TVR S2 WING MIRROR
Discussion
hi there, im a brand new tvr owner and have gone in at the deep end and got a tvr s2 1990 in need of some love, I've made sure the car is mechanically sound and I am now turning my attention to the look of it, its a stunning purple colour and I am having the roof re done and seats reconditioned and so on but the wing mirrors are loose and look awful, mk1 mx5 seem to be the choice of many but installing isn't something I am looking forward to, has any one done this and does any one have a step by step?
Some photos in this thread of alternatives - although the thread is about the internal rear view mirror.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I need to check my bookmarks for a dedicated thread on wing mirrors.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I need to check my bookmarks for a dedicated thread on wing mirrors.
Here's some more threads on fitting alternative mirrors.
I have fitted the Vittoria ones but these are being replaced with items with integrated indicators.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
I have fitted the Vittoria ones but these are being replaced with items with integrated indicators.
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
mk1fan said:
....I have fitted the Vittoria ones....
What are those?More options on this thread...
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...
v8s4me said:
What are those?
The third link I listed has some pictures of Longers' old S. These are the mirrors I referred to. v8s4me said:
Link previously posted 
Hi Oliver, welcome to S ownership! When I got mine, quite a few years ago now, a friend pointed me to this forum. It has been invaluable. You can usually find someone who has sorted any problem you may have, and lost of people who will be interested in your experiences and ideas.
After viewing what others had done I went down the Mk1 MX5 line. I felt they were the option which best fitted in with the scale and lines of the car. Believe me the difference in rear view is absolutley wonderful. You will find a post of mine, with pics of my car, on the thread that has been referred to several times above. (despite looking like a V8 on the pics, it is an S1!). If you decide that is the option you want then I can describe what I did.
After viewing what others had done I went down the Mk1 MX5 line. I felt they were the option which best fitted in with the scale and lines of the car. Believe me the difference in rear view is absolutley wonderful. You will find a post of mine, with pics of my car, on the thread that has been referred to several times above. (despite looking like a V8 on the pics, it is an S1!). If you decide that is the option you want then I can describe what I did.
greymrj said:
Hi Oliver, welcome to S ownership! When I got mine, quite a few years ago now, a friend pointed me to this forum. It has been invaluable. You can usually find someone who has sorted any problem you may have, and lost of people who will be interested in your experiences and ideas.
After viewing what others had done I went down the Mk1 MX5 line. I felt they were the option which best fitted in with the scale and lines of the car. Believe me the difference in rear view is absolutley wonderful. You will find a post of mine, with pics of my car, on the thread that has been referred to several times above. (despite looking like a V8 on the pics, it is an S1!). If you decide that is the option you want then I can describe what I did.
greymrj thanks for the post and I am shocked at how quickly and helpful people have been, I myself have looked at all the posts and like you think its the best route, would you mind explaining how you did it? it would be hugely appreciated. After viewing what others had done I went down the Mk1 MX5 line. I felt they were the option which best fitted in with the scale and lines of the car. Believe me the difference in rear view is absolutley wonderful. You will find a post of mine, with pics of my car, on the thread that has been referred to several times above. (despite looking like a V8 on the pics, it is an S1!). If you decide that is the option you want then I can describe what I did.
Greetings Oliver, good choice of car-enjoy it loads you will.
I changed my bunny-ear mirrors for MX5 Mk1;they look and work ok except passenger side refuses to tighten up so gets blown back above 50 mph,really must get round to doing something about this.
If you do buy new ones I would recommend that BEFORE fitting you tighten the grub screw to make sure that it does the job.
I changed my bunny-ear mirrors for MX5 Mk1;they look and work ok except passenger side refuses to tighten up so gets blown back above 50 mph,really must get round to doing something about this.
If you do buy new ones I would recommend that BEFORE fitting you tighten the grub screw to make sure that it does the job.
Hi Oliver, found the time for a few notes!
Firstly, keep an eye on the MX5 club site, and on the PH MX5 forum as well as ebay in order to pick up the correct mirrors. The must be Mk1 manual mirrors, the electric ones are not a good alternative, too hard to fit. I tried breaker people like car parts 24/7 but they didnt know one car from another and sent me wrong ones.
Removing the glass from the 'new' mirrors might need a little care. The plastic ring which holds it in had been glued on mine and it took care to get it off undamaged. If you think the glass is imperfect, change it now. They can be bought alone quite cheaply. The MX5 Mk1 mirrors are now of some age so expect the spring unit inside to be rusty. Dont mess about, change it! You will find there are stainless steel replacement kits with new pin, spring and washer. Do assemble the mirrors and offer them up against the TVR S and check the angle achieved. I found that a little careful work on the internals gave me a slightly better angle. I cannot guarantee that they are all the same but I couldn't get the mirror quite as horizontal as I would like without a little fettling! They were very slightly down, unlike the 'bunnies' which were ridiculously head up.
