How-To: '89-'91 Type 44 Exterior Mirror R&R

["Fred Munro" <munrof@isys.ca>]

    I just finished repairing my drivers door mirror and thought I'd toss
together a "how-to" while it was still fresh in my mind.

    My original mirror assembly was badly injured last week in a high speed
collision with a 3" rock. The plastic housing was completely shattered, the
spring mounted metal frame was broken and bent, and the mirror itself was,
of course, rendered into sand particles. The drive mechanism was undamaged
and still worked!

    The replacement mirror assembly cost CDN$75 and was shipped up from a
wrecker in southern Ontario with a generous 8" of wiring harness attached.
After removing the door trim panel, several difficulties were immediately
apparent:
    1. The mirror wiring harness ( and potential splice location) is well
hidden behind the inner metal door panel. The thought of stripping the door
didn't exactly warm my heart.
    2. The rubber boot on the outside of the mirror is bonded to the door
weather-stripping. Replacing the entire mirror means cutting off the old
boot and somehow smoothly bonding the new boot (which has already been cut
off by a ham-handed monkey-lad at the wreckers) to the weather-strip.

    "There must be an easier way" I muttered to myself. There is.

    The mirror assembly can be stripped apart, leaving the rubber boot and
the inner aluminium mount on the car. The procedure is as follows (assuming
a complete assembly):

1. Remove the mirror glass.On the later Type 44 the glass is clipped to the
drive with 4 plastic clips. If you pry the mirror glass off a la Bentley,
you stand a good chance of breaking the drive linkages (BTDT). The safest
removal method is to move the mirror to the four extremes (max up & max
right, max up & max left, etc.). This allows you to access each clip with a
long thin screwdriver and pop them off individually. The earlier style
mirror ('85-'88) with the rotary locking ring is a better design and will
fit the later drives.

2. Remove the 3 Phillips head screws securing the drive mechanism to the
metal frame. Pull off the drive assembly. Remove the back plastic cover from
the drive assembly. This is held in place by the friction fit of 3 bosses
around the mounting screw holes and pulls straight off. With the cover off,
the wiring and motor connections are exposed. Unsolder the wires and remove
the drive assembly.

3. Remove the 4 Phillips head screws securing the plastic outer housing to
the metal frame. Pull the plastic housing off the frame.

4. Un-thread the wiring from the metal frame. Clamp a pair of 6" needle nose
ViceGrips to the outer end of the shock spring and remove the spring from
the metal frame. The frame can now be removed, leaving the boot and inner
aluminium mount on the car.

5. Re-assembly is reverse of removal in exact order. The plastic outer
housing will not fit over the drive mechanism if the drive is installed
first.

    This procedure can be used to replace most damaged mirror components
without experiencing the joy of pulling the wiring harness out of the car
through the door or stripping the door to splice into the existing harness.


Fred Munro
'91 200q  279k km