My new rearview with lights!!

[Joshpow]

Yesterday evening and today was spent tearing out the headliner removing mouse nest and wiring up my maplit rearview. It was a negative trigger light for open doors in mirror and our trucks are positive trigger dome lights so a quick relay wireup and lots of thinking and planning and boom! I got a maplight rearview that works with the dome light and also with the buttons on the mirror just like it should! Lots of fun getting the wiring from under headliner to mirror! Drilled hole only place possible and fished wire. Then cut the sunvisor clip so wire runs under it. Maybe a little fiberglass work and hide the entire wire to back of visor clip. I hate lots of exposed stuff. Sorry its my thing. I try to make stuff look good and if possible better than fatory. Usually dont work out for me but hey i try! Heres some pics.

wire.jpg

mirr1.jpg

mirr2.jpg

Most of it will hide behind the headliner when I get one! The only thing showing is about 1 inch of wire above sunvisor clip.

[FORDification]

That looks pretty good! I like it! So does that have a switch to turn on the map lights when the doors are closed, or do they only work when the doors are open?

[Joshpow]

It works with dome light door switches, the headlight switch, and the 2 switches on the mirror itself. The 2 buttons turn the map lights on by themselves. You can see them on either side of the flip lever for the night setting on mirror. I like it but itd look better if i had a special visor clip to cover the wire better from the top of the existing clip to where it goe into cab below the liner trim. Id be perfectly satisfied if i had that figured out. Thanks for the compliment though. Makes me doubt myself less!! Keep me posted on the compass mirror install.

[JL100]

Yeah, great job! What model vehicle did that mirror come from, and what modification did you have to do for it to fit? I'm with you, when I do something I want it to be at least as good as "stock" or better looking. On a side note, good job getting the reflection of your face in two of your photo's.

Also, I don't know if I should admit this, but I just tried to kill a gnat on my computer screen.......but it was just FORDification's Signature.

[Joshpow]

It is a mirror from a mid 90s s series blazer. They came in Blazers, Jimmys, and Bravadas. No mods to the mirror. I had to put the piece on windshield of my truck to match mirror cause it had a bigger base. I drilled a hole for the wiring. I ran a wire for power from constant hot. Then had to put a relay in to trigger the door open function. Our trucks door switches are power. The gm are ground. so... I had to use the power from the dome to trigger a relay but ground the supply instead of hooking to hot. That way when the door opens and the switch triggers, it closes the relay and sends ground to the mirror to turn on the lights. ow, to make a trim above the visor clip so the wires dont show there and a little paint for the clip and Ill be happy with it. Getting the headliner ready as we speak. Black vinyl over new board. Gonna match my visors well. As for the reflections in the mirror Im sorry if it causes anyone to have nightmares and yes Im really that "handsome" well maybe Im just full of crap! Didnt realize I was there til I had it posted!!

[Joshpow]

Oh... and for the gnat.... I tried to shoo him once. He still comes back when Keith posts!! That got me good!! I fell for it too!

[Captain America]

I have pulled a couple of those lighted mirrors out of Chevy Luminas, which are very overlooked in the pick n pull yard. A stealthy way to add additional lighting. I've been really happy with mine.

[ForingaMex]

I had a mirror like that (almost, mine was out of a Lumina) in my truck for a while. I like the idea of a map lamp but I didn't really like my set-up because it would only light up the top of the dash. I just ran my wiring a little different than you have. I drilled the hole right under the sunvisor clip so the hole isn't visible with the clip in place. I didn't use a relay either and it all worked good.
Now I use a different set-up which I like much better. I have a regular mirror but have a seperate map-lamp out of a Buick and it even has a littel 'cuby-hole' for sunglases. It goes on the leading edge of the headliner (or it will once I have a headliner) and lights up just right. Not on the dash and not in the eyes but in the lap of the driver and passenger.

[JL100]

I have a regular mirror but have a seperate map-lamp out of a Buick and it even has a littel 'cuby-hole' for sunglases. It goes on the leading edge of the headliner (or it will once I have a headliner) and lights up just right. Not on the dash and not in the eyes but in the lap of the driver and passenger.

Pictures??

[Joshpow]

Dont know how you made a gm positive trigger mirror work with dome unless you had a relay cause ford has negative trigger. looked at drilling my hole lower but if i drilled near the visor clip i woulda had major difficulties on mine. gonna make a neat clip to cover though.

[ForingaMex]

Dont know how you made a gm positive trigger mirror work with dome unless you had a relay cause ford has negative trigger.

The mirror has 3 wires. 1 ground, 2 constant positive (for the switches on the mirror to work) and 3 from the door/dome-light switch. Since the mirror itself doesn't ground anywhere I just switched the wires. 1 became constant positive, 2 became ground (for the switches on the mirror to work) and 3 still goes to the existing dome-light. I think that is how I did it. I don't have the mirror anymore to take a look to be sure.

[jthulan]

I think it looks good. You did a good job. Mustang convertibles have lights under their mirrors also. Would these hook up easier due to the ground issue?

[Joshpow]

I tried that and it overrode the switches in the mirror. Unless the doors were open i couldnt turn the lights on. Mine lights up pretty good. Nothing extremely bright but plenty enough to see.