(8/1/01): I've been needing it for YEARS... and I finally
installed one -- A passenger side mirror that is. I've heard
stories/rumors/etc. about there being a threaded boss inside the doorskin of the
passenger door, so all you have to do is drill a hole, and buy a mirror...
I had a bit different experience, but it still went MUCH better than I had
anticipated!! The first thing to do, was to order a Passenger side mirror
for my '74 super from www.aircooled.net
-- They have REALLY NICE GERMAN units! The first thing that I discovered when I
got the passenger side mirror is that it was DIFFERENT than my drivers side
mirror! Come to find out, my passenger side mirror is INCORRECT -- its
from a Ghia! Looks like I will be buying a drivers side mirror in the near
future as well :-)
The FIRST thing I did, was to remove the drivers side mirror, and create a
template of the hole. Below is what I came up with. The idea was
simple: Just reverse the fold, and WHALA drill a hole and its done...
NOT! Come to find out, my passenger door is either 'weird', or
aftermarket. The crease that I lined up the bottom of the template with
(just above the trim) was in a different location! So I did my best with
this template, and a few measurements with the calipers to determine *roughly*
where the center of this hole was going to be.
Once I decided where I thought the center of the hole
was, I took a center punch, and **CRINGE** 'marked' the door
(makes it nice 'n easy to drill a hole -- the drill bit doesn't 'wander' this
way).
This is what the drivers side looks like... I noticed it wasn't EXACTLY
centered over the threaded boss; so I did have a little bit of leeway when drilling
the hole in the passenger side.
I decided it might be a smart idea to drill a TINY hole first to make sure I
was in the right spot (a small hole is easier to fix than a big one, right!?!). After I drilled the small hole, I looked in it from the inside of
the door (with the doorpanel removed) using a mirror and small flashlight. I could see that it was centered
diagonally, but not vertically (it was too low). It was on the outer edge
of the 'boss'... With a few measurements I drilled another hole slightly higher. I then decided to go ahead and drill it out with a hole saw (I put
masking tape over the are where I was going to drill, as to help keep the paint
from flaking off badly). The hole ended up being a little lower than what
I would have liked, BUT the mirror fit perfect and the seal filled the gap, so I was
happy! I painted the edges of the bare metal, so that they wouldn't
rust. As you can see in this pic, my door WAS NOT THREADED! Lucky
for me, I thought ahead and had already picked up a nut that was the correct
size :-)
This is the nut I got at the hardware store
It fits on the new mirror perfectly:
Then to fish the nut up in the door, so that I could install the mirror, I
just used a crescent wrench with the nut in it (the open end) and 'secured it'
to the wrench with some duct tape (to keep it from falling out). With a
helper holding the wrench in the correct spot, I was able to install the mirror
and tighten it down. The end result:
It looks like a factory install! (perfect). Now I just have to get used
to having a mirror over there!
(8/20/2004): As a followup, I've recieved an
informative e-mail from someone else who has done this modification. Below
are his observations and suggestions:
This is Fred Mindach. I installed a passenger side mirror with the help of your web site page (I think it's Project 48).
Thanks for doing this. I had written you before asking how large to cut the outer hole into the door skin. The size hole cutter to use is 1 1/8". Even after measuring three or four times for where to cut the hole, I was off quite a bit. However, using a 1" plastic hole plug (from Lowe's), and cutting out the middle section, I was able to cover my mistake. Also, an easy way to find the inner hole is, if you have removed your window mechanism and vent wing to restore the window rubber and scrapers, you can look in (where the vent wing was) and see the guide hole for which
you are aiming. You can then use an extension mirror (which I didn't do - big mistake) to help you make calculations, from the inside, on where to drill your pilot hole for your metal hole cutter. Once you have drilled your pilot hole, you can double check to see if it is lined up center to the inner access hole. I too had trouble making a template drawing of the driver's side mirror's access hole to invert and use to mark a location on where to drill the pilot hole (or to find the center of the inner access hole). The driver's side door just doesn't seem to be identical to the passenger's side door, but I can't figure out why. Just wanted to pass this along for other's benefit.
Respectfully,
Fred Mindach
