Talk Morgan Forums Morgan Sports Cars Maintenance & Servicing Fitting new side mirrors

I bought a couple of the circular, convex side mirrors recently. These are to be a Christmas present from my sons and I am under orders not to touch. However, I went into the garage with them to have a sneaky test-fit. A small problem immediately showed itself when trying to release the existing oval mirrors. I undid the centre screw to free the mirror stem from the base arm, slid up the rubber seal and pulled. The stem would only slide up so far and would not come out of the base. I don’t want to pull too hard and break something. Is there something else I need to free or undo in order to separate the two? I notice there is a plastic collar beneath the rubber seal; maybe this has to be prised off?

Yes, I think you need to remove the plastic collar and slide on to the stem of the new mirror. I certainly found the round mirrors to be a great improvement on the factory originals.

When I did mine the old stem just slid out of the base after undoing the retaining screw. I don't remember having to prise off any seal ..... unless the design has changed since 2008.

BTW - good move to replace the (presumably) factory fitted jobbies. I found the nearside one impossible to adjust to any useable angle and replaced them with the round ones within a week of having the car.

S'funny, I don't have a problem with the original mirrors on my '76 (at least not now that I have a replacement lower section on the driver's door courtesy of one of our number ).

Steve, I think you'll find there is a 'key' on the upper stem that needs to pass through a gap in the plastic/nylon bush (or you need to remove the bush to refit for your new upper). You'll see what I mean if you carefully lift the bush out of the lower arm.

Cheers,

Gentlemen - thank you very much for your prompt replies. Will try again, of course, but can't do it now until Boxing Day - after, no doubt, I will have lost some money at Towcester Races that day

Hi Steve,

You will be confused with all these tips! The round mirrors that came with my Roadster were impossible to adjust, and were replaced with other round mirrors that are great - until a lense dropped out, never to be seen again.
When I got the replacements, they slipped out of lower stem complete with light grey plastic band with a cut-out which I guess is where the clamping screw bites? The black collar fits over the top of the lower stem to keep water out? The new tops arrived assembled with these plastic/rubber bits
Don't understand why yours do not separate, unless - WD40 overnight might free it?

Good Luck.

Hi Steve, Just done this on my car (birthday present in my case!).

On the standard Morgan mirror assembly the tube in mirror base, into which the mirror stem fits, is too large a diameter for the mirror stem. To stop the stem moving around (rattling) in the base, the bottom of the mirror stem has a grove machined in it. A grey plastic spacer collar, with a split in it, is fitted in the grove to take up any slack. So, when you undo the clamping screw on the mirror base to free the mirror stem you need to remove the locking screw fully, otherwise when you try to withdraw the mirror stem the grey plastic collar fouls on the clamping screw preventing you from withdrawing the mirrors.

The mirror stems on my new round mirrors (Phoenix Design type) are a larger diameter (see below) so don't need the grey split spacer collar when putting the new mirrors in place. I suspect most after market fitment mirrors stems will be of the same sort of diameter.

Also, when you do withdraw you existing mirrors, you should find two seals which fit round the mirror stem and over the top of the mirror base. One in grey plastic beneath another black one which you should be able to see with the existing mirrors in place. You will need to remove both these seals from the existing mirror stems and replace them on you new mirror stems. Because of the larger diameter of your new mirror stems, you will need to lubricate the seals/stems to get the seals on. I used a small amount of Fairy Liquid (other brands are available!) on both the mirror stems and the seals, but they weren't difficult to replace.

Finally, you can insert the new mirror stems (with both the grey and black seals positioned on the stems) into the mirror base, refit and tighten the clamping screw with the mirrors in your chosen position, and slide both the grey and black seals back into place.

Voila! Job done... Bon chance

David H, MonteZooma - very comprehensive stuff; thanks a lot!

Nice write-up.
You should send that description to Tim (Hamwich) for inclusion in Morganatica...

Oh, that's new to me Graham (Morganatica that is). So I had a look via a Google search and as well as the Morganatica site, it also refers you back to a TM post by Talkmorgan (Simon?).

Not much depth of content on Morganatica so far, and I think I'd prefer to put the post on TM on the "How to's" in the Classic Morgan forum... but only if TM folks think it is worth copying there.

Thanks for nice comment Graham