Jim Koepke
08-08-2012, 2:36 AM
We went into town to day to cast our primary ballot. Washington has a twist on the primary. To my knowledge this year's primary is the first one in Washington where the new rule is in effect. There isn't a democratic or republican ballot. The top two candidates in the primary end up on the November ballot. So if the two primary candidates are in the same party and finish one and two in the vote count, the two candidates vying for the office come November will be from the same party.
Guess we will see how that goes.
Though that isn't what this is about.
While coming down our hill, heading for the road into town, the driver side rear view mirror seemed to be having a bit more vibration than normal. Putting my hand out and checking indicated that it was very loose. One more thing on which to fritter away my time.
Finally after getting back home, it was given a look. The mirror on our car is surrounded in plastic with no clear way to dismantle the encasement. Moving the mirror to its extreme positions made a large enough crack to see inside the case. A self locking retaining ring had slipped off of the holding post. Try as I might, there was no way to push it back on without being able to get inside. There is a large spring to hold it all in tension.
What a pain.
Many years ago working on cars was kind of fun. A Crescent Wrench, a few other tools, a good supply of chewing gum and bailing wire and one could set off on a journey across America knowing all would be fine.
Now days, most cars have remote controls on the mirrors. God forbid we stick our hand out the window in the wind to adjust a mirror. I still have an old VW bus mirror. It is from the days of being able to change a mirror by loosening a nut, pulling out the old assembly and pushing in the new. Just don't open the door while doing this as the mirror shaft was also the top hinge pin for the door. The only reason this mirror has stayed with me all these years is it is an early round one with a blue tint. A friend told me they were rare and sought after. Hmmm, maybe a visit to that auction site.
Looking at the bottom of the mirror assembly a light fixture looked like it would be a good access point. That was a little tricky to get open. It did not have anything to help get to other parts of the assemblage. Moving the assembly around revealed a tab holding the case together. Aha! I thought. My hopes were quickly dashed. It did make the outside trim a little loose, but there were still some screws holding it together. Lucky for me, many years ago a long shaft star driver was acquired to open computer cases. It has served so well over the years on many other projects where nothing else would. By tilting the mirror to its extremes I was able to remove the three screws I thought were holding the assembly together. There was a fourth screw. Deep in a well inside the case.
What a pain.
After getting that last screw coaxed out of its hiding place, the case fell apart. All kinds of things were tried to get that clip back in place, but the spring was as strong as any valve spring I ever had to compress while rebuilding an engine.
What a pain.
Had to get out my short saw horses to get high enough to press down on this thing. They are about 7" tall. Mostly used for painting items and as foot rests when sitting on a stool. Still not able to force the ring back in place.
Scrounging around in my shop a few different approaches were pursued. Each with equal degrees of failure.
Finally, an idea came to me.
I rummaged through my junk and found a piece of tubing about 1-1/4" in diameter. I drilled a large hole at the edge to allow the mirror control wire to pass and smoothed it with a file. The tubing had to be cut to less than 2" long to be able to use my biggest C-clamp.
Dang, the tubing was just a bit too small. Found a 1" pipe couple that was just a bit bigger. Drilled a hole at the end and filed it down. Using a couple blocks of wood to make it work without messing up the plastic and having a place on the couple for the clamp pad all seemed to be a go. The only problem was it kept slipping.
What a pain.
So, time to call the wife in to the fray. Finally with her steading the clamp and me having both hands for leverage and tightening the clamp that ring was driven home.
Putting things back together is usually not much of a problem. Getting things to seat properly is usually the biggest. It did go back together a bit easier than coming apart. Most likely that is from the experience gained during disassembly. I was right about one thing, It really only needs three screws to hold it together.
Did I mention that this was a big pain in the keister?
Having parts left over seems to be de rigueur when working on cars. So now I have one extra screw.
Kind of reminds me of when I was a field technician. I used to have fun with engineers when I worked on large format engineering copiers. I had a baggy full of screws and other small parts. I would have a machine half apart when they walked in to make a copy of a drawing. They would look a bit dismayed and ask how long until they could make a copy. I would say, "I can make you one right now." I worked on machines hot when I could. They would be surprised. While the half disassembled machine was doing its thing I would point to my bag of parts and say, "It is amazing all the parts they put in one of these things that aren't really needed." The look on their faces was incredible. I would just smile and hand them their drawing and their copy.
