replacing mirror glass

1981 KZ650-CSR. Is it possible to pop out & replace the mirror glass? I'd like to swap the glass from a set of oem short stem mirrors to some long stem mirrors. I fiddled around with one the other day & the glass appears to be press fit pretty tight into the mirror head, so it doesn't look too promising. doh. .... this type .

If the stem length is the only issue, they tread into the mirror head. You could just swap the stems.

Thanks, but the long stem mirror heads are in much better condition, so I need to swap the glass.
not that it matters here, but I'm not sure how the mirror heads can be detached. pics of damaged mirrors. not mine.

i.imgur.com/rNb3gZ1.jpg

i.imgur.com/eWNfgVl.jpg

i.imgur.com/C3DW5pv.jpg

I guess you could do it but the chances are you'll mung them up trying. Maybe a pair of O ring hooks?
Steve

martin_csr wrote: 1981 KZ650-CSR. Is it possible to pop out & replace the mirror glass? I'd like to swap the glass from a set of oem short stem mirrors to some long stem mirrors. I fiddled around with one the other day & the glass appears to be press fit pretty tight into the mirror head, so it doesn't look too promising. doh. .... this type .

So it sounds like you have long stems without mirrors. If that is correct, just go to a glass shop and have them cut you the mirrors you want. Since the mirrors are round, that should be rather simple. I have replaced mirrors in this way that had more irregular shapes. When I did that I cut out a piece of cardboard from a cereal box to match the shape I wanted. Yeah it took a few tries. Once I had the shape I took that to the glass shop to have the mirrors cut. If you get the shape right they should snap right in. You can also put some silicone adhesive behind the mirror to glue it in and perhaps dampen vibration, but talk to the glass shop about what you type should use. If you use the wrong kind of silicone adhesive the silver will come off the mirror. Two mirrors like that should cost you less than $20.

Thanks for the suggestion, it may come in handy for someone. But I'd prefer to have stock type convex glass. I may end up destroying a junk mirror just to see what's possible. the stock mirrors probably aren't meant to be taken apart --- just wondering if anyone has done it.

Martin,
I recently tried a similar thing to my mirrors because they were making a whining sound at higher speeds.

There are two issues with trying to do what you want,...
I have attached some pics of my mirrors,...
The first is the new glass will need to be fit tightly into the metal. With a brand new rubber strip and much work you could probably accomplish this but most likely you would be left with some vibrations. You can see this in the first pic.

But the second issue is,... if you get the glass in the metal properly you then need to get the metal pressed back into the plastic. See pic. This was a problem due to the fact that since the plastic was so old it broke when I tried to push the round metal part in back of the morrow into the black plastic. The plastic just broke and would not provide enough grip to hold the metal and mirror in. I guess I could glue it but I gave up and just bought new ones from Z1 for about $100.

Jim

JimB, thanks. The 81 mirrors are different than yours & I don't know if they have a metal ring in them or not. I had assumed not, but maybe they do. I think this is a no go. doh.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configuration

martin_csr wrote: JimB, thanks. The 81 mirrors are different than yours & I don't know if they have a metal ring in them or not. I had assumed not, but maybe they do. I think this is a no go. doh.

I don't know if this helps

Pete

Thanks. I saw that mirror & momentarily considered getting it to act as a sacrificial offering to the KZ gods. but I'm not going to bother with the experiment. it's doubtful that it can be done, at least not without damaging something & ending up back at square one. doh.

martin_csr wrote: Thanks for the suggestion, it may come in handy for someone. But I'd prefer to have stock type convex glass. I may end up destroying a junk mirror just to see what's possible. the stock mirrors probably aren't meant to be taken apart --- just wondering if anyone has done it.

Martin, I saw an actual Terch article about dissassembling the mirrors and repairing....sadly, cant recall where I saw it , but it was a good tech article and If I can remember where I saw it,Ill let ya know!
Ed