Is it possible to put the insides of electric mirrors into manual mirror housings? The passenger side mirror housing on the SE I just bought has a dent in it. I have a good passenger side mirror on my parts car but it is a manual mirror. Can I just change the housings?
The outer metal housings are actually the same between power and manual. I've swapped several times. There's 2 different mounting brackets that adapt either a power or manual mechanism to the housing. Just be sure to swap that and you're good.
------------------ Bob Williams Multi-colored '87 Mutt, a work in progress! (Got my 3800SC, installation in progress!!!)
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10:34 PM
Mar 24th, 2003
Songman Member
Posts: 12496 From: Nashville, TN Registered: Aug 2000
1) not all mirror housing are the same, the mounting posts inside some right housing are located in different spots on some manual mirrors and the power unit will not fit (I can take pictures of the 2 different types for those that don not believe)
2) get yourself a good Philips screw driver, manually move the the mirror to the extreme left (in), up and down to access the 3 screws holding the mirror in.
3) if adding power to a manual mirror, you may also have to drill out the hole in the bottom for the cable (easily done, the hole is already marked - just needs to be cut out)
...be careful when moving the power mirror assembly by hand so you don't crack the pivot point in the center of the mirror (it's a little + thingy that is snapped onto the back of the mirror)...
email me if you would like pictures of the unit apart and I will take some for you before I put mine back together.
Tim
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08:58 AM
Songman Member
Posts: 12496 From: Nashville, TN Registered: Aug 2000
Now here are the backs of the power mirrors. In the top mirror you can see the little + (pivot) that is very easy to break.
To remove the manual mirror, you can simply move the mirror to the extreme positions and use a Philips screw driver remove the screws (the second picture in the above post shows you the location on the screw mounts - sorry I have no pictures of actually taking it apart).
Removing the power mirror is a bit more difficult and requires some patience. You will need to first separate the mirror glass (above picture) from the housing. The best way is to use a flat blade screw driver (a very thin tip with a long shaft is ideal). You will want to insert the tip under one side of the pivot and pry up to free it from the 'catch', and then proceed to the other side of the pivot. Go slow, once the screw driver is between the pivot and the motor (or mirror) just turn it to pop it up.
I drew in a crude screw driver (yellow) to show where you pry on the one side (think of it going under the pivot to pry the pivot away from the motor)
Once the mirror is free and move away you will see this:
[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 03-25-2003).]
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08:57 AM
Mickey_Moose Member
Posts: 7582 From: Edmonton, AB, Canada Registered: May 2001
You will then see 3 screws that you can undo to remove the motor from the mount, then you will have to unscrew the mount from the mirror housing (there are 3 more screws under the motor).
...and the last thing that you may need to do is to drill out the hole in the bottom for the cable to go through. The mirror on the left needs the hole vs the one on the right that I have already done.
It's a fair amount of work, but power mirrors seem very hard to come by here in Canada, so I ending up having to mod a set on non-power ones (the one that will not work I got from a 86 coupe, the other ones (I have 2) came from my 88 GT and from a 86 SE - not sure if the coupe on was just a fluke or not, but something to look at when taking the mirrors off the car - easy to see the bad one as the one post is very near the outside of the mirror (first picture).
Anyways, hope that helps you all out that are trying this
Feel free to ask any more questions if you have.
Tim
[This message has been edited by Mickey_Moose (edited 03-25-2003).]
how do you know if a car with manual mirrors can be used for power mirrors ? are they diff by years or do you just have to check each one i could use new housings for my power mirrors
Thanks Tim! I've taken the manual mirror off of my parts car and luckily it is the correct design so I can use it...
Funny thing.. the hole in the bottom of the mirror for the wiring was already there. Just had a thin film over it that I had to take out. That's good! One less thing to do...
I really do hate taking door panels apart and stuff though! That's why I haven't put the new dew wipes on my 88 yet! haha
Thanks for the help!
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12:39 PM
Mickey_Moose Member
Posts: 7582 From: Edmonton, AB, Canada Registered: May 2001
Wow, in all 10 or so Fiero's I've owned I've never come across that weird-placed 3rd screw! That's very interesting... I've mostly found that the manual ones have had the hole for the wire drilled, because of the manual-remote cable thing. I think I've seen tape or a plastic thing over the hole on the pass. side too. I'll keep an eye out for that 3rd screw!!!
------------------ Bob Williams Multi-colored '87 Mutt, a work in progress! (Got my 3800SC, installation in progress!!!)