The mirrors have a painted plastic outer case. Light wet and dry all over, to provide a key and get rid of any wax (use just a touch of washing liquid at first to break down any wax but be sure to go over again with clean water) then aerosol paint. I managed to get dark green ones which were easy to respray BRG for my car.
Disassemble the base of the mirror again, it will be much easier if you keep the base casting separate for now.
The door is a bigger issue! When you try to get the bunny ears off you will probably find there isnt a cats chance of unscrewing them now, too much corrosion. I had to pull back the plastic sleeves and cut them off! You will then find there is a nasty g.r.p. lump in the door. There is no choice but to cut that off, carefully so as not to damage piant outside that area. That lump goes inside the door as well but dont cut that out, it provides stiffening later. File or sand the rest of the lump back to door skin level, there will then need to be a little filler and more surface work. I am sorry, there will be a little aerosol touch up to do afterwards! When you have got the preparation right, use the cast base of the new mirror to mark out for the two 6mm mounting holes. Position the casting so that the centre of the casting is approx in the centre of the position of the old boss. Use a 6 mm drill by hand, or in a slow cordless drill so the centres of the two holes are spot on to the mounting, drill into the door less than 3mm, you are aiming to give as good guide to a bigger drill, not to drill through. . You will also find that you need to drill a small depression for the projection in the centre of the mirror casting or it will not sit flat.
Use masking tape and care to get the holes in the other door to exactly the same level and distance from the front of the door.
You now need 4 6mm stainless screws or dome headed cap screws (readily available from cycle shops as used for pedal fitting), or better still stainless 'panhead' screws if you can get them. Do get stainless, not plated, it is important.
You will also need 4 special 'riv-nuts' of the rubber/brass type sold by Car Builder Solutions as part RUBNUT6. Using these means that you have no need to work inside the door at all, and the mounting holes will be sealed. There are 10 in a packet, the others will come in very useful on these g.r.p. bodied cars. The RUBNUT6 has an outside diameter of 12.5mm.
Using the two 6mm drill centres, carefully and slowly drill out to 12.5, preferably 12mm if you have the drills available (important to have a neat smooth hole, go too quick and it will be ragged and wont seal afterwards). Drill right through the door and the remains of the boss inside the door. Tidy up the area of the door and spray final colour, dry, respray, dry, fine finish and polish. Then and only then fit the rubber rivnuts.
Now trial fit the base casting AND the plastic cover which goes over it. I found I had to grind down the stainless screws to get a good fit under the plastic cover. Had they been plated they would now be un-plated and would rust like hell! When I bought my mirrors I found the little location tang on one of the plastic covers was broken, eventually I think I am going to have to touch glue it on as it keeps coming loose.
Once you have fettled the mounting to your likings, take it off and reassemble the mirror. As pointed out on the earlier post, get the spring tension right or it will all have to come off again.
Mount it all up and admire your handiwork! Then get help setting them just right and go for a drive, you can now see behind you! Now you will realise just how bad they were before as I found the size and position of the MX5 mirrors to be absolutely perfect! Seeing what is behind was actually quite a revelation!
Sounds like a lot of work, but it didnt take long. Virtually any mirror, unless it has a massive mounting (which wouldnt look right on the S) will mean that the old boss will have to come off so most of the work is inevitable.
I am sure I have more pictures but I haven't found them yet!
Good luck, hope that helps!
Firstly, keep an eye on the MX5 club site, and on the PH MX5 forum as well as ebay in order to pick up the correct mirrors. The must be Mk1 manual mirrors, the electric ones are not a good alternative, too hard to fit. I tried breaker people like car parts 24/7 but they didnt know one car from another and sent me wrong ones.
Removing the glass from the 'new' mirrors might need a little care. The plastic ring which holds it in had been glued on mine and it took care to get it off undamaged. If you think the glass is imperfect, change it now. They can be bought alone quite cheaply. The MX5 Mk1 mirrors are now of some age so expect the spring unit inside to be rusty. Dont mess about, change it! You will find there are stainless steel replacement kits with new pin, spring and washer. Do assemble the mirrors and offer them up against the TVR S and check the angle achieved. I found that a little careful work on the internals gave me a slightly better angle. I cannot guarantee that they are all the same but I couldn't get the mirror quite as horizontal as I would like without a little fettling! They were very slightly down, unlike the 'bunnies' which were ridiculously head up.
The mirrors have a painted plastic outer case. Light wet and dry all over, to provide a key and get rid of any wax (use just a touch of washing liquid at first to break down any wax but be sure to go over again with clean water) then aerosol paint. I managed to get dark green ones which were easy to respray BRG for my car.
