Mirror cables

[Mach1 Driver 560]

I want a remote passenger side sports mirror, so I bought one for a 72-76 Torino/Montego/Cougar. Since the pedestal and the overall size of the mirror housing is larger than the sports mirror on my 69 Mach, I want to move the Torino guts over to my original mirror. To do that I need to disconnect the cables from the joystick control, and remove the cables from the joystick housing. How do you do that??

I have read that there are several versions of the joystick control. Some allow the joystick to be unscrewed. This one does not. The first two pictures are mine (of the Torino).

On one of the forums one of the guys said all you had to do was push down on the joystick (it is spring loaded), and the cables would pop-out. That doesn’t work on this one. You can see the crimped-on connector that seems to be going up at an angle into a hole, and the cable going down in the slot below. The guy that said "just push the joystick down and they would pop out" supplied the last picture below. If the Torino connectors are as long as those shown there, how in the heck do you get them out of the holes? There isn’t slack in the cable. Its just barely at the top of the housing.

A second person said: “Removing the cables and reinstalling them was the hard part, as the slots in the knuckle were pressed closed and I had to use a pocket knife to open them back up”.

A third person said: “The cables can be unthreaded from the retainer with about twenty minutes work. Mark them well with paint as it is important to get them back in the original location”. I assume this is after the connectors are somehow removed from the joystick. About 5 turns would be required to turn the cable out of the housing. Is this how other people have done this?

Any advice before I bugger this thing-up would be appreciated.

[Raven R code 281]

I pretty much did what you said.....except I lost my joystick.

[Mach1 Driver 560]

6 minutes ago, Raven R code said:

I pretty much did what you said.....except I lost my joystick.

Awww, which part? The first person's suggestion didn't work, so the second and third?

[Raven R code 281]

2 hours ago, Mach1 Driver said:

Awww, which part? The first person's suggestion didn't work, so the second and third?

So ...I did what the second person did. The cable ends are locked in a soft metal which can be pried open using a knife or flat tip screwdriver .

[JET 445 43]

5 hours ago, Raven R code said:

So ...I did what the second person did. The cable ends are locked in a soft metal which can be pried open using a knife or flat tip screwdriver .

Yep, I did the same.

[Mach1 Driver 560]

 

9 hours ago, Raven R code said:

So ...I did what the second person did. The cable ends are locked in a soft metal which can be pried open using a knife or flat tip screwdriver .

3 hours ago, JET 445 said:

Yep, I did the same.

Ok, thanks. I'm noticing some major differences in the joystick housings; did your housings look like the first or second picture? I'm thinking the second one would be much easier to get the cables out, since they are accessible from the sides

[stangs-R-me 120]

I undid my driver's side for painting back in the 80's and IIRC it looked like the second picture.   Just carefully pry open the pot-metal fingers to release each cable wire and unscrew the cable housing from each (marking their locations 1st) as the others have said.

Never seen the type in the 1st pic so can't help you with that one.

Doug 

[Mach1 Driver 560]

Any pics of where you drilled holes in the A pillar and passenger door would be appreciated. Dimensions too!

 

[det0326 179]

Is your car an early or late production? You may already know this but there is a difference being a round bezel for the early ones and rectangular one for later ones and the 1970 also.  This would also determine the door hole.size and maybe location.  The early ones with the round bezel also had a 90 degree angle joy stick. You may already know all this if so just disregard.   

[aslanefe 333]

The second one has spring under the knob, the first one does not. Does the second one has a spring where cables attach to mirror? Can you post a picture of the other end?  The spring pushes the knob out and the knob is captured on the outside. Looks like the knob on the first one is captured by pulling it in. Can you pull the knob out a little? 

[Mach1 Driver 560]

3 hours ago, det0326 said:

Is your car an early or late production? You may already know this but there is a difference being a round bezel for the early ones and rectangular one for later ones and the 1970 also.  This would also determine the door hole.size and maybe location.  The early ones with the round bezel also had a 90 degree angle joy stick. You may already know all this if so just disregard.   

Hi Dave, can I assume you are referring to the drivers side door? She was made in March and has the rectangular bezel on the drivers door. What I am attempting to do is convert the passenger side sport mirror to a remote control that I got from a 72-76 Torino, since passenger side remote mirrors were not an option. 

[Mach1 Driver 560]

1 hour ago, aslanefe said:

The second one has spring under the knob, the first one does not. Does the second one has a spring where cables attach to mirror? Can you post a picture of the other end?  The spring pushes the knob out and the knob is captured on the outside. Looks like the knob on the first one is captured by pulling it in. Can you pull the knob out a little? 

The first picture above is the one I got with the 72-76 Torino mirror. The second is a picture off the internet. Since my new mirror didn't come with the chrome bezel for the joystick, I bought a control with bezel that I believe is like the one in the second picture, although it hasn't arrived yet.

The joystick on the first one  is spring loaded from the bottom. The only thing holding it in the housing is the tension on the three cables. If they were cut it looks like it would come out the front of the housing, as there appears to be clearance all around the ball. 

