JohnnieUtah

I had to remove the mirror tonight because it was held on by long sheet metal screws which extended far enough beyond the interior sheet metal of the door that it was scraping the window. Can't believe the previous owner did this! When I removed the mirror here is what I saw. Can someone please give me advice on how to repair this door so I can mount the mirror back on? My driver's side door is fine as depicted in photo and has some sort of nutplate behind the door's hole.

7T1vette

You might check out Well-nuts at a FastenAll store. Later models used these to mount the mirrors. If you are lucky, they will have one that has a rubber bushing the same size or a little bit larger than the largest of those two holes. The holes could be drilled to fit the Well-nuts, which can be installed in the holes, and the mirror base can be screwed down to the Well-nuts. Keep fingers crossed that the chrome mirror 'foot' will fully cover the Well-nuts once fully assembled.

If that option is not possible, it looks like a fiberglass repair and redrill.

0Willcox Corvette

The passenger side mirror used well nuts like Charlie describes above. I think your holes will still work for this so all you need is a RH mirror mounting kit.

The driver side mirror had a plate under the door skin for mounting but the passenger side only used the well nuts.


Here is the mounting kit:
https://willcoxcorvette.com/corvette...t-kit-rh-68-79

JohnnieUtah

Thanks so much. For some reason my holes are .550" at max and the required hole size based on the kit should be .375". Do you think it would still work?

7T1vette

You need to check for a 1/2" dia. Well nut. The way they work is when the screw going thru the mirror base and into the Well-nut is tightened, the rubber expands to lock itself into that hole. A 1/2" Well-nut should expand to more than .550" and work for you...especially since the other hole would still need to be drilled larger.

The only question is whether the larger diameter Well-nuts will be covered by the chrome pedestal after the base has been installed. Maybe the supplier can tell you the outer diameter of the 1/2" Well-nut and you can determine if that part will be fully covered by the mirror when it is assembled to the base.

gjohnson

I bought well nuts at ACE Hardware for my mirrors.

Sunstroked

I went a bit different route, although I too feel a well nut will fit your situation well.
i made an internal mounting plate from aluminum and installed 2 nut plates to the plate, then bonded the plate to the backside of the door skin. Its similar to how the factory installed the LH mirror. I just had access to better parts.

JohnnieUtah

This is exactly what I plan to do. Me and the other engineers discussed it today and after searching the net for a proper well-nut we couldn't find one sized correctly for my issue. We couldn't find a 10-32 well-nut with a half inch hole requirement.

JohnnieUtah

Okay guys, I need your help again. How do I gain access behind the holes? Apparently there is a steel stiffener blocking the area. It's impossible for me to put a plate behind there. HELP!

DUB

I know how to do this. PM me and I can get you my shop phone number and we can talk. This will take much less time than me typing it all out.

My method DOES NOT require ANY cutting up of the body at all in any way.

DUB

7T1vette

That's a difficult area to access and work in (behind those holes). Sounds like someone knows how to do it, so wish you luck. Advise that you fix the plate permanently so you only need to work from the 'outside' in the future.

JohnnieUtah

How did you gain access to this area? It is hidden and covered up by a stiffener.

JohnnieUtah

Still trying to figure out how to get behind the door skin with stiffener in the way. I don't think it's possible.

7T1vette

[awaiting feedback from DUB on how this can be done...I'm curious, too]

DUB

I called 'JohnnieUtah' and described how to do it.

I will wait for his reply on when it is done so he can confirm that it can be done with NO DAMAGE being done to the door.

DUB

damvette

I too am interested in how this is fixed inside the steel support bar ( steel stiffener ).
When I removed the mirror on the driver door the plate fell into the steel support bar. ((This is one car history I would love to know how this was caused?)).
I was able to remove it by using a coat hanger, difficult but I did get the plate out.
I thought my only solution was now to use well nuts like a passenger install.
If possible I would like to know how this plate or a new one could be replaced.
Derrick

DUB

PM me if you want to know how to put the driver door plate back in. I WOULD NOT at any costs use Wellnuts.

DUB

JohnnieUtah

Well I've tried everything to gain access to the back side of the passenger door skin to apply a metal plate. There is no way to access that space that I can see due to a stiffener blocking all access. Would love to hear and see how other's have done this because I'm saying BS right now.

DUB

So you are telling me that you can not run a wire I mentioned??

There is NOTHING in that cavity that should stop you from doing this IF the door has not been butchered by someone who filled it up with some filler or whatever.

DUB

JohnnieUtah

Well hand me a crow so I can eat it! Dub is right. Have to remove the outside door handle first. I see a cavity there which is the channel opening. I will update with photos as I do this project so others can see. Right now I have to have my machinist make the plate on the CNC mill