[T3] 10mm bolt

[Gary Forsmo]

*I'm not 100% sure it's a bolt.  But a retired  full-time RVer who was
"passing through" our Park, was a VW mechanic for several years.

He looked at the Type 1, LHS door mirror and questioned why VW would have
put an 8mm hex portion in the middle of the two-ended 10mm bolt.
Originally, I thought the bolt may be "cast into" the pot metal arm, too.
And I'm not entirely sure, it wasn't.  If I can remove the bolt, that may
tell the real story.

But on closer inspection (with my 10X loupe), it appears to be a regular,
mild steel bolt.  It's NOT stainless, because there's evidence of "rust",
on the lower part of the "tri-cornerd", chrome-plated arm where the
stainless steel "shell" was attached.  It appears that moisture "rusted"
the bolt and the iron-oxide(?) stain seemed to have migrated down, due to
gravity and discolored the chrome.

BTW, Jim ... do you know what the "root" dimension of the threads of a 10mm
bolt is?  I went searching and couldn't find it.  It appears to be about
3/16" (.1875).

Also, the VW/RV guy suggested the "pilot hole" be drilled with a 1/8"
(.125") hole, and a left-handed 3/16" (.1875") drill bit be used as the
"extractor".  I think without getting too close to the "root" dimension of
the bolt threads, I may try a 5/32" (.15625) "extractor" bit.

Jim ... I don't believe I showed you the T1 mirror, but we talked about it,
a bit.

You were "doubtful" that I could uncrimp the s.s. shell sufficiently to get
the glass out ... in one piece.  It took two of us.  One to hold the mirror
at the correct "angle of attack" in the crack of a picnic table top and the
other to "tap" with a straight-blade screw driver with a sharp tip, to
gently "ease" the crimp away from the glass.  The radius of the "rounded
corners" were the most difficult.

Eventually, with patience, and after "bending" the big end of the s.s.
shell away from the mirror, and about 2/3rds of the way down the long
sides, the mirror came right out.

On the entire "backside" (mirrored side) of the glass, there was, what
appeared to be, a "film" of some sort, and a 4mm (wide) X 2mm (thick)
gasket that was attached to the "film" and contacted the s.s. shell around
the circumference.  No adhesive.  Just the "crimp" held the glass in?

BTW.  The discolored "silvering", which was mostly affected, was ONLY 1/4",
IN from the edge.  The discoloration, which affected the film and
silvering, seemed to be from moisture that may have migrated into the
shell.  The gasket partially prevented water from staying in the shell.
The gasket also had a 5mm "drain hole portion" at the bottom of the gasket,
about in the middle of the long side.

An interesting lesson, for me.

And you thought us retirees ,had nothing to do?  :-)

Gary "Frito" - '69 Variant, FI, MT
Rockport, TX
*
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