Sports Mirror Repair

[Print Dad 58]

Hello All,

I recently have been trying to FIX a broken base on our 70 Mach

with sports mirror (driver side).

 

I learned a few things during this attempt to repair and I thought

I would pass along some of the things I learned in the HOPE it will

help others.

 

1. - The pedestal (or base) on the remote mirrors is NOT made to come off.

Sure it unbolts - BUT the wires and end will NOT go thru the hole. I THINK

you may be able to disconnect the wires from the control knob but it seems

a little risky. I THINK the wires are installed and then the knob mechanism

is squeezed closed to hold the wire. I DID NOT attempt this BUT others may.

 

2. - I used the JB WELD with STEEL - - and it seemed to work - -BUT - trouble soon arose. While drilling through the weld, the JB stuff came off the

mirror base in a CHUNK. This leads me to believe I had not scuffed up the underside well enough for the JB to adhere. I had scuffed it BUT perhaps not enough.

 

3. - This is the IMPORTANT part - - I had a friend of mine TRY to weld the mirror base. It WORKED!!!!! He explained to me that back in 69/70 when the mirror was made, the metal was a HIGHER quality and made in the good old USA. He said that back then, they would screen the raw metal for impurities and therefor he thought it MAY weld. He tried it and it worked GREAT. SO I guess the advice is - - when welding work fast - -and DO NOT think that the "POT" metal or whatever it is called will not weld. He did say

that the NEW metals today that they use WILL almost certainly NOT weld.

 

I just thought i would pass this info along to give HOPE to others because the darn mirrors are a little pricey and the money can be used for other things.

 

Be well - - work safe and NEVER underestimate the good old Made in U.S. A. materials

 

Print Dad

[miketyler 15]

You're welcome. Glad it worked out.

[dennyb68 11]

Hmmm this is the same metal the the head light buckets are made of..So the pesky broken mounting tab can be welded back on i guess..I have a spare that i may try to weld the tab back on.