I have all the parts to add power mirrors to my 87 T/A. Has anyone done this and how much work was it ? .... Thanks

 

the job is relatively straight forward. you need to tap +12 & ground, fish new wires into each door, and physically mount each mirror.

thirdgen mirrors are paint to match. so unless your donor car was the same color as yours, you'll also need to repaint them.

i have around a spare mirror electrical harness and control switch if you need them.

 

I'll give it a shot ........ Thanks

 

can you not rip the guts out of the mirror and use the original housing to avoid re-painting?? Just curious cuz I was looking in the service manual (as I am contemplating doing this too) and the motor is shown as a separate piece.

thoughts??

 

No, the mounting inside the mirror housing is different (placement of the screw holes) so it must be an electric mirror housing.

 

News to me. Yes the mirror housings are the same. I've done the swap of electric power mirrors into my non-electric housings. You do have to swap the die-cast pot metal mount from an electric mirror pod into yours, but it mounts with screws to the same mounting pads inside the pod as the manual mirror mounting piece attached. Later style electric mirrors are easier to swap. Early style electric mirrors have a screw that mounts the plastic mirror backing to the electric motor. You have to break the mirror glass to remove the hidden screw. Later style electric mirror motors have a metal cross-shaped piece that the plastic backing of the mirror snaps onto.

Lon

 

Agreed

 

Yeah, depending on the year, the power mirror shells are different than non power. Don't expect them to be interchangeable. Sometimes yes, sometimes no.

I did the switch. Once you remove your door panels and kick panels, hardest part is fishing the wires through the rubber grommet between the door and body. I fished one spare scrap of wire through and used it to pull the mirror wiring through as well.

 

Any idea when they changed?

 

I put 85 or 86 power mirrors into my 87 housings... if that helps

John

 

NOw that the car is out again, I am hoping to go to the wreckers soon to grab the parts to try this. Mine is 85. Do you think I would be safe with 85 or newer power mirrors??

HOw did you get the non-power mirrors out, did you have to break them?

 

Whew...I knew I wasn't crazy.

 

Yes I had to break them, I paid $30 or so for new mirrors tho...

I got a set of power mirrors from an 89, and I think I disassemble it without breaking them...

I think 1989 - 1992 more cars had power mirrors and will be more prevelant.

John

 

I swapped 85 PM guts into a 92 RS without a hitch... I believe they switched between the 84 to 85 model year. Tried using an 84 mirror on the 85+ motor & it wouldn't work.

If you guys are breaking out the manual mirrors to do the swap, you're doing it wrong. The mirrors can be adjusted just enough to get a phillips head screwdriver in behind to take out the old screws

 

So the 3 screwholes all lined up fine between the two years I assume....with no modification? If so, that's cool cuz mine is an 85 so I should be safe then with 85 or higher (or at least to 89 it sounds like)

Yeah, I was looking at those screws when I tilted the mirror. Haven't tried it yet but it is good to know that breaking is not necessary. Thanks for the tip!

 

when i was in the snow, i broke my mirror guts trying to adjust them.
so i thought id just swap the guts. took them out ffrom a junker with a phillips. nope some of them are different.
so i went back to the junker and got a whole mirror off a firebird. stripped off 2 different colours of paint and a layer of grey. then painted to match as close as i could.

 

i am also looking into doing the swap will firebird mirrors work ? I have a 92 so what year donor mirrors should i be looking for ?

 

as long as you get the whole housing and everything not just the guts of the mirror you can use any year and both firebird/camaro

 

actually in third gens only the RS, Z28, IROCZ, 82-84 LT's and F41's had body color mirrors,...85-88 Sport Coupes had black mirrors and rear bumper stripes.,..

 

thankyou mr fancypants

 

he was just correcting you

 

just busting his *****

 

Speaking of adding mirrors can I add this switch to operate the drivers side mirror.The 1 in in the middle works fine but only for the passanger side,I thought it would be easy to just bypass the drivers side mirror to that switch I found in a 82 camaro,what do you guys think?I havent wired anything yet ,just wanted to see how it looks 1st and get your opinions

 

While in the spirit of ball busting, his information isn't exactly accurate. The 88 SC had body colored side view mirrors, as did the Berlinettas.