The difference between LHD/RHD mirrors-Pics.
03-13-2005, 05:21 AM
#1
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The difference between LHD/RHD mirrors-Pics.
What's the difference between LHD/RHD mirrors ? , that's the question that has been asked recently .
Well the mirrors appear to be the same, its just the bases that are different, in such that the bases position the mirrors at a slightly different location and at a different angle.The location difference is that the drivers mirror on both LHD/RHD are approximately 1/2" further forward & both Pass. mirrors are 1/2" further back !
I hope the pics show the differences better than I can explain !
Marine Blue is RHD, Slate Grey is LHD
Well the mirrors appear to be the same, its just the bases that are different, in such that the bases position the mirrors at a slightly different location and at a different angle.The location difference is that the drivers mirror on both LHD/RHD are approximately 1/2" further forward & both Pass. mirrors are 1/2" further back !
I hope the pics show the differences better than I can explain !
Marine Blue is RHD, Slate Grey is LHD
03-13-2005, 10:20 AM
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On early cars passager side mirror wasn't ofter installed at the factory. There is procedure in WSM for making mounting point into door and it seems many got mirror that way. Depending on how accurate job installer did there can be visible differencees in their position. I take these two have had both mirrors from factory. Also there is some margin on how mirror fits depending on how base is tightened to door. Probably not 1/2" worth though.
Last edited by Vilhuer; 03-13-2005 at 10:41 AM.
03-13-2005, 03:50 PM
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You know, that bugged me, it always seemed like they weren't in quite the same position on my car, though I have an '84, could it be Euro's didn't always have the passenger mirror?
03-13-2005, 04:35 PM
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Early early ('78-79) Euros rarely had both. Not sure about '84. Quess it depends on country of first registration and if first owner spend extra to get it.
03-15-2005, 08:40 PM
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Originally Posted by martin D
What's the difference between LHD/RHD mirrors ? , that's the question that has been asked recently .
Well the mirrors appear to be the same, its just the bases that are different, in such that the bases position the mirrors at a slightly different location and at a different angle.The location difference is that the drivers mirror on both LHD/RHD are approximately 1/2" further forward & both Pass. mirrors are 1/2" further back !
I hope the pics show the differences better than I can explain !
Marine Blue is RHD, Slate Grey is LHD
Well the mirrors appear to be the same, its just the bases that are different, in such that the bases position the mirrors at a slightly different location and at a different angle.The location difference is that the drivers mirror on both LHD/RHD are approximately 1/2" further forward & both Pass. mirrors are 1/2" further back !
I hope the pics show the differences better than I can explain !
Marine Blue is RHD, Slate Grey is LHD
I spent several months researching this topic. The reason was the passenger side mirror on my 87 S4 did not flip all the way to the rear as the driver's side does. It drove me nuts since I am a little ****.
I had purchased a 78 long ago with factory mirrors that I didn't remember having this problem. Here's what I have found. LHD and RHD models all have the exact mirrors except they are mirror images of each other (no pun intended). On LHD, the passenger side (right side) will not flip to the rear and the same is true of RHD models. You are correct in that the only real difference is in the base piece. However, if you order a RHD drivers base piece (right side) and replace the LHD passenger base piece (USA car) with this part, both mirrors will have exactly the same placement and both will flip all the way to the rear. Now the question you will ask, why is the placement a little different, right? The answer is that the base pieces are different sizes! I found this out by accident from the parts catalog. From model year 79-83, the passenger side base gasket is different than 84 onward. The earlier piece accomodates a larger base. This is the exact base size that is on the current RHD drivers base piece. So it appears Porsche made a change in model year 84 in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) for a slightly smaller passenger side mirror base.
Why? I think it had to do with export vehicle width requirements. On USA export models, the passenger side outside mirror is 1 1/2 inches closer to the car than the drivers side mirror from its outmost point. Corvette, when it readied its C5 model for export, mentioned that some countries had max width restrictions. They had to modify the outside mirrors for those countries. I think this requirement was the primary factor in the design change. (I can think of no other reason.). As far as I know, none of the Euro models had any of these issues.
03-17-2005, 07:00 AM
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Originally Posted by Kenneth Muller
Martin:
I spent several months researching this topic. The reason was the passenger side mirror on my 87 S4 did not flip all the way to the rear as the driver's side does. It drove me nuts since I am a little ****.
I had purchased a 78 long ago with factory mirrors that I didn't remember having this problem. Here's what I have found. LHD and RHD models all have the exact mirrors except they are mirror images of each other (no pun intended). On LHD, the passenger side (right side) will not flip to the rear and the same is true of RHD models. You are correct in that the only real difference is in the base piece. However, if you order a RHD drivers base piece (right side) and replace the LHD passenger base piece (USA car) with this part, both mirrors will have exactly the same placement and both will flip all the way to the rear. Now the question you will ask, why is the placement a little different, right? The answer is that the base pieces are different sizes! I found this out by accident from the parts catalog. From model year 79-83, the passenger side base gasket is different than 84 onward. The earlier piece accomodates a larger base. This is the exact base size that is on the current RHD drivers base piece. So it appears Porsche made a change in model year 84 in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) for a slightly smaller passenger side mirror base.
Why? I think it had to do with export vehicle width requirements. On USA export models, the passenger side outside mirror is 1 1/2 inches closer to the car than the drivers side mirror from its outmost point. Corvette, when it readied its C5 model for export, mentioned that some countries had max width restrictions. They had to modify the outside mirrors for those countries. I think this requirement was the primary factor in the design change. (I can think of no other reason.). As far as I know, none of the Euro models had any of these issues.
I spent several months researching this topic. The reason was the passenger side mirror on my 87 S4 did not flip all the way to the rear as the driver's side does. It drove me nuts since I am a little ****.
I had purchased a 78 long ago with factory mirrors that I didn't remember having this problem. Here's what I have found. LHD and RHD models all have the exact mirrors except they are mirror images of each other (no pun intended). On LHD, the passenger side (right side) will not flip to the rear and the same is true of RHD models. You are correct in that the only real difference is in the base piece. However, if you order a RHD drivers base piece (right side) and replace the LHD passenger base piece (USA car) with this part, both mirrors will have exactly the same placement and both will flip all the way to the rear. Now the question you will ask, why is the placement a little different, right? The answer is that the base pieces are different sizes! I found this out by accident from the parts catalog. From model year 79-83, the passenger side base gasket is different than 84 onward. The earlier piece accomodates a larger base. This is the exact base size that is on the current RHD drivers base piece. So it appears Porsche made a change in model year 84 in the US (and perhaps elsewhere) for a slightly smaller passenger side mirror base.
Why? I think it had to do with export vehicle width requirements. On USA export models, the passenger side outside mirror is 1 1/2 inches closer to the car than the drivers side mirror from its outmost point. Corvette, when it readied its C5 model for export, mentioned that some countries had max width restrictions. They had to modify the outside mirrors for those countries. I think this requirement was the primary factor in the design change. (I can think of no other reason.). As far as I know, none of the Euro models had any of these issues.
Thanks for that info, its amazing the little differences that occur, I bet nobody else new that the 'flag' mirror bases are different Pre. '84 or rather what the difference is.
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03-17-2005, 07:12 AM
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Originally Posted by drnick
martin, whos car is slate grey? did your tourque tube need repairing, what happened?
Yes the touque tube bearings did need replacing, the/a bearing/s started to 'whine' , I had read that they dont fail, just get noisyer. My TT became a standing joke as I kept putting off repairing it, I still kept driving it (over 18 months !) I could be heard 1/4 mile away it got so bad, everybody knew when I was turning up at 928 meets
