Dalannex

As many of you know, I am in the process of painting my 81'. I am doing prep now. I am trying to remove the mirrors, but find myself spending more time cussing out the %$*@*&%$ engineers at GM that designed these $##&%*&^ doors. Is there an easy way to remove the mirrors on an 81'. I have the passenger side off, but in the process spent 3 hours and removed every bolt in the door. Here are my questions.

1. Can the mirror be removed without taking the glass out?

2. Is there an easy way to get the glass out without removing every single bolt in the door, and keeping some of the skin on my arms at the same time?

3. The drive gear on my electric window motor has a lot of play in it. When I take the gear out of the motor and hold the plastic part (larger gear) I can turn the steel gear (smaller gear) about a quarter turn. Shouldn't these be solid? It seems odd that when the window goes up, the motor should have to turn one gear a quarter turn before the outer one even moves.


What I really want is a way to remove the mirror without removing the glass. A couple of years ago I completely went through the other door and don't really want to tear it all apart again. :mad :mad :mad If I could get a hold of the people that design this stuff right now I'd be on trial tommorrow. :mad

Chris@VetteFinders

1. The guy that painted my car said you really have to take the glass out.

2. Don't know.

3. There shouldn't be much slack.

mark79,80

I removed both door mirrors on my 1979 for painting without removing
the door glass. I did the following:
1. removed both felt covered window guides that are on the top
inside edge of the door. This enabled the glass to slide a bit more inward.
I used wedge shaped door stop to move the glass as far inward as possible.

2. I used a 1/4" drive 7/16 socket to remove the nuts holding the mirror.
To gain some clearance between the glass and the nuts I had to make the
socket shorter by grinding down the end. To remove one nut I could not
use a 1/4" ratchet as it was too thick to slide between the glass so instead
used a 1/4 " T-handle as it was a bit thinner so the socket would clear the
glass.

Hope this helps.

fauxrs

I removed the mirrors from mine without taking the glass out - like mentioned above you take out both felt window guides at the toip of the door - then a small 1/4" drive socket to loosen - most socket wrenches wont fit in there but the small flat adapters will. - it can BE DONE - it is a pain though

Pete79L82

When I took my mirrors off for painting, I made a wood wedge. I pushed it GENTLY between the glass and the outer door panel. You will see both the inner and the outer door panels bow slightly. That gave me enough room to get a small socket and rachet in there to remove and later install the mirrors.

lou

Its been awhile, but you can partly disco the front vetical track at the top from the door and slide it out of the way. Gives you a straght shot at the front nut. as for the back everyone has pretty good ideas. good luck. lou

1979toy

I used the "wedge the window back" as mentioned above and a U-joint socket with an extension. The nice man in the Snap-On truck will be happy to take your money in exchange for saving the skin on the back of your hands!

Dalannex

Thanks for all of the hints. I got some sleep last night, so I'm sure when I go to work on the other side today things will go better. When I get too frustrated I just have to quit for awhile. I'll take all your advice and look the situation over.

I also get to take my interior out. :D I can't wait to throw that old, pathetic looking carpet in the trash. When I'm done I get new carpet, seat covers, and rear compartment doors. All of that stuff is patiently waiting in the closet. :cool:

KenSny

Here's a tip. If you are going to install your new carpet yourself, hang on to the old carpet and use it to locate the holes you will need for the seat mounting, seat belts, etc. Makes the job a lot easier.

Dalannex

OK, thanks. I was about to pitch the old carpet, but I'll hang on to it for a bit. :)

UKPaul

Dalannex, Hi & Happy New Year :)
Glad you posted the mirror question - I was about to remove mine for painting (after reading this maybe I won't bother!). Are the rubber "gaskets" between the mirrors & doors supposed to be painted, or should they be a natural finish?
I just got a new front carpet set for Xmas (good ol' Santa) & the advice that came with it was to fit them on a fairly warm day and warm the car up as well ie. take it for a run to get the motor nice & hot. Haven't a clue why. I'd understand it on a steel bodied car as it would expand, but not so sure about the C3. But the guy that gave the advice restores show winning Vettes for a living, so I'll follow his advice. He also said to keep the originals in 1 piece for cross reference with the new ones (for any mods, etc).
I just spent 3 1/2 days over Xmas rubbing down my rear bumper cover ready for painting. I don't envy you doing the entire car - how's it going?
:cheers:
Paul

fauxrs

UKPaul - Go ahead and remove the mirrors if you are going to paint you wont regret it - by removing the felt covered window glides at the top of the door you should be able to get in there with a 1/4" drive socket to take the mirrors off. I did that about 5 or 6 times during the few months I worked on my paintjob and while it can be a hassle it is well worth it.

as to your question about the isolators - they remain black - they are plastic not rubber - I painted mine while they were out a nice gloss black to help them jump a little.

UKPaul

Fauxrs,
Thanks for the reply. Sounds quite a simple job (but don't they always?!). Do the mirrors themselves dismantle easily, or is it a case of just masking up the mirror glass prior to painting?
Thanks for the point about the isolators. Mine are white, which proves that my Vette has had a respray. It's not a bad job, but whoever did it didn't like bending down! The underside of the mirrors show primer, as do the underside of the bumper covers (hence my wanting to get them painted).
:cheers:

Binnie77

This was my solution for the mirrors. You do not need to remove the glass. You can make this wrench from a piece of round 3/8" cold roll steel or a long bolt for that matter. Put a 90 degree bend at the end and then grind that end 1/4" square and jam it in a 7/16" 1/4" drive socket. You can then grind the top of the bend off to give you more clearance if you want. It you need even more clearance, grind some off the top or bottom of the socket as well. Tape the bend with masking tape or the glass so that you won't scratch it. I had my mirrors off in about a minute after I had lost sockets, ratchets and wrenches down inside my door trying to use other methods.

Dalannex

Thanks for the tip on the wrench. I was thinking about welding a piece of flat bar (something pretty thin) onto an old junk taiwan socket. I might just make a "limited clearance wrench" like yours instead. Then I could use it on more than 1 socket.

UKPaul, the paint job is going pretty well. I have a number of spots that need body work. Most of them are just little things, but to get them fixed right takes time. I should be about done on the body work in another week, then it'll just be to sand it down. I got a tool from Snap-On today to remove the window trim (see my new post :D ), and it works great, if your trim is put on right anyway. For the trim that is right, it works great, so that is one more learning experience on the books. All in all I'm happy with the progress I'm making.