Power Mirror Rebuild

Mustang5L5

That is…until I whipped out my Bissell
Mod Dude
Feb 18, 2001
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Massachusetts
Figure I'd make this thread to keep track of my work vs having it mixed into my progress thread. I'm going through both my original mirrors and have learned a few tips/tricks. This might be of value to someone in the future that wants to preserve their original mirrors for some reason, or not want to take a chance buying used junk, or maybe have custom painted mirrors.

First off, remove your mirror. Door panel needs to come off to reach the electrical plug, but after that, simply remove the inside cover (1 screw) and then remove the two small nuts and you can get the mirror off.

Glass removal. Up to around 1990/1992, the glass frame was bonded to the motor by plastic. After that it was a clip on style that could easily be removed and replaced. I do not know what year exactly this change happened though.

To remove the motor/glass assembly, you need to tilt the mirror full up and in. Hopefully your mirror still works and you can do this. If not, you'll need to try and carefully break the mirror free at the 4 posts holding the glass frame in (pics below to understand what I mean). In my case, the mirror would go up/down, but not side to side. If I "helped" it along, it would move a bit, so that is how I got it in positon to remove.

With the mirror tilted, there are two screws inside to be removed, and 1 screw where the mirror bolts to the door. (pic below of two behind glass - one screw removed already)
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The motor/glass will pull out like so. At this point, your mirror housing is empty, so clean it, paint it, sand it, etc. Now's the perfect time.
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Now, if you managed to get it off with the glass intact, you can see the 4 plastic melt points holding the frame on. These will usually break if you try to pry the mirror glass off. You can try to melt them off with a soldering iron, but then you might run into trouble when it comes time to reinstall
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I took a sharp exacto knife and sliced off the heads.
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I removed the motor, and trimmed the area flush, as seen below
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Now, using a #40 drill bit, I drilled a hole where each pin was located. Go slowly and let the bit do the work. I went down until I felt contact with the glass
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Afte that, some 4-40 x 1/4" long screws thread themselves right in, and you can reassemble with a new motor/glass or whatever you need to do.
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So, as for the motor. It's not that unique. This style was used on a lot of vehicles from mid 80s through the 2000s. They can be replaced.

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In my case, one of the gears is stripped
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For an example, here's a vw Jetta motor. Looks like the one for the mustang. On the mustang motor above, you'll notice 3 screws in the middle. These pass through the body and secure it to the unique bar that holds the mirror to the mustang housing. The VW motor also has these holes. So I am led to believe there are options to replacing a burned out motor vs buying an aftermarket mirror.

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I've searched a bit, and GM does have a few kits that have a motor, plus glass. (GM# 88893368 for example) $90 however, and would need to swap the wiring in. I'll have to search around a bit for a replacement motor only solution. But I have to imagine one exists. Just need to fogire out which manufacturer does sell stand alone motors.
http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-5...0001&campid=5335821607&icep_item=271387855357

For the newer cars with clip in style mirror glass, I can't comment much on compatible motors. I haven't seen the setup in person. I believe SN95 mirrors use the same motor though.
 
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I'll stop there for now. In my case, this particular mirror has stripped gears. I've ordered a used SN95 motor for $10 that looks compatible, so we will see what I can do here. In the meantime i'll keep my eye out for a new motor replacement option
 
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Remove three screws and the mustang mirror mount adapter is free

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Now you are left with a universal type motor

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Rubber dust boot around the motor slips off

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The rear cover pops off revealing the wiring. Two motors and a common ground

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This would be an easy desolder and swap if a current motor vendor could be found...or just find one from a boneyard car


Edit: if you need help visualizing the screw locations, here's the pass mirror with the motor/glass removed. 2 screws inside the housing and 1 near the mounting studs

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Bracket in place

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so here's the SN95 motor I ordered..used. As you can see, the motor section is similar Wiring is different though and I believe the glass clips on here.
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This motor is supposedly passenger side, so my wiring should stay the same. I will have to let you know as there might be differences in wiring a pass motor on the drivers side. I've also ordered the motor from a used 93-99 VW Jetta that looks identical.


I've found in my searching that a lot of VW, Chevy, BMW, Ford, and others use this motor. VW/Audi/Porsche is a big user. One part we share with 911
 
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I actually ordered the VW motor above as well as the SN95 motor. I also found an NOS 1993 clip on style mirror.

My plan is to dissect the sn95 motor setup to see how that is done as you can steal parts from it (stripped gears for example) or a direct swap using the VW motor instead.

