Quarter light Moss mirrors

[MollyOwner]

Hi folks
I have just bought a pair of quarter light mirrors from David Manners. I was under the impression they would clamp to the frame but it would appear they clamp to the actual glass, with rubber either side of course.
My question is - has anyone experienced the glass shattering if you accidentally walked into the mirror and knocked the bracket?
Best wishes

[palacebear]

I've had no personal experience of these mirrors but I suggest they're more suited to other cars where the quarter-light has a metal/chrome frame which completely surrounds the glass. I can also imagine they're a bit impractical if you wish to open the quarter-light, at which point the mirror will move too, presumably completely out of your view.
IMHO for safety purposes, the very standard Leyland/BL door mirrors are best. Fitted widely across the BL range from 1970. Still easily available in polished stainless steel or matt black finish. They do however require holes to be drilled in the doors and they look a bit too modern for some folks taste. Alternatively 'vintage' chrome door mirrors which fit to the lower front corner of the window frames ahead of the quarter light. Commonly seen on Minors these days. They're a bit small, but adequate. Again I believe they need a hole drilled to fit. I have them on Max - fitted by a previous owner. Failing that, good old fashioned wing-mirrors (holes drilled in precious wings). They're an acquired taste if you're not used to them.

[Tea]

I've had them on one of my cars for years with no problem at all in terms of knocking them. They just bend back a small amount and then need re positioning. I've bumped into them numerous times in our very tight fitting garage and never felt as though the glass was going to crack.
As palacebear says, it can be a little annoying if you want to open the quarter lights when driving. We got in to the habbit of only using the main windows so that we still had full view of the mirrors.
One another of our cars we have the small circular chrome door mirrors that attached via a drilled hole in the triangular metal piece next to the quarter lights. The driver's side one is great for visibility but the passenger side is somewhat useless. The clamp on mirrors that you've bought are much better for passenger side visibility.

[palacebear]

One another of our cars we have the small circular chrome door mirrors that attached via a drilled hole in the triangular metal piece next to the quarter lights. The driver's side one is great for visibility but the passenger side is somewhat useless.

I agree with Tea. After a year or more, I'm still unable to adjust the nearside mirror properly. As a retired bus driver, I habitually use the exterior mirrors for reversing etc. Had a few close shaves with my wheelie-bins!

[ManyMinors]

One another of our cars we have the small circular chrome door mirrors that attached via a drilled hole in the triangular metal piece next to the quarter lights. The driver's side one is great for visibility but the passenger side is somewhat useless.

I agree with Tea. After a year or more, I'm still unable to adjust the nearside mirror properly. As a retired bus driver, I habitually use the exterior mirrors for reversing etc. Had a few close shaves with my wheelie-bins!

I can't imagine how you have fitted your mirrors to have this problem - or maybe your mirrors are not the same as mine? Either way, I purchased a pair of the "Lucas replica" mirrors which can be fitted as wing mirrors OR door mirrors from Bull Motif spares two or three years ago. I too have fitted them to the triangle section forward of the quarterlight. They have a convex glass and both sides can be adjusted so that they provide a perfect field of vision. It is he best modification I have carried out our convertible which doesn't have the best rearward visibility and previously relied on those clamp-on mirrors fitted to the door window frames which were almost useless. As for clamping a mirror to the edge of the glass itself - a friend did this on his car and gained a broken quarterlight quite soon afterwards. The car was parked so he didn't know what had happened but replacing the glass is not an easy job. Also, as somebody has already said, it effectively prevents you from using the quarterlight for its intended purpose! I drive with mine open almost all year round.

[Tea]

Our mirror looks the same as the one pictured, but the base section of it is a different shape. Possibly the base on yours or the stem allows the mirror to pertrude slightly further. We're going to try and fabricate an extra block for the base to sit on as the main thing giving poor visibility is how close it sits to the quarterlight - that and that you can only angle it in so many ways.

[MollyOwner]

Thank you for all the various answers and opinions expressed. I shall muse on them and make a decision as to how I look at what is about to overtake me! Having just fitted Saab 9000 seats I can at least now do it in comfort.
Thanks to all.
Kind regards
Charlie

[don58van]

Tea wrote:
One another of our cars we have the small circular chrome door mirrors that attached via a drilled hole in the triangular metal piece next to the quarter lights. The driver's side one is great for visibility but the passenger side is somewhat useless.



