A lot of people don't like the big "flag mirrors" used by Porsche throughout the entire 80s. I don't really mind them. They're functional, they're powered and they kind of fit into the general shape of the car. While I don't mind them, I do think a small car like the 911SC looks great with smaller and more aerdynamic mirrors so when I found out that
Achtung Kraft was making aluminum bullet style side mirrors with "flag" bases so they mount just like factory, I was sold.
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| Achtung Kraft Aluminum Bullet Style Side Mirrors - 8-9-2020 |
The first order of business was to remove the factory mirrors. This is surprisingly easy with the right tools but I'm documenting the steps here to help others in the future. First, I adjusted the mirror so they aim up as much as possible. I then just used a long flat screwdriver to pop the glass off. I was most worried about this step but surprisingly didn't get too much resistance. It's basically just held in place by 4 clips, no other glue. Next there are three 8mm bolts holding the motor housing to the mirror cover. Remove those gently, supporting the mirror assembly so it doesn't just fall out.
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| Remove the 3 x 8mm bolts |
Once you pull it away you can see the connector for the motor. Simply disconnect. I suggest you disconnect the battery before you do the next steps by the way.
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| Disconnect that connector |
This leaves you with the connector end that goes into the harness that snakes into the door. Unfortunately, this connector is too big to get through the hole where the wiring goes through. You have two choices here. One is to simply cut the wires which is not ideal if you want to reverse this later. The other is to use the right tool to de-pin the plug so you can pull the individual wires out.
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| Connector end we need to de-pin |
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Tool you need to remove the pins -
Delphi Packard Weatherpack Terminal Release Tool |
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| Push tool into each slot then simply pull the wire out |
The tool you'll need is a Delphi Packard Weatherpack Terminal release tool and they're only a few bucks from Amazon. When you slide them into each hole, they simply fold the little "wings" on each of the pins that secure them in place allowing you to simply yank them out. Once all the pins are free, turn the mirror forward and use a 4mm hex socket or allen key to loosen the top bolt which in turn loosens a "foot" that will eventually allow you to simply pull the mirror assembly away from the door. Again, be careful here and hold onto the mirror so it doesn't just drop onto the door.
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| Use 4mm hex to loosen upper base foot |
Once you get the mirror off, gently pull the wires out through the hole until the mirror is completely free of the car.
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| Mirror removed with wiring remaining |
The next thing I did was to electrical tape all the pins so nothing shorts and cleaned off the old grime between the mirror and door as best I could. Then, I fed all but one wire (the longest one) back into the door to get out of the way but looped that final one into the top mount hole then zip tied it into place. This way, the entire wiring harness won't fall into the door making it difficult to fish out again later.
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| Door cleaned as best I could and wiring tucked away |
The new mirror has an integrated gasket and mounts the same was as the factory mirrors. Although the base matches that of the flag mirrors, it is a bit smaller so if you have imperfections in your paint where the old base was then that'll be visible. I'm not concerned since the car's getting repainted anyway soon. The mirror is not powered and you simply loosen the 3mm hex bolt on the back so you can move the mirror around as needed to adjust for vision. The mount itself has two positions for where the top foot sits in this new mirror and for me, they arrived reversed so I just switched the spots and that aligned things nicely. Also the upper aluminum foot fits but is a bit wider than stock so I recommend getting the top foot in first then get the two bottom feet in. That'll make things align more quickly then it's just a matter of tightening everything down.
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| Driver side mirror installed |
The passenger side was a little tricky. The passenger base is actually angled a bit more acutely than the driver side (even the factory ones are this way) making tightening down that bolt really hard. I could only get one click of my ratches at a time. If you only have an allen key that is simply not going to work. I'd recommend a fine tooth 1/4" ratchet with an appropriate 3mm hex socket to make your life easy.
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| Tight space on passenger side to tighten |
It's totally worth all the effort though. It looks so snazzy. The mirror is convex so you have quite a lot of visibility including more of the road if you're trying to parallel park and want more visibility on how close the curb is. Obviously, as with all convex mirrors, you have to remember objects are very much closer than they appear but it's not that hard to get used to (plus you should be looking over your shoulder anyway when changing lanes).
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| Passenger side mirror installed |
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| Convex mirror |
And just in case you forgot what the factor flags look like. Here it is:
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| Factory flag mirrors |
The bullet style mirrors just look so good and I think they have better visibility that the popular Vitaloni Sebring small mirrors you see often retrofitted on to this car using the factory flag mirror bases.
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| Lighter and better looking |
I really love how the black aluminum works with all the other little black accents on the car too. Kudos to Achtung Kraft for some of the cool products they're working on. I have another piece pre-ordered from them that I think will look super cool once installed but that'll have to wait until another post.
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| Little holder for a 3mm allen for adjusting the mirror. |
