Side Mirrors

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Major System Category: Body (Door)
Task: Install side mirrors
Parts: Corvette donor side mirrors.
Prerequisite Tasks:
Additional Costs: N/A
Time Requirement: 4 hours
Date Started: November 21, 2012
Date Completed:  November 25, 2012

The side mirrors installed very easily. Basically, you follow the measurements in the manual, use the gasket as a guide, mark and drill the holes. After that it is just a matter of screwing the mirrors tight.

Driver's side side mirror. the passenger side one is silver. So right now I have yellow, red and silver car. Note the three mounting studs and power cable. The mirrors were part of the donor car kit I purchased from FParts.

The main power cable has a grommet that is taped in place. I removed the tape and measured the location of this hole between the 3 studs. This hole has to be somewhat close otherwise the cable tends to bind. I also had to ensure the hole was not too big as I wanted the grommet to maintain a water tight seal.

These are the holes drilled for the studs. I was a little bit off, so I had to open up one of the holes to get the mirror to mount. Otherwise there were no problems. The "X" marks the location for the power cable.

There is the issue of hooking up the mirror for power and control. I have decided to go with the Quick Racing Products power mirror harness kit. The alternative was to work out something using a Corvette based control panel or to hook it into ISIS.

This the grommet on the power cable.

I decided against purchasing a mirror control panel on Ebay. If I went the Ebay route, I would still be faced with the interface to the mirrors. Not impossible, but the QRP solution already solved that problem. There is enough invention on this car, without finding more.

I made sure the grommet is properly seated prior to mounting the mirror. This is pretty much idiot proof. Just take your time, measure and make sure everything looks okay.

ISIS was another solution, However, the beauty of ISIS is its limitation in this case. I would have to use an InMotion Cell. This would have required eight circuits to handle the up down and side to side motion on each mirror. That would be a lot of wiring for something that a relay can handle so much more elegantly.

Some shameless self promotion!

Jay Harris (President of ISIS) had talked about a special module to handle the mirrors, but couldn't find enough interest. Jay is good guy. He will work with you, answer your questions. He even answers the phone! He told me flat out that most people were going with a QRP type solution. Easy enough. It is not like I am not going to spend a fair chunk of change on his stuff, but I appreciate his honesty.

Mounted!