I'll also confirm if the SN95 motors are compatible with the 1990s fox bodies with clip on style mirrors. If they are you guys can just swap in an SN95 motor and call it a day. They should be in better shape than fox mirrors would be...and more plentiful

Parts are in the mail.
 
So bear with me as this is pretty much uncharted territory.

Sn95 mirror motor came. Similar to the fox motor but a few differences (sn95 motor on right)

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Wiring is slightly different. The motor layout is the same but the SN95 has a harness that can be removed. Slick. This wouldn't be a huge hurdle though.

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The major hurdle is the mirrors mount differently. Now, no clue if the snap on mirror later foxes work with this, but as you can see..mine won't.

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So, let's dissect it! I confirmed my motor gear is stripped, so I need a rack and pinion. The two white parts on right side. Basically the motor is splined and drives those white flywheels.

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Here's the problem. No way to get them out easily. Was a pita and I resorted to cutting

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So needless to say this isn't practical. On to plan B. I have a 93-99 Jetta motor on the way. I may move my mustang wiring harness to it. Let's see how that one works.
 

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I hope you're doing this just as a "science project", since the entire assembly can be purchased new for $90.
My passenger side locked up in all directions, blew the fuse. Had to unplug the harness inside the kick panel.
The housing & mirror were in good condition. The new housing is a much shinier black.
Following your directions, got the mirror released from the housing. Then mirror from the motor assembly. One of the white plastic rack gears is broken & had fallen out. The ball end of the rack is almost broken off. The other rack, the ball has pulled out of it's socket. The end of the pinion gear on one motor broke the black plastic which aligns it.

If you want any of these parts for free, just pay the shipping.
 
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Part science project, and partially because I prefer to keep my original housings. If I knew the aftermarket mirrors had the same motors that would interchange, I'd just buy one and swap it. Get new glass too.

But, I'm committed and curious now, so I'll keep messing with this.
 
I can tell you one difference from the old to the new: the new ones are dead silent when moving. Not going through the trouble to swap housings. It's not a show car & I don't see it because it's covered in the garage.

It's weird how the mirror that never got moved is the one that died, but it didn't die in a position for the only driver (me).
 
I'm starting to find out this isn't practical.

Here's the VW motor I received today. Same 4-hole mirror mount (VW on right)

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Now the differences

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Wiring is difference, as well as the 3-hole mount. The VW motor isn't as recessed. As a result the motor mount will not bolt t it properly.

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Wiring is different as well. Now the SN95 pigtail does connect here, so at some point the vendor switches to a plug type connection. I know I could always cut and solder.

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Close up to the backside mounts. Nope...too different.


So my conclusion here is this repair simply isn't practical for most. Replacement motors are not easily found (unless to buy a oem fox mirror) and if you found one it needs to be soldered in (if not from a fox)

So realistically...dead end. I'll prob eBay the VW motor and either buy an aftermarket mirror, or a nice OEM fox light and swap out the motor/mirror.

Reason I want to reuse the housing is because I had the car painted and the mirror is done in a satin black that matches the door trim nicely. I just want to keep this look intact.

I'll update if any new info comes along
 
Your definitely committed to keeping the car original as possible, which I completely understand. I gotta give it to you for trying to rebuild your mirrors!! Putting replacement mirrors on wouldn't bother me a bit, just as long as they worked as they should!
 
The replacement works better than the original. It's completely silent. Thought about replacing the driver's side just so they match. I think I can make the housings match with a little 3M scuffing. Need to find the right grit & hand only, a machine would melt the plastic. 1000 or 2000 grit sandpaper might work, too.
 
Your definitely committed to keeping the car original as possible, which I completely understand.

I've definitely come to not like many of the aftermarket repros out there of many of the parts for these cars. Some are pretty good...but most are meh. Just cheap Chinese junk really. There's a good chunk of NOS parts available on EBay, and if I can find it, i'll gladly pay 3X the cost for a NOS ford part, vs a reproduction part.


Can’t you just swap the insides from a new one?

Unknown. That's a big question here. In order to figure that out, someone would need to pull the mirror/motor from one of the new ones and see if they are interchangeable.

I've also seen these motors for sale on Alibaba for $1 each (min order 1000 however), where the originals were made in Holland (for what I would imagine is more than $1 each). Doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies.
 
Looks like these things are getting even cheaper. Maybe after the holidays I'll pick one of these up and check it out. In sure it's the same manufacturer as all the other ones out there.

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