Disassemble the base of the mirror again, it will be much easier if you keep the base casting separate for now.
The door is a bigger issue! When you try to get the bunny ears off you will probably find there isnt a cats chance of unscrewing them now, too much corrosion. I had to pull back the plastic sleeves and cut them off! You will then find there is a nasty g.r.p. lump in the door. There is no choice but to cut that off, carefully so as not to damage piant outside that area. That lump goes inside the door as well but dont cut that out, it provides stiffening later. File or sand the rest of the lump back to door skin level, there will then need to be a little filler and more surface work. I am sorry, there will be a little aerosol touch up to do afterwards! When you have got the preparation right, use the cast base of the new mirror to mark out for the two 6mm mounting holes. Position the casting so that the centre of the casting is approx in the centre of the position of the old boss. Use a 6 mm drill by hand, or in a slow cordless drill so the centres of the two holes are spot on to the mounting, drill into the door less than 3mm, you are aiming to give as good guide to a bigger drill, not to drill through. . You will also find that you need to drill a small depression for the projection in the centre of the mirror casting or it will not sit flat.
Use masking tape and care to get the holes in the other door to exactly the same level and distance from the front of the door.
You now need 4 6mm stainless screws or dome headed cap screws (readily available from cycle shops as used for pedal fitting), or better still stainless 'panhead' screws if you can get them. Do get stainless, not plated, it is important.
You will also need 4 special 'riv-nuts' of the rubber/brass type sold by Car Builder Solutions as part RUBNUT6. Using these means that you have no need to work inside the door at all, and the mounting holes will be sealed. There are 10 in a packet, the others will come in very useful on these g.r.p. bodied cars. The RUBNUT6 has an outside diameter of 12.5mm.
Using the two 6mm drill centres, carefully and slowly drill out to 12.5, preferably 12mm if you have the drills available (important to have a neat smooth hole, go too quick and it will be ragged and wont seal afterwards). Drill right through the door and the remains of the boss inside the door. Tidy up the area of the door and spray final colour, dry, respray, dry, fine finish and polish. Then and only then fit the rubber rivnuts.
Now trial fit the base casting AND the plastic cover which goes over it. I found I had to grind down the stainless screws to get a good fit under the plastic cover. Had they been plated they would now be un-plated and would rust like hell! When I bought my mirrors I found the little location tang on one of the plastic covers was broken, eventually I think I am going to have to touch glue it on as it keeps coming loose.
Once you have fettled the mounting to your likings, take it off and reassemble the mirror. As pointed out on the earlier post, get the spring tension right or it will all have to come off again.
Mount it all up and admire your handiwork! Then get help setting them just right and go for a drive, you can now see behind you! Now you will realise just how bad they were before as I found the size and position of the MX5 mirrors to be absolutely perfect! Seeing what is behind was actually quite a revelation!
Sounds like a lot of work, but it didnt take long. Virtually any mirror, unless it has a massive mounting (which wouldnt look right on the S) will mean that the old boss will have to come off so most of the work is inevitable.
I am sure I have more pictures but I haven't found them yet!
Good luck, hope that helps!
What an excellent post! Thanks for taking the time do do this. I'd never heard of "Rivnuts" so thanks for the heads up. This will make one of my little winter projects a lot easier. And of course they will form a watertight mounting. Excellent! 
BTW, did you need to put anything behind the door skin when you were drilling through to protect the glass or window frame?
BTW, did you need to put anything behind the door skin when you were drilling through to protect the glass or window frame?
Edited by v8s4me on Thursday 16th July 18:51
v8s4me said:
What size? I'll need a couple for my job if they are the right ones.
About this size Mr fussy 
thread - M6
Body dia. - 12mm
head dia. - 18mm
body length - 16mm
head thickness - 4mm
thread insert appears to be steel, but a brass or stainless screw with plenty of "Copper Slip" or silicone grease shouldn't be a problem
v8s4me said:
BTW, did you need to put anything behind the door skin when you were drilling through to protect the glass or window frame?
Thanks for the comments guys, much appreciated. Glad it will help.Edited by v8s4me on Thursday 16th July 18:51
There is good clearance between the outer skin and the window but drill with the window up just to be safe, and take it easy with the drill so it only just breaks through just in case. So absolutely no need to work from inside the door.
Great post on the MX5 option but has anyone converted from bunny ears to the Citroen CX type? Have read that TVR employed an extended boss for these mirrors when compared to Chimaeras and Griifs - which is no doubt impossible to source now.
Was hoping it would be straightforward given the cost of the mirrors!
Thanks all.
Was hoping it would be straightforward given the cost of the mirrors!
Thanks all.
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