HUD question: '99 C5 with built in HUD. Mirror disconnected from
mechanism that tilts mirror. Tilt motor works; light projector works.
Nothing seems to be broken. I have lifted dash bezel and dust film so I can reach mirror with my hand through the top of the dash. Mirror does not easily move to my touch.

Question: How easy is it to reconnect mirror to tilt mechanism?

I have watched U Tube videos. Some show part on side of mirror with gear teeth. Some show where pin on side of mirror may need to be replaced. Dealers and Vette shops only want to pulldash and put in a new HUD (big bucks). Last resort is to use double sided tape and attach a fixed position mirror to the existing mirror. Only respond if you have actually reconnected the mirror by reaching through dash.

 

Piece that has broken pin, with the tilting teeth

I have pulled my own dash off and pulled the gauge cluster out. It was surprisingly alot easier and simpler than I expected. It is most likely that the gear piece with the pin on it is your problem. The guide pin that holds the mirror in place has probably broken or worn out(mine did). Even after removing and reinstalling mine I don't see how you could possibly put it back into place properly without having full access to the HUD, because there are also tension springs involved, along with the teeth for the tilting motor.
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The above picture is the most common part to fail/break/wear out. It is only plastic sitting in a metal housing with rough/sharp edges.

 

I know this is a few months old, but what did you end up doing to fix this issue?

I have the exact same problem on my 2001 Vert. Can't see the display from within the car. If I look from outside, I can see the display and see that the tilt mechanism is working, but the mirror isn't moving. Seems like the mirror is disconnected from the actuator. Before I tear into the dash, I just want to make sure this is necessary to fix the issue. Can this be corrected without doing that?

 

Most likely the gear piece in my previous picture has broken where the plastic pin holds it in place. Here is a pic of my fix.
KEEP IN MIND.. that the only real way to fix this is in a similar fashion. Either bite the bullet(purchase another HUD" expensive") or do as the majority of us have and pull your dash apart on a weekend and repair it yourself. Honnestly it is not near as hard to do as it looks. I was supprised at how much easier it actually was to pull it all out.
Please don't use any double sided tape, or through the top of the HUD without removing the dash and hud assembly first.

 

Thanks for showing how you fixed this. Hopefully will help others.

 

Thanks for the confirmation. What did you use for the pin? I've seen in another thread that a screw was recommended, but I like your fix better. Did you glue it in?

I hate tearing into dashboards because I'm always afraid of snapping plastic clips, losing bolts behind the dash, etc. Seems like several folks have done this and been successful though. I'll have to wait a week or two, but I'll give it a shot. Good time of the year since I can't drive it much anyway.

 

One additional question: I assume the other side has a similar mount post. Do most guys replace it with a metal post whether it's broke or not since they are in there already?

 

Bump...

 

The pin that I used for my repair oddly enough is a needle bearing from a driveshaft u-joint that once I had it to my liking I super glued into place. I did modify it to be shorter than it originally was though.
The pin on the opposite side wasn't very worn on my HUD so I didn't see the need to work on it at the time.
Since I have driven it alot more after the repair with the side that has been rebuilt I now know that I probably should have repaired it but it's not a true bother TBH, I can only notice it when I drive over some good bumps at speed or under hard acceleration where the reflection acts like it's being pulled up and over. That choice will be up to you when you get there, it I believe is metal on both parts can't exactly remember but the mount that pin sits in is metal for sure.
I may go back in at some point and fix it just no rush to do so, my job keeps me pretty busy and I'm currently working on Honey-do's for the house( grout repair/replacement) when I have the time.

Feel free to ask any questions. I'll help out where I can.

 

Thanks for the extra info Tree. I'm gonna try to tackle it this weekend. I don't have any u-joints laying around so I'll have to find something else. Is the diameter of the pin a critical dimension? Or is there some tolerance there that can be used? I imagine if it's too small it will allow the mirror to move around a bit in the seat?


I will probably change both pins out if it isn't too difficult (assuming that's the problem). Looking at what has to be removed to get to it and the time involved, I don't want to do this again.


BTW, thanks so much for the help. I'm a new Corvette owner as of last week and reading through this site has been a wealth of knowledge. I already have a few more projects planned - probably seat cushions and covers next.

