Thread: Where can I buy peep mirrors that attach like this????

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I want to get a set of peep mirrors for the roadster pickup, but I have no rain gutter nor door edge to attach them to. I am looking for a source for peep mirrors that I can attach to the side of the windshield posts with screws, (sheet metal screws maybe---remember that these are actually sedan posts). I have created a couple of solid models to show what I am after. Does anyone know of a source for a peep mirror with the curved mounting bracket that attaches as I have shown?

Peep mirror

Hi Brian, you lucky (hard working) dog riding around in a running RPU! Just a suggestion, take a look at the open car mirrors from Speedway, No. 751-AR17700P which are stainless and look to be light weight and based on a through-bolt stud. That type is available for '28-29, '30-31 and for '32. you might be able to machine a "cone" that would surround the shaft and give more support vertically or even a "Y-shaped" slab with a hole for the shaft through the bottom of the "Y" so as to provide a brace for the single bolt mount. Of course it might be tricky to put the nut on the inside of the windshield frame. If you get a chance can you tell me if you had trouble with your brake lines in terms of the check valves. I have already broken one aluminum fitting with a stainless steel male end so I am concerned to overtighten the stainless fittings into the aluminum checkvalves. Comments?

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

You might try www.bigbauto.com I bought a couple of things from them and their shipping is reasonable. Tried So Cal Speed Shop, but their web site is not up and running.

you can also go to the local motorsickle shop

some of their mirrors mount with a single stud that is hidden

IMHO I think yours would look better mounted high. Perhaps you should start a poll?

Andy

Hey Don Shillady---no problems with my brake lines----I purchased lines with the fittings and flares already on them (you can buy them in any length in 1" increments, in mild steel, real cheap). The only thing that I had to do was purchase the proper brake-line wrenches to tighten them up with. Denny--I like the look of the mirrors up high as I showed them----your right, if I mounted them low enough I could bolt through the top of the door skin or cowl as you showed. I just like the look better up high. I thought about using the threaded hole that I have in the top of the post, but next year when I make the convertible top, it would screw up my header attachment points. I can't use a through bolt either---whatever screw or bolt I use to attach them with has to be "blind" in the outside of the post. If all else fails I can probably beg one of my machine shop contacts to mill me a set of arms out of stainless, but that would really be a last resort.

Brian, thanks for the comments. I recall that you had to tighten your steel lines quite a bit and I am concerned that the check valves have aluminum threads while my lines and fittings are stainless and much harder than the aluminum so I guess all I can do is tighten them carefully and look for leaks. It looks to me that you are right in that it will be much easier to mount the mirrors with external screws than to try to put a nut on a rod through the windshield post. Still I recall spending about two hours trying to first get my fingers in and then another hour getting my fingers out of the tiny hole which leads to the windshield bolts on an MG Midget so to get a wrench down the inside of the post could be very tricky. In my former career I always found it was only about 1/10th the cost to machine aluminum than stainless steel so maybe you can get somebody to whittle some aluminum into a bracket and then have it anodized whatever color you want. Anodized aluminum surfaces will last a long time unless they are scratched and can be made into a variety of glossy colors.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don---there is no access to the inside of my windshield posts. I welded a full closure plate on the top of the posts after they were cut to the correct height, with a 3/8" unc hex nut welded to the underside of the closure plate . This will give an attachment point for my convertible top header when I build my top. The mirrors must screw to the outside of the posts.

Screwing stainless into stainless will cause galling, and the parts can self-weld. Anything into aluminum will cause wear in the aluminum, and possibly galling, too. I strongly recommend using an anti-seize lubricant on all of those threads. I'm not sure about compatibility of the copper based anti-seizes, but even just a dab of grease will help a lot. Good Luck ! ! !

Lar.

In regards to the mirrors, you might check with the guys at Rust to Rods. They have an incredible resource for those types of things. if you don't see it on their website you can call Budha and ask him.
www.rusttorods.com

This is getting away from mirrors quite a bit, but DON'T put teflon tape on fittings that will have a fluid going thru them. It'll probably be fine the 1st time, but when you remove and re-install the fitting, threads of the tape will be pushed into the component, and can mess up metering, valves, etc. My business is refrigeration and commercial kitchen equipment, and I know that many gas appliance manufacturers will void warranties if they find evidence of teflon tape in their products. You might try teflon pipe dope for a sealer/lubricant. It works great.

Lar.

This morning I went down to the Harley shop. They have beautifull stainless steel "peep" mirrors that would work for my application. The end of the arm is tapped for a 1/4-20 thread. I thought-hmmmmmm----I could make up a rectangular plate with a countersunk hole in the center, attach it to the end of the post with a flat head capscrew, then drill a hole in each end of the plate and countersink them from the opposite side, to make an attachment base similar to the solid model. Then I asked the price!!!! They were $90 each plus 7% retail sales tax, plus 7% goods and services tax. Then I left the Harley shop.----I will whittle the damn things out of pine before I pay over $200 for a pair of rear view mirrors.

Allright----I need someone to educate me a little. On a purchased "peep mirror", there is a flange that wraps around the door edge or rain gutter edge, with a set screw or 2 set screws in it to clamp on the door edge or rain gutter edge. Can somebody let me know how that "flange" attaches to the arm of the mirror? I spoke to Davyj at Niagara Falls yesterday and he said that he has a peep mirror on which that "flange" is attached to the peep mirror arm with a countersunk (flathead) screw. If this is so, I should be able to buy a set of peep mirors, unscrew the "flange" section, and make my own rectangular adapter plate that screws onto the end of the peep mirror arm in its place. Then I could drill through the ends of this rectangular adapter plate and end up with something very cloae to my solid model, which could then be screwed to the outside of my window posts.----I thought that "flange" was cast right into the metal which the peep mirror arm was made. I don't want to use "swan neck" mirrors for this application, as they don't have the correct profile for use as a "peep" mirror.