LHD exterior mirror

[CJG in WOB]

On my 1985 LHD Excel, the motors on the driver’s side mirror (Rover SD1 type) have failed. I purchased a replacement RHD electric mirror from Lotusbits, as LHD units are impossible to source (too few LHD SD1s sold, I presume). Is this a straight replacement, or will the geometry of the mirror be wrong? If the latter is the case, can I transplant the motors from the good mirror to the faulty one?

[Hawaiis0]

Actually the NOS parts coming to market are more often LHD versions. I dont think you will have an issue.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/155898111671 ... R8iIoqn7ZA

[supraholic]

I've seen these LHD SD1 mirrors FS before but always manual, never power. I just need new rubber covers/housing. Are the covers/housings the same and can the power mirror guts be transplanted into the manual housings?

[bash]

I know that the geometry of the mirrors is different because I tried to fit a new lhd one to my car many years ago and it couldn't be adjusted to be able to see properly. The problem I had on the old one was that the rubber had split, I did manage to take the new rubber cover off the new lhd mirror and transplant it to my old housing and it fitted so you may be ok. The only fly in the ointment is that the older the mirror is the more brittle the rubber gets. ( I did this about 20 years ago). I did it by dropping the mirror into a bucket of hot water and used lots of silicon spray to refit it. Back in the day adhesives for rubber were not as good as they are now, I think if I was attempting it now I would split the rubber underneath and glue it back up.

Bash

[rogbmw]

I purchased a new set of LHD mirrors out of the UK as my mirror housings were splitting. Yes, they are manual mirrors, but I am going to try to move over the motorized inside bits. The only thing is the new mirrors come with the reflective mirror attached. Are they just put on with double sided tape?

[Hawaiis0]

I believe they are. I have a pair of replacement glass with tape. Haven't needed them yet.

[supraholic]

I purchased a new set of LHD mirrors out of the UK as my mirror housings were splitting. Yes, they are manual mirrors, but I am going to try to move over the motorized inside bits. The only thing is the new mirrors come with the reflective mirror attached. Are they just put on with double sided tape?

Would you please take pictures and share notes because I also bought a set of probably the same NOS mirrors from the same seller on Ebay. The mirrors on mine are about the only thing letting it down cosmetically so I took a chance. I figured that even if I couldn't retrofit the guts between them, I might could figure out how to mount the manual mirrors on the car and just do without the electric adjustment. They'd at least look better. I haven't really studied them yet tho and probably won't for a while. The only thing I did notice was that the rubber/plastic housings on the NOS mirrors seem to be very pliable compared to my originals which are kinda crispy and look like they've been sandblasted. With that, I was at least hopeful that a retrofit might be possible.

[supraholic]

Just wanted to post a quick "Success!" I've managed to retrofit the NOS rubber housing from the manual mirror onto my original power mirror. And indeed there is a part number molded on the inside of the rubber housing and it is the same for both mirrors. Even managed to get the scruffy passenger side cover off without further damage, tho the driver side I believe somebody already had a go at it because it was already split in two places. I promise to get some pictures up soon, but right now the free photo hosting site I was using appears to be no longer active.

[Hawaiis0]

..... the free photo hosting site I was using appears to be no longer active.

Try dropbox

[supraholic]

OK, I have a dropbox account that I use for work, but I've never posted images to a forum from it. There is a trick to it I had to learn tho because its not really set up for image hosting, rather its primarily set up for downloading shared files in bulk. I have the cheapest account so there's limits, but this forum is pretty low volume so we'll see how long this holds out if it works at all.

First step was removing the new rubber cover from the manual mirror. Just used my fingers to get the outer end of the mirror started out of the rubber cover.



Next, at the hinged mount, I used some plastic pry tools to wrestle the mirror cover over the lip of the mounting bracket (which will be more clear in the next picture).



Here, you can see forward edge of the rubber cover over the lip and the rest of it is still left to go. At this point it was a process of using the pry tools and pushing the whole cover towards the hinged end.



Here the whole rubber cover is basically free. From here it was easy. Just pull the cover off like a sock.



Here's the old and the new rubber covers side-by-side. Ignore any size discrepancies as the old one is just closer to the camera. Same exact process to remove the old rubber cover from the electric mirror.



Here is a view of the guts of the electric vs manual mirror. Not much difference.



This is actually the left mirror cover (above are the right side) but you can see the number L12N23 is the exact same number on both the original power mirror and the NOS manual mirror.



The new NOS manual mirrors contained this foam rubber thing that you might describe as being like an arch support that you'd put in your shoe. It helps maintain the form or shape of the outside of the mirror. I think somebody already had a go at trying to repair my original driver side mirror because the rubber cover was already split in two places and there was only half of a foam rubber arch support. Had to do some serious plastic repair to the corner trim piece, but didn't take any photos of that process. Use your imagination I suppose.



Putting the new cover on was far, far easier than taking the old cover off. It's basically just the same process in reverse but I really didn't need any pry tools as it slipped on and over all the lips with just fingers. Here is a finished product, the old, original rubber cover (right side), the guts of the NOS manual mirror and the completed, original power mirror with its brand new rubber cover. I hope this helps someone. I just got back from a British car show with a 3rd place ribbon thanks to the Excel's new ears.

[supraholic]

I hope I got all the dropbox settings right. Anybody not seeing the pictures, let me know.

[MetBlue]

Great write up Phil.
Another great example why this site is so much better than Faceplant.

[rogbmw]

Thanks for the writeup. I will definitely use it.