Thought I'd share a few pics of the repair of my map light in the 75. I found a used oversized mirror of the same vintage in the parts section for $5, disassembled, replaced the bulb and installed in my mirror. Hope the pics might help others to have a better understanding of what the light assembly looks like to safely remove yours.

 

Nice job! I really enjoy having all the details working.

Does that mirror say "Made in the USA" on it? Wow, that is old.

Adam

 

What sealants did you use for the mirror to rubber and the mirror surround to the metal frame?
Thanks
Terry

 

I'd be interested in hearing this too. I ended up using clear GE silicone sealant on mine. Should last a while but I won't enjoy removing it if I ever have to do it again.

 

I didn't remove the mirror glass on mine, just the one I bought for the lamp assembly. You remove the light by popping off the clear cover, then carefully pinch both sides and pull down to remove from the housing. If you look at the third pic, you can see the lip that locks it into the housing. Hope this helps.

 

I have a 72 convertible. At night it was horrible if I had to see anything inside the car. If I had to read a piece of paper, I had to stick it into the rear and try to read it with my head stuck back there.

I purchased a mirror with a map light of ebay (the map light mirror was not unique to corvettes, so you can look at other period cars and find them much cheaper).

When I got the mirror the bulb needed to be replaced. The plastic piece broke when I removed it, it was very brittle and fragile. I tried a few times to fix it, but could never make it sturdy enough handle the pressure of sliding back and forth to turn it on/off.

My solution was to leave it permanently on, and to tie it into the courtesy light circuit. This works great! I can turn it on/off with all the rest of the courtesy lights, and it automatically comes on when a door is opened. And I no longer have to worry about breaking the slider switch.

It's unbelievable how much better the lighting is now. It's hard to believe how much a difference one little light could make. This is by far my favorite mod to my car I have ever made. And I highly recommend any convertible owners who don't have a map light to consider it. And since the map light did become an option in 73, it does look close enough to stock on my 72.

 

On a couple cars, I retrofitted The R/R mirrors with Gentex auto dims. The map lights are LED's, and has an outdoor temp readout. While obviously not stock in appearance, think you'll really like these. Just keep the original one's, if needing to go back.

 

BadOrange, I stumbles across this old post as I was researching the repair of my map light. I have a couple of questions I am hoping you may be able to answer? I know the post is 5 years old though, so...Do you recall how to remove the power lead from the assembly? I have a 75 as well and the wire coming fromthe header to the mirror looks like it snaps into the top of the mirror using the blue castelated connector? I want to remove the mirroe to clean the switch contacts and replace the bulb, but don't want to destroy the fragile looking 42 year old wiring in the process? Any other tips or photos of your project you may be able to share (if you remember). Thanks for any assistance.