Back in February I detailed my decision to not fit the Caterham supplied wing mirrors to either the full doors or windscreen. I took the decision to use Racetech mirrors on the windscreen when needed, and use another custom setup using brackets supplied by "Eccles" from the Lotus7 Club. Those brackets arrived this week and so I've been hard at work fitting the mirrors to the full doors. I say hard at work, it was actually a very easy process.
I'd like to thank "Eccles" for the brackets, they're a bargain for £35 and are made to a very high standard. You'd expect the brackets to weigh more than they do, but they're deceptively light in your hand. I decided to pop them on the kitchen scales to see just how light they were, one bracket weighed 32g, so pretty light, that's approximately 7 Starbursts, or 7 Opal Fruits in old money.
I'd decided to use SPA Design Formula mirrors in black with convex lens, the identical specification supplied by Caterham for fitment to the aeroscreen. Since I wasn't intending to fit the Aeroscreen until the middle of summer I decided to pinch those from Caterham and replace them when needed in the summer.
On with the install.....
Each bracket supplied replaces the lower door hinge fitted by Caterham to each door. You also need to transplant the pin from Caterham's bracket to the new "Eccles" bracket.
I removed the existing hinge using an 8mm socket and 3mm allen key, don't loose the washer on the inside.
Once the hinge was removed from the door I simply tapped the bottom of the pin against the top of a vice and it gradually expelled the pin from the hinge. I then sprayed a small amount of WD40 into the new "Eccles" bracket, inserted the pin and tapped the pin into place. Be mindful you consider the orientation of the bracket as they are handed, you don't want the pin pointing upwards.
Next attach the mirror and mirror base to the outside of the bracket and insert the supplied shorter countersunk screws into the mirror base. Place the supplied nut into the bracket's recess and secure the screw into the nut. I found the screw was slightly longer than needed and protruded out of the base of the bracket. Given this I cut a few millimetres from each screw to avoid it scratching the door.
The "Eccles" bracket includes an additional hole between the mirror mounting screw holes through which the mirror adjustment/tensioning screw can be reached. You need to position and torque the mirror in position before mounting.
Finally mount the assembled bracket and mirror on the door in the same fashion as the original Caterham hinge, but using the supplied replacement countersunk screws, this time the longer items. I again found the screws slightly longer than needed and so cut around 4mm from the end of the screw.
and the finished result.
Cracking result, much better than the Caterham setup and no drilling of the doors! Result.
Thanks again to Eccles for these cracking mounts!
Update
Unfortunately the mounts are no longer available. Details regarding producing your own are here.