red threadlock: how much heat do you need? Birkin mirror adventure.

[pethier]

I figured that changing the side mirrors on the Birkin would be a walk in the park.  The mirrors that came to me with this car are flat.  The left one is wonky, and a DPO tried to fix that with an airplane clamp.  That does not work.

 

Got new mirrors.  Convex.  Look good.  Mounting method looks identical.  I rolled back the big locknut.  Now all I have to do is grab onto the mirror strut and rotate it out.  No go.  I took a closer look:

 

I see red.  I fear that some DPO has used Red LocTite on this mirror stem.  WHY?  There is a massive locknut on this (much-more substantial stuff than on my Caterham).  I can't believe it would rattle loose untreated, much less rattle loose with Blue LocTite.

 

Just for laughs, I check the right mirror.  No, that one is not coming off either.

 

OK, so if it is re LocTite, there is no way it is coming out without heat.  So how much heat do I need?  Will a serious heat gun do the job?  

 

I have already wrestled off the wind deflectors, since they certainly will not survive any heat in the area.

 

Should I not try heat here?  Plan B would be to declare the removal imposible,

 

crack the nut and Dremel the part that didn't fracture 

 

saw the mirror stem off leaving the threaded stub sticking out of the windshield frame

 

find or make coupling nuts and screw the new mirror into that.

 

 

[wdb]

Would freezing it break the bond?

[wemtd]

Use a heat gun & be patient. 
iirc the #on the thread locked corresponds to the F release temp. But easier for you to double check.

also:

Did I mention patience ?   to ensure the whole piece warms up… I once encountered a wheel spacer glued by the thread locker.

[pethier]

OK.  I'll take a shot at it with the heat gun.

[pethier]

13 hours ago, wemtd said:

Use a heat gun & be patient. 
iirc the #on the thread locked corresponds to the F release temp. But easier for you to double check.

also:

Did I mention patience ?   to ensure the whole piece warms up… I once encountered a wheel spacer glued by the thread locker.

Yes, the heat gun worked.  Thanks ever much.

[IamScotticus]

I was going to suggest a large gage soldering iron on the stud and clamped on so the heat is applied to that core.

Heat until you see smoke.

Edited Saturday at 05:23 PM by IamScotticus

[m2711c]

what mirrors did you decide to go with?

[pethier]

2 hours ago, m2711c said:

what mirrors did you decide to go with?

Search on Amazon.com for 

 

Motorcycle Mirrors, 10mm Bolt Motorcycle Handlebar Rectangle Rear view Side Mirrors, Compatible with Kawasaki Honda Suzuki Street Bike Cruiser Chopper Brand: Miijzorr

 

This is not the first photo on the page, but it shows the dimensions.  

The threads measure M10x1.25 

Mirrors are convex.

 

 

Edited Monday at 12:25 AM by pethier

[m2711c]

Thank you.

[pethier]

Last night I finally got around to affixing the right mirror to the Birkin.  Went as smoothly as the first.  Having a 17mm open-end wrench handy for adjusting the mirrors seems like a good idea for a while.  You can see in the catalog pictures that each mirror has three joints, and two of them have big jam nuts.

 

I have a 4:00 appointment tomorrow with thealignmentguy.com to swap tires and set the front alignment. Lucky me that there was a cancelation. He was all booked up in the week before our first double-autocross weekend.

 

I assume that a live-axle Birkin has no rear-alignment adjustability. 

 

The front camber is adjustable via a system I have not come across before.  I intend to shoot for the same area as my non-adjustable Caterham has.

 

I'll be taking this discussion of tires and alignment to the autocross area.