Anyone rebuilt a 75 mirror?

[GTVeloce]

Someone sideswiped my drivers mirror recently. I sourced another but in trying to clean it up before installation, two of the cables used for adjustment snapped. I have good cables on the damaged mirror but I can't see how to disassemble the mirror without breaking it.

The damaged one was already partially disassembled (thanks Mr truck driver) but it almost looks like the two halves of the plastic housing are fixed together permanently. Has anyone separated the housing successfully thereby allowing access to the cables for replacement?

[tuf105]

Hi there,
Did it recently (make a 'good' mirror out of two duds...).

I agree with your comment that the casing doesn't come apart without destroying it.
It looks like the case is assembled around a metal frame inside and then caulked in place.

But what you can do is remove the mirror itself from the adjustment mechanism.
If you tilt the mirror 'upwards' and look just behind it, you should see what looks like a small 'grid' in there.
You need to push that either left or right (sorry, can't remember which way now) to unlock it.
Doesn't need to go far as it's only a lock.
Then the mirror should lift away to reveal the insides.

The cables are easy enough to remove, but real fiddly to put back in as you can't separate the case anymore to feed them through.
Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures to help explain this better but happy to take some over the coming days if it would help.

Frank.

[GTVeloce]

Thanks Frank! Yes, I am hoping to make one good mirror from the two. I didn't realise the mirror part could be removed without full disassembly. I'll practise with the dud mirror to work out which way to slide the mirror before trying on the good one.

I have removed the cables from the dud mirror and can imagine it is going to be a 'fun' job getting them back in.

I'll report back in once I've had a go and see if I can take some photos for the next mug.

[tuf105]

No problems.

I'll try take some photos as well just in case if you do have dramas.
Just be careful - After 25~30 years, it can be a bitch to take off the first time.
Once cleaned up and lubricated, it's fine...

Same goes with the cables.
Some of mine had seized, so I made sure I dry lubricated the replacements to make sure they were as good as I could make 'em.
They way they have to run through the mirror doesn't help...
And try not to crimp the inner wire trying to pull them through the mirror - Once crimped, they tend to bind in their sheath.

Very therapeutic in the end...didn't swear that at much at all compared to other jobs on the 75 

[GTVeloce]

Well I managed to do it. The rebuilt one is working perfectly (better than the one that was on there that was very stiff to operate). Thanks for your tip tuf105. If you push the mirror all the way up you can see about three or four small slots. A flat screwdriver and gentle pressure outwards saw the mirror off. That gave me access to the insides. From there it was just trial and error. A few times I had it almost together and discovered the wires were in the wrong place etc and had to pull apart again. It was a little fiddly but as you said there are far worse jobs! All in all it took about an hour and I was able to give everything a good clean and lubrication.

I did take a few photos but I haven't downloaded them from the camera yet. I'll add more comments about process when I upload the images.