Case75

High RPM Poster
2 You're 10
Jul 6, 2012
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I know, really exciting thread title. But for anyone thinking of trying this, I learned a few lessons on this one. I bought the chrome RH mirror for my 1975 Vette from Corvette Central. This was a dealer installed option back in the day. There is no provision from the factory to mount the mirror unlike the driver's side which has a bracket inside the door skin. The RH mirror mounts with well nuts (about a half inch long rubber tube with a threaded insert in one end). As you tighten the screw into the well nut, the threaded insert pulls in and makes the tube expand; this acts as a sort of nut that tightens against the screw.

The instructions include a template to drill two holes in the door in order to mount the mirror bracket. The template I received was not quite to scale; there is a legend in the bottom corner that references a length of one inch, the reference measured 15/16th of an inch. I enlarged the template on my copier until the reference measured 1 inch.

The instructions do not tell you what size of hole to drill. I measured the well nut and deduced that a 3/8 inch bit would be correct. I driled one hole and found that the well nut fit the hole. I then tried mounting the gasket and bracket and found that the screw was too short to make the threads in the end of the well nut! I pulled everything back out and checked and the screw was about 3/4 of an inch long; what it should have been is 1 inch long. Off to the hardware store I go to get a couple of longer screws. That's when I found out that they are metric M5 .80 screws. I bought 25mm length screws. Back home to try again.

I proceeded to mount the gasket and bracket again through the one hole I had drilled when I found that a 3/8th of an inch hole was just a little loose; the well nut was spinning around as I tried to tighten the screw. I ended up putting a bead of crazy glue around the hole to hold the well nut from rotating. This did the trick. For the second hole, I used a 23/64th drill bit. This held the well nut securely so that I was able to tighten the screw without the well nut spinning. Once the bracket was mounted, it only took a minute to mount the mirror to the bracket.

I hope this helps anyone thinking about mounting a RH mirror on there 70's Vette. :)
 
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I would contact the supplier (and Corvette Central) with what you found and for them to make sure their templates are scaled correctly, the bolts are long enough (and what type of bolt is used), and to specify what size of drill bit to use.

Sounds like a few frustrating items but you handled it in style!

How nervous were you with drilling the holes in your door? Any concerns about spidering the fiber glass?
 
I would contact the supplier (and Corvette Central) with what you found and for them to make sure their templates are scaled correctly, the bolts are long enough (and what type of bolt is used), and to specify what size of drill bit to use.

Sounds like a few frustrating items but you handled it in style!

How nervous were you with drilling the holes in your door? Any concerns about spidering the fiber glass?

I studied this for a while the day before. After much measuring and double checking, I used a good sharp bit, took a deep breath and went for it. Kind of like diving into cold water; you can sit and watch or just go for it.

Corvette Central puts a little footnote on the template to check it for accuracy; good thing as it isn't. I would do this again if I had to with what I know now. That's why I thought I would post my expereince. The quality of the mirror is second to none and I am very happy with all my purchases from CC to date.
 
I put a second mirror on mine this spring with similar experiences. I managed to get the supplied screws to work but found that they needed a good tighten again after a few drives worth of vibrations. Tight as a drum ever since. And yes, there's something about standing next to a pristine "new to you" 1975 Corvette with a powerdrill in your hand that makes you pause for just a moment to reflect...

VV
 
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