I agree with Tea. After a year or more, I'm still unable to adjust the nearside mirror properly. As a retired bus driver, I habitually use the exterior mirrors for reversing etc. Had a few close shaves with my wheelie-bins!

We're going to try and fabricate an extra block for the base to sit on

I had the same problem. My mirrors are the Lucas-type supplied by ESM. I solved it by making a cast resin spacer that fits under the base of the arm. It is a wedge shape so it changes the angle of the arm. It took me several prototypes to get the right angles. I shaped it so that it harmonizes with design of the arm. It doesn't interfere with the opening of quarter-light.

I can supply pictures and explanations if anyone is interested.

Manyminors: can you provide a picture or two of your arm and how it is mounted?


Don

[Mark Wilson]

Don, I'd be interested to see your design as I've a pair of ESM mirrors to fit (after the engine, panels and everything else. ...)

Perhaps a little Declan style production run?

Mark

[ManyMinors]

I have no idea why anyone would need to fabricate mounting brackets etc so can only assume that the mirrors ESM sell are different to those I purchased from Bull Motif? All I have done is to remove the triangle section forward of the quarterlight and attached by 2 screws, mark and drill a hole, bolt the mirror on and refit the triangle section. I think I shortened the mounting stud on the mirror slightly. It really couldn't be much easier.
Once adjusted, both mirrors provide a perfect rear view from the drivers seat and have greatly enhanced the driving experience whether travelling forwards or reversing, where they are particularly useful .
This picture shows the view the mirror gives when driving the car:

[ManyMinors]

.....and this second picture shows the mirror fitted to the triangle section of the door window frame:

[ManyMinors]

Having looked on Bull Motif's website, they describe this mirror (on my LH door) as "R/H wing mirror MIR 101" at a price of £14.95.
They are a copy of the original Lucas wing mirror and can be fitted to the wing in the traditional way, or to the doors as shown. If you fit them to the door, you need the RH wing mirror to fit the LH door and vice versa. Hope this helps.

[amgrave]

It may be obvious but don't forget when fitting the wing mirrors to the doors the right hand wing mirror should go on the left door and left wing mirror on right door, it should be obvious though as the alignment would be all wrong.

[SteveClem]

They're identical to the ones I got for both of my Minors from Wares. They're excellent.

[smithskids]

Tom Roy also supplies them. they are good.

[don58van]

Thanks for the photos Manyminors.

Your mirrors are the same design as mine.

I see you have turned your clamp plate so that the gap is allowing maximum turn of the mirror toward the side of the car.

I have done this too, but it still does not allow the mirror to be turned enough toward the side of the car. Therefore (without the mounting block I have made) even at maximum adjustment the mirror shows the footpath and buildings on the passenger side of the car rather than the road behind.

The only explanation I have for the difference between your satisfactory experience and the many other cases I am aware of where the mirror can't be adjusted to give a satisfactory view is differences in the manufacture of the clamping plate that holds the mirror to the ball on the arm.

The clamping plates supplied with my mirrors seem to be lacking in quality compared with the other components. On close inspection, I can see that the crudely formed edges to the central hole are limiting the range of adjustment.

I can only assume that the clamping plates supplied with your mirrors allow a greater range of adjustment. It is not unusual for the specifications of parts to be changed during long production runs.

I used a miniature grinder to open up the central hole slightly which helps a bit, but I am reticent to take away much metal, partly because I wanted to limit rusting where I have removed the chrome plating and partly because I didn't want to ruin the plate if I went too far with the grinding.

The wedge-shaped mounting block I made does two things:
1) it allows the mirror to face more toward the side of the car, allowing a great view behind the car.
2) it sweeps the arm a little toward the back of the car, which in my case, puts the mirror nicely in the centre of the quarter-light glass (as seen from my driving position).

I think the mounting block works well and looks like it 'belongs' but there is a downside. That is, because mounting stud now passes through the metal triangle at about 70 degrees (rather than the usual 90), an angled spacer was needed on the other side to allow the nut to be fastened properly. The combined size of the spacer and nut meant that I was reluctant to spring the triangle open far enough to fit it over the window frame. Instead, I drilled a fairly large hole through the inside of the triangle to allow the mirror to be installed with the triangle mounted to the frame. I used a rubber blind grommet to close the hole after fitting the mirror. I don't mind the look of the rubber bung--after all, there is a lot of rubber on show inside a Minor so a little more doesn't look out of place.

Offered for your information.
Don