 

When I made the modification for my pin I used a drill bit roughly the same size and made it for the most part a perfect fit not necessarily needing the super glue but used it so it wouldn't move.

 

The mount for the opposite side is not the same as the one I repaired by the motor side. It is more of just a mount with a pivot point for stability. It may take more to repair that side due to it being metal versus the plastic at the motor side.

 

Circled items are where metal hard mount sits and the metal bracket that is the pivot point. Sorry for the fuzzy quality, only pic i have of it.

 

Well, I got into this at about 6:30 last night and finished close to 1am. I didn't want to go to bed before I was done because I'm sure I would have forgotten where some things went.

Anyway, the exact issue discussed above is what was wrong with mine. For the pin, I used a nail of similar diameter and it worked great. Although this isn't really a complicated repair, I didn't think it was super easy either. I'm 6'3" 250 lbs, so climbing around such a small confined area wasn't easy or enjoyable.

Also, to answer a question from above the inboard side of the mirror mount and pin is made of metal so there was no need for me to replace this along with the broken outboard one.

The steps I had the most difficulty with:

- Removing the connector on the fuel release switch. There just isn't enough slack in the harness to get it off easily. I ended up putting too much stress on it and the entire switch popped off. I broke one of the clips that holds it in, but luckily when I got it back together it seemed to stay put and operated well. I was expecting to buy another. When it popped off, I also found a spring laying there but couldn't figure out if it came from the switch or not. I left it off and it didn't seem to impact anything. Oh well...

- The key removal on the shifter was a real pain for me. It wouldn't budge with pliers. I used a method I saw on YouTube using two screw drivers to pry it up. Although this worked in the end with a lot of pressure, I did manage to punch a small hole in my center console lid vinyl when the screw driver slipped off. It's not very visible, but I know it's there...

- Disconnecting the radio... Pulling it out was easy, but getting the connectors off the back was tough. I ended up just leaving them in and let the radio hang. This didn't cause any interference, so all was good.

- Took me a bit to get the center storage console out. It's easy enough (except for the fuel door switch) but I have a convertible which requires the removal of the waterfall to slid the console rearward. None of the directions stated this, so it took me a bit to figure this out.

- I didn't like taking off the column covers on either side of the dash. Didn't have problems but I just felt the whole time I was breaking something due to how hard I had to pull. Reassembly wasn't very easy either as I had to twist and bend it to get it to where I could seat it well.

- Reassembly wasn't terrible, but what slowed me down were the blind holes for reinserting the screws under the steering column and in the defrost vent. Also getting the fuel door switch reinstalled and all together was a real PITA.

In the end, I only lost one screw behind the dash during reassembly and lost the black sensor cover from the right side of defrost vent as well. Never could figure out where the screw was supposed to go though because I couldn't find a vacant hole. I figure I can probably get that sensor cover easily from a junk yard since I'm sure many Chevy's use that same sensor.

 

I'm sorry to hear that you had a rough time in those areas, but I believe those have been the general PITA areas. I too had some difficulty with those areas. I actually took about 2 weeks in total before I put mine back together because I was waiting on a new HUD bezel(broke during removal of dash) to come in along with a new ignition key guard (had been broken since I purchased ). My total time spent on it though was only about 6-7 actual working hours.
Over all I was happy with how my project turned out.
I hope your repair and time spent on it lasts.

I too will probably be doing new seat foam and covers for my next project. Kinda put a few small holes in my passender seat, but wasn't supprised at it tho because of how hard and stiff the cover had gotten.

 

What I noticed, and read about on the metal mount, is that there is a plastic bushing the goes in between the peg and the hole. My bushing had disintegrated. I used some sheet ABS and epoxied a new one in place. Without that bushing the mirror may bounce around due to how loosely it fits in the bracket.

Drill a hole the size of the peg and trim off the sheet.



Test fit.



Using a nail to hold it for the epoxy.



Pull it through and center it up.



Let it cure.



This is the stuff I used.

 

Good to see that there are still new ways to work with what we have available to us and how much effort we want to put towards these repairs!!
Nice work !
Is there a finished product picture?

 

Here are the two sides back together. I put some shrinkwrap on the nail I used for the other side to tighten up that new post and epoxied it into the hole from the backside.


New bushing.


Nail trimmed and epoxied after drilling out the mount.


Electrical shrink wrap on the nail end.
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Installed.