In the attached pictures of the "first control", three coils of the spring can be seen at the bottom, and in picture two I back-lit so the clearance around the ball could be seen when looking from the top of the joystick down into the control. The only way I can see to get the cables out of the housing are to cut the cables (definitely don't want to do that) or make slots in the side of the housing to get at the ball (difficult but a possibility). Whatcha' think guys?

[aslanefe 333]

There is a spring in there, so can you press on the jojstick and get clearence? Looks like if you push the jojstick, the wire will try to extend out and you can pull the wire out of the slot. You may have to bend the wire and get the end release from the hole on the jojstick. I wouldn't cut the cable, I do not think they crimped the ends to the wire during assembly. The ends were crimped first then it was assembled, that is what I think.

[det0326 179]

I guess I don't understand what you are trying to do? Are you trying to adapt the remote cables to the existing passenger side sports mirror?  

Or maybe you are trying to get it apart to change the pedestal.

Never mind sometimes it helps to read your first post more carefully duh!! 

Then the Torino mirror itself is the same size as the Mustang?

Don't they mount in the housing differently tho

BTW the rectangle bezel has a joy stick like the second one you posted in your first post.

[Mach1 Driver 560]

3 minutes ago, det0326 said:

I guess I don't understand what you are trying to do? Are you trying to adapt the remote cables to the existing passenger side sports mirror?  

Yes exactly, and worst case I could use the Torino mirror body with my pedestal. The Torino body seems to be the same length but the mirror opening is slightly larger- even though the Torino mirror is slightly smaller than mine. The Torino pedestal is longer and shaped differently than mine, so that's why I need to swap parts.

[det0326 179]

I went thru some of the same thing with mine, while I had it out I lost the barrel part with the threads and the 3 legs some how it fell of and lost it. I did however find one on ebay and replaced it. I can tell those pieces are very delicate and will break with one wrong move.   IIRC the remote mirror and non remote mirror mounts completely different in the housing so you may have to use the Torino housing.  

[Mach1 Driver 560]

41 minutes ago, aslanefe said:

There is a spring in there, so can you press on the jojstick and get clearence? Looks like if you push the jojstick, the wire will try to extend out and you can pull the wire out of the slot. You may have to bend the wire and get the end release from the hole on the jojstick. I wouldn't cut the cable, I do not think they crimped the ends to the wire during assembly. The ends were crimped first then it was assembled, that is what I think.

I responded to your PM.

If the joystick is pressed down, the spring contracts, but even if the connectors had somewhere to go and could get loose from the ball, the ends of the cables don't get longer or extend out the top.

I think they assembled this way: connected the cables to the joystick, pressed in the joystick and ran the cables through the backing plate for the mirror, and put connectors on there. Then glued-in the mirror. I don't think they ever intended it to be taken apart from the joystick end.

I read where one guy (I don't know which joystick housing he had) rigged-up a method to keep the joystick pressed in, broke the mirror, then clipped the connectors off the cables on the back side of the mirror backing plate. When he was done transferring parts he had to shorten the cable sheathing by an appropriate amount, then put new connectors on the cable ends and attach a new mirror. I'd really rather not go this route, but perhaps that is the easiest way with this version of assembly.

[Mach1 Driver 560]

13 minutes ago, det0326 said:

 IIRC the remote mirror and non remote mirror mounts completely different in the housing so you may have to use the Torino housing.  

Yeah, that could be the case. I was thinking that the distance from the end of the cable to the connector is probably different on the two versions. Either way it presents problems. 

The mounts look very similar, but until I get all the stuff out of the way so It can be measured I can't be certain if my old mirror body can be used or not. The good news is that they look so similar that there is probably no point in using my old mirror body, just the pedestal.

[aslanefe 333]

The cable won't extend out when you press on the joystick as the end of it sits inside the hole on the joystick and joystick pushes the cable down. You have to press and twist the crimped end and get it out of the hole in the joystick first.

[aslanefe 333]

After you get the end out of the hole, you can slide the cable out of the slit.

[aslanefe 333]

Can you remove the joystick handle? It might be capturing the ends of the cables.

[aslanefe 333]

Have you thought about installing electric mirror to passenger side? You can put the motor inside your mirror and install the switch anywhere you want. There is a DYI of installing Honda mirror parts.

[Mach1 Driver 560]

11 minutes ago, aslanefe said:

The cable won't extend out when you press on the joystick as the end of it sits inside the hole on the joystick and joystick pushes the cable down. You have to press and twist the crimped end and get it out of the hole in the joystick first.

I get your first sentence. There is no way the cable ends can extend past the top end of the housing. Even if loose, the connectors can't get past the ball in any event

[Mach1 Driver 560]

15 minutes ago, aslanefe said:

After you get the end out of the hole, you can slide the cable out of the slit.

not without a slot in the side of the housing- the cable can not be made to come out the top of the housing

[Mach1 Driver 560]

14 minutes ago, aslanefe said:

Can you remove the joystick handle? It might be capturing the ends of the cables.

I know that some do but this one does not