'82-'85 Celica Power Mirror Repair

[hsvrocketman]

I've documented the process I used to repair my 'floppy' power mirrors for my '85 GT-S.  When I bought my car, the mirrors were in a 'fixed' position, the mirror glass having been anchored in place with silicone caulk by the PO.  I wanted the power mirrors to be useable to any driver, so the search was on for an extra pair of mirrors to play with.   I came accross a -For Sale- ad here on the forum, and ultimately bought a pair of mirrors from dead91silvia's Celica that he was parting-out (year unknown).  The following repair should work on any Celica power mirror from '82-'85.

NOTE: This repair is for mirrors that still operate electrically, but where the mirror glass has become disconnected from the adjusters and is flopping around in the housing.


Ok, let's get started...


First I grabbed the edge of the mirror glass and popped it out of the housing.  It was very easy as the mirror is mounted in a ball-socket.


BYW, I'll took this opportunity to paint the housings while I worked on the mirror glass.  I used 400 grit wet-or-dry paper and scuffed the housings up a bit, wiped them down with some acetone, then sprayed with rattle-can Rustoleum Satin Black.


Pics1 & 2:  This is what the housing and mirror glass looked like once parted.  The rubber adjusters were easy to remove from the servos simply by unscrewing them, either by hand or by using the point of a hobby knife.

Pics3 & 4:  The rubber tabs were broken inside the glass housing, so I took my Dremel and using a diamond cut-off wheel I made a score mark on the right vertical and then cut through the left vertical completely.

[hsvrocketman]

Pics 1 & 2:  By cutting them this way I was able to 'hinge' them, allowing me to remove the square rubber piece from the housing using a small screwdriver.  I didn't not completely sever them from the glass mount, as in the end I wanted the adjusters to be mechanically attached, not simply relying on caulk to hold them in place.

Pic 3:  Once the rubber adjusters that were in the housing were unscrewed I noticed that they were hollow.  I went to Lowe's and bought a pack of Stainless Steel 8-32 Oval machine screws and a pack of SS #8 flat washers.  The screw is an interference fit into the rubber adjuster, so I assembled them as shown, simply pushing the screw & washer into the rubber adjuster, allowing the washer to move just a little bit.  A drop of CA would be OK here, but I didn't see a need as it was a tight fit.

Pic 4:  The head of the screw measured 11/32" in diameter, so I took a 11/32" drill bit and drilled out the square rubber piece so that the head of the screw fit snugly.  I also needed to reduce the thickness of the square rubber piece to allow for the thickness of the flat washer.  Whatever material is it made of, this stuff has the consistency of a pencil eraser, so I placed a piece of 120grit sandpaper on my workbench and rubbed the square piece on it to reduce the thickness a little.

[hsvrocketman]

Pic 1:  Then I slipped the square rubber piece back into the housing and test-fit the adjuster assembly.  When I was satisfied that the square rubber piece was the correct thickness, I squirted a small dab of caulk (any will do) in the hole where the screwhead was to sit, slipped the repaired adjuster assembly through the hole in the housing, then closed up the flap.

Pic 2:  A little dab of ABS cement (Oatey ABS cement, available in the plumbing section at Lowe's) was used on the flap to 'weld' it back in place, then small clamps were used to hold everything together.  A piece of a plastic bag was used so the clamps didn't become part of the mirror as that would be bad.  These were allowed to set-up overnight.  

Pic 3:  The next day, a small dab of silicone caulk was applied at the base of the rubber adjusters.  This pic was just before application, but I used it sparingly.  Doing this, the adjusters are firmly mounted, preventing vibration of the glass, yet flexible enough to allow movement as the mirror is adjusted.  I let that set-up overnight as well.

Pic 4:  Then the next day I took the completed mirrors and popped them back into my freshly painted housings, and here's the result.  


In Conclusion:

The total cost of the repair was ~$3.00 including what little paint I used.

Total time to repair was only ~ 1 hour for each mirror.

Most importantly though, I've got power mirrors again!


Thanks for looking!

[hayabusa]

very cool thanks.