But they would keep their service contract paid up.
jtk
Guess we will see how that goes.
Though that isn't what this is about.
While coming down our hill, heading for the road into town, the driver side rear view mirror seemed to be having a bit more vibration than normal. Putting my hand out and checking indicated that it was very loose. One more thing on which to fritter away my time.
Finally after getting back home, it was given a look. The mirror on our car is surrounded in plastic with no clear way to dismantle the encasement. Moving the mirror to its extreme positions made a large enough crack to see inside the case. A self locking retaining ring had slipped off of the holding post. Try as I might, there was no way to push it back on without being able to get inside. There is a large spring to hold it all in tension.
What a pain.
Many years ago working on cars was kind of fun. A Crescent Wrench, a few other tools, a good supply of chewing gum and bailing wire and one could set off on a journey across America knowing all would be fine.
Now days, most cars have remote controls on the mirrors. God forbid we stick our hand out the window in the wind to adjust a mirror. I still have an old VW bus mirror. It is from the days of being able to change a mirror by loosening a nut, pulling out the old assembly and pushing in the new. Just don't open the door while doing this as the mirror shaft was also the top hinge pin for the door. The only reason this mirror has stayed with me all these years is it is an early round one with a blue tint. A friend told me they were rare and sought after. Hmmm, maybe a visit to that auction site.
Looking at the bottom of the mirror assembly a light fixture looked like it would be a good access point. That was a little tricky to get open. It did not have anything to help get to other parts of the assemblage. Moving the assembly around revealed a tab holding the case together. Aha! I thought. My hopes were quickly dashed. It did make the outside trim a little loose, but there were still some screws holding it together. Lucky for me, many years ago a long shaft star driver was acquired to open computer cases. It has served so well over the years on many other projects where nothing else would. By tilting the mirror to its extremes I was able to remove the three screws I thought were holding the assembly together. There was a fourth screw. Deep in a well inside the case.
What a pain.
After getting that last screw coaxed out of its hiding place, the case fell apart. All kinds of things were tried to get that clip back in place, but the spring was as strong as any valve spring I ever had to compress while rebuilding an engine.
What a pain.
Had to get out my short saw horses to get high enough to press down on this thing. They are about 7" tall. Mostly used for painting items and as foot rests when sitting on a stool. Still not able to force the ring back in place.
Scrounging around in my shop a few different approaches were pursued. Each with equal degrees of failure.
Finally, an idea came to me.
I rummaged through my junk and found a piece of tubing about 1-1/4" in diameter. I drilled a large hole at the edge to allow the mirror control wire to pass and smoothed it with a file. The tubing had to be cut to less than 2" long to be able to use my biggest C-clamp.
Dang, the tubing was just a bit too small. Found a 1" pipe couple that was just a bit bigger. Drilled a hole at the end and filed it down. Using a couple blocks of wood to make it work without messing up the plastic and having a place on the couple for the clamp pad all seemed to be a go. The only problem was it kept slipping.
What a pain.
So, time to call the wife in to the fray. Finally with her steading the clamp and me having both hands for leverage and tightening the clamp that ring was driven home.
Putting things back together is usually not much of a problem. Getting things to seat properly is usually the biggest. It did go back together a bit easier than coming apart. Most likely that is from the experience gained during disassembly. I was right about one thing, It really only needs three screws to hold it together.
Did I mention that this was a big pain in the keister?
Having parts left over seems to be de rigueur when working on cars. So now I have one extra screw.
Kind of reminds me of when I was a field technician. I used to have fun with engineers when I worked on large format engineering copiers. I had a baggy full of screws and other small parts. I would have a machine half apart when they walked in to make a copy of a drawing. They would look a bit dismayed and ask how long until they could make a copy. I would say, "I can make you one right now." I worked on machines hot when I could. They would be surprised. While the half disassembled machine was doing its thing I would point to my bag of parts and say, "It is amazing all the parts they put in one of these things that aren't really needed." The look on their faces was incredible. I would just smile and hand them their drawing and their copy.
But they would keep their service contract paid up.
jtk