Right oh time for paint
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Right oh time for paint
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Phew 220mm. That was from the box/pod body line.Quote:
Originally Posted by jff45
Coffee time
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The wagon doesn't have that advantage..
Does Clearview supply the correct brackets to mount to the GU if you buy their expensive mirrors or do you have to get that fabricated yourself?
Yes, you can buy the Clearview mirrors for GU but they don't have the blinkers because there's no factory wiring for them.Quote:
Originally Posted by gubigfish
@gubigfishQuote:
Originally Posted by gubigfish
My guess is they would replace the OEM mirror simply swapping one for the other and the wiring plug will match what's in the car too.
For the money that's what you would expect.
Yes , Clearview are model specific and are just a simple bolt in and plug in job .
Checked my distance for the mirror and I'm under the 250 mm , GQ sticks out about in the rear side above the back wheel and if you take the flares as the widest part of the car I'm under easy .
When are you going to paint it ?Quote:
Originally Posted by macca
It was hanging up to dry mate.Quote:
Originally Posted by GQtdauto
Coat of cold gal grey and black the bits that are seen.
Its all on and usable now, have a 400klm drive this weekend so be interesting to see if I can see.
All done. Except for the infill that next week's project.
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Looks tops mate .
@GQtdauto, Thanks for your help, advice, support doing this. It's your fault that I did this you know.Quote:
Originally Posted by GQtdauto
All good mate, enjoyed the "chat" and now to go for drive!
You could have bought Clearview for your GU but it's a doable diy if your handy enough and they look great but best of all their the best mirrors on the market I reckon .
Think we both should be thanking Josh and Fjj45 for the idea ( hope I got that right ) .
Don't try this for a cheap cover up , self adhesive black foam rubber .
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Had a fiddle round with a bit of 25mm high density foam rubber.
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That looks great. I reckon you'd be replacing the foam fairly often though?Quote:
Originally Posted by macca
I would suggest to wrap the plastic & foam combo with a high quality vinyl wrap to keep it looking its best for years to come.
The passenger side is done. The front corner is 25mm further out than the driver side.
Figured this is because the mirrors are for a LHD vehicle.
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Looks ok Macca , yes I noticed a difference with the left as well , if your making the bracket from scratch you can copy most things from the right one except the pivot hole for tang that sits on the spring .Quote:
Originally Posted by macca
The real test is driving with them.
Visibility was increased unbelievably. The drivers side showed cars with no blind spots, but motor cycles being shorter disappeared, the bottom mirror was all the way "out" so I'll have to watch that.
The passenger side is a bit trickier as the bottom mirror is so clear I had to be careful to check the top mirror (a little obscured by the wind visor that is badly scratched) before moving left after passing someone.
They didn't seem to block the view as much as I had anticipated, so was all good there.
Vibration was evident but not too bad, on rough surfaces and corrugations its going to be a problem I'm thinking. Just have to wait and see.
A smart move will be to fit fender washers to the mount points even a one piece plate on the bottom two mount screws sooner rather than later.
Electrics worked good, heater is slow if the mirror is covered in early morning dew, about 3 minutes to really be effective. Mirror range was perfect and indicators even though a bit bling actually do a good job. Used the passenger side one to pull in left after passing, once the vehicle was in the indicator I was about 20 meters in front of them.
Noise, heard no wind noise at all.
Yes it is a mod well worth doing, a vast improvement over the ones on there before.
Only real down side is extra width when parking and the passenger side is higher that a parked car when reversing into a parking space. Using the lower mirror for parking takes some practice, that or lower the main mirror for that purpose.
Would I do it again? Yes definitely.
If the mirrors don't sit in the exact right position there is a bit of fun with the mirrors , the Silverado Utes must have lower seats I suspect .
Overall the better vision you get is so much ahead of OEM plus a caravan mirror because of the blind spot mirror .
No trouble backing in tight car parks and can get to within 50mm of the trig hitch on the camper every time .
Because I've made my brackets completely out of steel I can pack out the tension spring with washers if vibrations become an issue , at the moment I think there about the same as the OEM mirrors as far as that goes .
Yes blind spot mirrors can be moved out as far as they go which leaves them sticking out but don't think it's a problem , passenger side won't fold back against the car if I hit something because of the snorkel and this could be an issue on tight tracks .
Finally got around to making the outer shape for these Silverado mirrors. Been raining a lot here so easy to justify the shed time.
I’m making it all from 3mm aluminium and so far it’s coming together as planned.
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Nice Tig job mate , seems you're almost there , mine performed better than expected on corrigations and vibration was not apparent on some of the worst tracks we went on .Quote:
Originally Posted by jff45
Hope the ally doesn't develop stress cracks in use mate .
Has taken you a while mate but it is worth it .
They’re only a decorative cover so there’s absolutely no stress on it. The mirrors barely rub against it when you fold them.
I have Tig welded parts on my engine and in my engine bay that are subjected to much more heat, stress and vibration with no issue at all.
Ahhh ok so that outer is just a pretty up ,cosmetic .
The first person to do one out of alloy welded the bracket onto the plate but I notice your castings are better than mine , stress cracks mainly come from overheating during welding although ally can be annealed to reduce any stress .
As you've said though yours is cosmetic and your welds are good so no excess heat , if the rest of your welds are like that no you shouldn't have any problems .
Heard of a process in aircraft aly ,after welding the area gets a quick hit with a carbonising acetylene flame then gently heated till the carbon disappears.
The original cast alloy block is pretty thin and is probably the weakest part of the whole assembly. I welded 5mm walls inside the cast before welding it to the alu triangle. I've also drilled and tapped the 5mm bolt threads to 6 mm but I'm toying with the idea of drilling right through and passing countersunk 6 mm bolts from the rear of the triangle and using nuts for the bridge that holds the mirror against the cast.
I think what you've done is probably good enough , bearing in mind those mirrors are very heavy and if you consider the weight that's pulling down then magnify that by going over corrigations etc it's quite a lot .
Your casting is better than mine like I said which is why I went steel instead .
I've checked my anchor points / fasteners and they're still tight and after the tracks I've been on earlier in the year I'm satisfied they're not going anywhere.
This is the final result with the covers made from 3mm aluminium. The rear round section is a length of 100mm ally tube cut down the middle for each side.
Still need to make the gaskets from sikaflex.
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Well done and very neat so congrats you've saved probably $500 on what the clearview would cost .
Not only saved compared to Clearview price but they don’t supply GU mirrors with blinkers and reverse lights in them because the GU has no blinkers in the door loom.Quote:
Originally Posted by GQtdauto
The money saved certainly helped offset a good chunk of my $798 AC/DC TIG..
I’m really happy with them but not sure I’d do it again :)