position. I had to cut and grind the internal ribbing molded into the plastic to allow the 2 housings to fit closely together. Once I was happy with the fit, I epoxied the 2 housings together. Then it was lots of sanding, primer, followed by more sanding, primer, etc until it looked like one piece.


If I had been thinking, I would have put washers or some kind of spacer in the mount recess between the 2 housings before gluong them together. I was concerned that tightening the mounting screw, or moving the mirror would be too much stress on the thin plastic. My solution was a short section of 3/8 brake line sandwiched between the aluminum supports.

Note the 3/8 steel brake line. There is an aluminum washer that sits over this round area. The bolt goes they this into the modified ball pivot.

Once everything was sanded smooth, I paired the entire mirror with chrome paint. It was the closest I could find to looking like the brushed aluminum the factory mirror was made from.

When the paint was dry, I assembled the mirror. The wiring is simple.

This is the wiring diagram. There are 5 wires that are required, the other pins are for the dimming door mirrors. I haven’t figured out a way to add those to the car, yet. 😋 pins 1 and 2 are ignition power and ground, pin 3 is reverse light input. Pin 6 and 7 go to the outside temp sensor.




The outside temp sensor, looking thru the grilles. This is on the drivers side, near the battery.

I used 1/4 inch all thread to space the sensor away from the condenser, and in clear unobstructed airflow.


I put one of these mirrors on my daily driver Neon. I put the sensor way too close the the condenser, if there is no airflow (like sitting in a drive thru) the sensor reads the temp of the condenser. On a really hot day, after sitting awhile, the temp on the compass has gone as high as 147 degrees. I didn’t want to make the same mistake on the Olds.

The project is done. It works well. Would I do it again? Probably not. It would have been so much easier to glue the mount to the glass. And if I hadn’t already installed a new headliner, that’s exactly how I would have done it. I have worked on this project off and on for almost 2 years, I just had to see if I could make it work. For the most part, I’m pleased with the final result. I’m a little concerned with how the epoxy holds the plastic together. I’m a little worried about the sun and heat making the epoxy crack. Other than lots of time, I have maybe 60 bucks in this project.

Just one more thing to make my Olds unique.

 

WOW, seriously a lot of work, very impressive. Nice little mod.

 

That is a great idea and "make busy" project, LOL! Thanks for sharing! You've piqued my interest...

 

nice work

 

Slick

 

For about 6 years now, I've been pondering how to install a late model mirror in my convertible without gluing the mount to the windshield. I never thought about grinding down the ball stud to fit the OEM Olds mirror arm. That was some cleverness there! Thanks for sharing!

Question, how wide is the Suburban mirror? Most of the late model mirror I've considered are only 10" wide whereas the stock Olds mirror is 12" wide.

Rodney

 

Back to the drawing board!!!


Im guessing drawing boards are definitely old school, the phrase has lost its meaning with computer design.


I drove the car today for the first time with the modified mirror. I’m not sure what happened, but I can’t get the compass to calibrate. No matter what direction I’m driving, it always says I’m going east. To calibrate the mirror, you drive slowly in a circle, usually 2 or 3 circles would calibrate the compass. No luck.

The other problem, the display is always dim. I’ll keep working with it, I’m not ready to throw in the towel yet!!!

 

I noticed you didnt mention pin 4 in your write up.

Your list shows it as the day nite signal...likely just a high or lo on this pin would fix the quto dim, or a toggle switch to pin 3 to simulate the reverse lite on

Re: the compass is it possible the board shifted from hot melt glue melting ? or the new mounting location "(partially or fully) blocks" whatever signal is used to cal the compass

or maybe the car just wants to Head east ?

 

Pin 4 and 5 are both signals to cars with dimming door mirrors, cars with standard door mirrors have no need for those wires. I have installed this same mirror in 4 other vehicles with no problems using the 5 wires (power, ground, reverse input, abd 2 temp sensor wires). I verified that the mirror worked in another car before using it for this project.



This is a modification I forgot to mention. There are 2 photocells on these mirrors, one in the front, another on the rear. The mirror compares the amount of light from both photocells to determine when to dim the display, and when to dim the mirror. Since the photocell is soldered to the circuit board it moved further inside the housing. I used a plastic tube to kinda funnel light to the cell. I’m wondering if I should have moved the sensor forward to sit in the same location as it originally.


I’ll keep working with it. If I come up with a solution I’ll report back.