Auto Dimming Mirror Upgrade

[SunSoaked]

As many of you know, I recently broke my windshield. Additionally, I've had the rearview mirror fall off twice taking chunks of glass with it. So tomorrow I'm getting the windshield replaced. Today I went to the junkyard and pulled the mirror and temp sensor off a 2001 Silverado. Paid a whopping $35 for everything including the harness. Only 5 wires to make this work and I get LCD temp, compass and ice warning. Bench test verified everything works. Excellent mod for the $.

[homemade87]

I have one in my 82 . I got it from a 04 truck I bought for my ls swap . Works pretty good . Easy install as well with a stand alone harness .

[jjzepplin]

Great idea! I wonder what mirror is in my 99 TA donor vehicle. Where will you route the wires? I don't have a Headliner in my truck. Guess I might need one.

[homemade87]

Mine did have the headliner in it so was not a problem . Even if you drilled a hole I am not sure the front post would accept the wire going down . I know the rear post would . Just longer wires to get there if you did not want a headliner .

[Rich84]

My wife just grabbed my mirror to fix her hair or something and ripped my mirror off. It left me with a small crack in the glass where the base was glued. I want one of these...Would love to see a how to. I have no headliner.

[MalibuSSwagon]

I have one as well, from a 98 Old Intrigue GLS. These were unique for that specific car as they had LED dome lights built in. Will be nice as I don't have a dome light in my truck. I also do not have a headliner, so been looking around for a way to hide the wires. Was thinking some sort of conduit?

[SunSoaked]

I'll have the install done over the weekend. I'll take pics of how I did it and post here. I'm getting the new glass in a few hours.
The 90's trucks are good donors. I saw several 99-05 models that had them. Look for ones with a 7 cavity plug (mine only used 5 of the 7 ports). Remove the mirror with a star driver. Pull the harness out from behind the headliner. Some of them have legs going to the visors if they are lighted.
Make sure you get the temp probe if you want that function. It's located behind, below and near the front bumper. It's two wires. They will be black/white and a green/white.
The other 3 wires are pink=ign, black=ground & green=reverse light. The reverse function just shuts off the auto-dimming in reverse. You don't have to use it if you don't want to.
I'm running my wires thru the roof and down the B-Pillar and back up to the fuse panel. You can access and fish the wires thru the hole where the visor mounts.
I tried for hours to get wire thru my A-Pillar with no luck.
You will also need the correct button that glues on the glass, it's different than what you have.
Stay tuned for pics and more details.

[SunSoaked]

Originally Posted by jjzepplin

Great idea! I wonder what mirror is in my 99 TA donor vehicle. Where will you route the wires? I don't have a Headliner in my truck. Guess I might need one.

Run wires inside the roof. I don't have a headliner either. I drilled a 1/4" hole near the mirror base and ran the wires thru there. I don't mind seeing a few inches of wire. Don't forget the grommet.

[cadillac_al]

I have those auto dumb mirrors in some of my vehicles and I usually wish I just had a button to flip. I don't think they work as good as an old mirror. It would be downgrade for me.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

Run wires inside the roof. I don't have a headliner either. I drilled a 1/4" hole near the mirror base and ran the wires thru there. I don't mind seeing a few inches of wire. Don't forget the grommet.

Yup.
The sheet metal you see is not the outer roof skin. Just be careful not to drill through both...

[SunSoaked]

And keep your knee off the windshield (don't ask!) or you'll end up with this...the mistake that started the whole thing.

[focusedontheprize]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

I'll have the install done over the weekend. I'll take pics of how I did it and post here. I'm getting the new glass in a few hours.
The 90's trucks are good donors. I saw several 99-05 models that had them. Look for ones with a 7 cavity plug (mine only used 5 of the 7 ports). Remove the mirror with a star driver. Pull the harness out from behind the headliner. Some of them have legs going to the visors if they are lighted.
Make sure you get the temp probe if you want that function. It's located behind, below and near the front bumper. It's two wires. They will be black/white and a green/white.
The other 3 wires are pink=ign, black=ground & green=reverse light. The reverse function just shuts off the auto-dimming in reverse. You don't have to use it if you don't want to.
I'm running my wires thru the roof and down the B-Pillar and back up to the fuse panel. You can access and fish the wires thru the hole where the visor mounts.
I tried for hours to get wire thru my A-Pillar with no luck.
You will also need the correct button that glues on the glass, it's different than what you have.
Stay tuned for pics and more details.

Thanks for doing this SunSoaked. I would like to do this upgrade to my C30 and this will be a huge help.

[hatzie]

Originally Posted by SunSoaked

And keep your knee off the windshield (don't ask!) or you'll end up with this...the mistake that started the whole thing.

That sinking feeling when you know you'll be buying a new windshield.
The roof marker lamps run up the A pillar and across the front of the roof between the skins. You should be able to run the mirror wiring the same way.
The dome wiring runs through the back corner of the cab and up the pillar behind the door. Not a big deal to add those.
If you're going to have the mirror lights run as the dome... the wire at the headlamp switch is the ground not the hot wire. The stock dome gets power all the time.

Must be someone absconded with his dome lamp. My 85 base model Custom Deluxe had a dome lamp and it only had a few options on the short SPID... the 305 V8 engine, gauges, and 4 speed manual. My 74 had one too and that was a real stripped down base model truck with manual brakes, idiot lamps, three on the tree, Inline 6 and radio delete.

If you look in the 1991 & 1990 wiring diagrams GM was kind enough to put in some routing diagrams.

[Rich84]

My stripped 84 has one.. 86 with a/c does not. Weird.

[SunSoaked]

Finished!
Killed two birds with one stone. Got the glass replaced and swapped in an auto-dimming mirror from an 01 Silverado in the process. And... installed my "moonvisor" and ran the wires for the running lights all at the same time.
To the point- I ran the 5 small wires (20 guage maybe?) thru a piece of vacuum hose into the roof thru a 7/16th hole. From there it goes to the driver side A-Pillar where it joins the two wires for the running lights. Then back to the B-Pillar and down the chute and under the door sill and weather strip up to the fuse panel for. The two wires for the temp sender go up front behind the bumper away from engine heat.
Easy peasy! I'm really pleased with the visor and mirror. Visor from Summit Racing ($199) mirror from junkyard ($35).