Loose / Wobbly Racing Bullet Mirror Fix

[Oiluj]

I have the “dealer option” Racing mirrors on my 240Z.  The ball joint on the 44 year old driver side mirror body was getting loose  and would not hold position while driving.   It finally got so loose I was worried it might fall off if I hit a pot-hole.

 

I removed the mirror, and discovered the hole in the mirror body had worn / enlarged to the point that I could easily pull the ball out of the mirror body!  I tried a few “easy” fixes, but none really worked, and decided a better solution was required.

 

So I fabricated a plate that fits over the posts inside the mirror, having a central hole smaller than the  ball joint diameter.  To get it over the ball, I cut one side of the center hole so I could twist / bend the plate to install it after inserting the ball into the mirror.

 

My thinking was that the holes in the plate that go onto the posts prevents the plate from deforming / spreading, so the ball joint hole won’t enlarge.

 

I assembled a “rough” prototype from 1/16” galvanized sheet-steel  and it works great!   Mirror body is nice and tight with no movement when jarred.   The hole in the plate may deform a little over time, but it can only deform so far.  If required, tightening the ball joint screws in a month or so should create a truly permanent fix.

 Let me know what you think!

[Oiluj]

Don't know what happened, but pics are out of order.  Still, you get the idea.

 

[Captain Obvious]

Amateur. 

Seriously though. Nice fix! A lot easier than what I did!!

[Oiluj]

Nice!   Very similar to my original idea, but lost my access to a lathe when I retired, so I had to come-up with a simpler solution...

How did you get the ball out of the base without damage?

[Captain Obvious]

The ball just presses into the base housing. It has some splines machined into it to bite a little into the base, but it's just pressed in. Just pull straight out with enough force and the ball will come out of the base. It's been a number of years since I did that job, and the details are fading, but I think I just grabbed the round part of the ball with some soft jaws in a vice and then tapped the base with a plastic mallet until it came free from the ball. I do remember that I used a little epoxy on the splines when I put it back together just to take up the gaps and be sure it stayed together. Splined fits like that are usually not designed to be used more than once.

So about your method... I toyed around with similar ideas with a slot in a piece of something that would keep the ball from pulling through, and gave up because I had to either a) make the slot big enough to fit over the shaft of the ball, or 2) make the reinforcement out of something thin enough to bend like you did. Problem is I was worried if I made it out of something thin, it would just bend under the force of use.

What I did NOT  think of, was your great idea of using the screw posts for additional support for the reinforcing part. Using those posts to support it should keep even a thinner material from opening up again under use. Much simpler than what I did, and probably works just as well!

[newtonhubcap]

Captain obvious hopefully the memory of what the part numbers are for the replacement ball and brass base are faded could you provide who your purchased them from or even dimensions? Thank you for your time.


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[Captain Obvious]

Sorry Newton... There aren't any part numbers, nor are those parts for sale. I made that brass bushing myself on my lathe, and the ball is the original one that I pulled out of the mirror base. I don't remember if I wrote the dimensions for the bushing down anywhere. I may have created a sketch, but for one-off simple stuff like that I usually just make it up as I go along. If I'm thinking I might make more in the future, I write it down, but if it's something I don't believe I'll ever do again, I sometimes don't. I'll check when I get a chance.

I fixed that pair of racing mirrors, used them on my car for a year or so, and then changed to a different mirror style. Those mirrors have since been sold and I don't have access to them anymore to take measurements.

[mgood]

Here is what I did back in June of 2013.

http://www.classiczcars.com/topic/46799-fixing-black-pearl-style-mirrors/#comment-425892