I have a 1970 Buick GS non remote driver side mirror that I am looking to take apart to get rechromed. How does the glass come out? And how to separate the housing from the base? Also functionality, I assumed the mirror moved inside the housing for adjustment while driving. It seems the mirror is rigid inside the housing and that the entire housing (glass and housing) adjusts to see what’s behind. Is that correct? my plan was to take the guts of my remote driver mirror and install into the non remote housing. Guessing that’s not possible. Thoughts on this? Had anyone done this? Thanks Nick
Nick- smash the glass. Inside, there is a plate held on by hammered pot metal posts- 3 of them. Have to remove that. Then, you have to gently tap the base out of the housing. I can take pics tomorrow….
These are courtesy of Fritz. He has a thread focused on repairing floppy chrome mirrors. I saved them to use as a guide when I finally get around to doing one of mine.
Do I really need to smash the glass? Really don't want to do that since it looks pretty good. No clue where to buy new glass. And yes, if you have any other pictures to add to what @Brett Slater posted, please post. Thanks! I'll check it out. Question - To adjust the mirror, does the actual glass move inside the housing? Or is the glass stationary in the housing and then the whole housing moves to adjust for rear viewing?
Glasses stationary in the housing it’s the whole housing that moves on that pivot ball I’ll post some pics
Ok. 1. The mirror glass is reproduced. The cut/ shape quality is about a 6 out of 10. I would’ve been better off to go to a glass shop 2. The glass is glued to the 4 posts in pic 1. 3. This is how I attached the triangular retainer for the ball stud. 4. The ball stud needs to be placed in the mirror housing first, it then slides into the base. Both the base and the ball stud are knurled. 5. The ball part of the ball stud “slides” between the ball base (which is part of the mirror housing) and the triangular retainer.
The last piece is trying to find the correct adhesive to glue the mirror to the mirror base…. Anyone?
Don’t smash a good glass. Soak the mirror head over night in adhesive removed or goof off. Take a plastic pry bar and work it in the opening the pedestal goes through. Light pressure and glass lifts right out. I’ve done several. The aftermarket mirrors don’t fit right
2dtrak- I agree…. However, I haven’t been successful yet in having an original mirror glass come out in 1 piece…
U have to soak it and walk away from it. Usually 24 hours will do it. The plastic pry tool will not damage the silvering. The sealant on the post will soften and it will come out When I was converting left side mirrors to right I kept a butter tub of goof off on my work bench and would reuse it over n over I think I used just black rtv on the post to reattach it I tried using the doorman replacement glass and I recall the gap being way off. I tried to have some cut but it was hit and miss and most glass guys didn’t want to do it
A glass shop should be able to cut pieces for these and the best part is: both sides are the same. I have one local. Maybe I'll pop by with a mirror and see what they say.
