Removing Glass from Suzuki mirror

[wayne]

I have some NOS left stamped "S" mirrors but need a right. I have a right arm in excellent condition.

One way to move a left to a right is to use a razor blade to slide under the rubber lip in the mirror and cut it away around the mirror. You then move the backing plate and all components to the right, silicon the mirror in and then use super glue to replace the rubber lip you cut away in the first step (it's only "decorative" now as the silicon is holding the glass in place).

Messy, tedious and not always successful.

There must be a way to unroll the metal that slightly curls around the circumference of the mirror. I'm sure that there must be a tool out there to do this sort of thing. But I'm not asking the right questions on Google.

Does anyone have any knowledge of this process ?

[toystoretom]

The only thing that I can offer is that there are tools to un-crimp and re-crimp the bezels (that hold the glass) on later Smiths magnetic speedos used on British bikes. I know Baxter's has such a tool though I've never seen it (or them), and I would think that someone in Oz that restores instruments would have them.

They make repop mirrors, I wonder how they roll the edges when they do that?

[wayne]

Thanks Tom, I'll have a look around Baxters. We do have a local instrument guy and I think he would have this tool. But I know what he'd say. He'd tell me to bring it over and charge me a bomb to do the job.

[toystoretom]

Would this right mirror with the "S" be the same for... say a GT380 or 550? I might even have one of those if you need it. It wouldn't be NOS but probably not too bad.....

[wayne]

Hi Tom, that's a very kind offer but I'll turn you down because I have managed to put one together using the "glue the rubber strip" back in method. I wouldn't accept a rare S mirror unless I was stuck. I'm just hoping to be able to do a tidier job if I can get that rolling tool.

Some of the other mirrors had 8mm stalks and threads, some had 10 mm stalks and 8 mm threads. I've used the 10 stalk/8mm thread by just putting a 8 mm helicoil into the mirror mount. It just screws into the existing thread and can be pulled out later to return it to normal. But the mirror itself is identical I believe.

Thanks again.

[ap951]

It's been my experience that when you try to un-crimp the chrome bezel on a Smiths instrument it will crack along the edges. To do a proper re-fitting requires that the chrome bezel is replaced with a new one. (these are readily available)

I don't know Wayne, but it would probably be the same for a Suzuki mirror. I think your approach is the only one

[wayne]

Hmmmm....thanks for that Bill. It seems there is no such thing as a free lunch, you have to pay somewhere.