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I have always been proud that the side mirror on my '70 is the factory original...fastened from the inside. I have a spare, new in box, Volvo part, but it fastens from the outside, using two screws through the base. Now I understand why they may have switched.
I was carrying an uncomfortably wide box through the garage and nicked the mirror with the end of it, causing the internal, white metal spring retainer to snap,,,which caused the mirror and arm to plummet to the floor. Having worked on mirrors on other Volvos, I was familiar with the inside construction and not worried nearly so much about fixing the mirror as I was about the chip of paint it dislodged on the way down.
But I decided to tackle the mirror first. Now there are a lot of jobs on old Volvos that are PITA, but I wasn't prepared for this one. Sure, taking the door panels off is no fun, but the access to those nuts on the mirror base really challenged all of my skill and experience, as did re-attaching that Bunyan-esque mirror spring once I'd made a replacement for the retainer. And if I'd thought removing the mirror was hard, getting it back together was near impossible...but I did it, with three separate tries. With patience, grease, duct tape, rubber tubing...every mechanic's trick in the book.
If anybody else needs to attempt this, please give me shout by email before starting. I might be able to save you the literal blood, sweat and tears that I had to invest in this project...all because i was clumsy with a box.
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