Sounds like a chapter in a novel.

Update April 5, Erin’s hanging issue. Pics at end.

Here’s a quick and dirty way of mounting one of those back up cam digital mirrors. The mirror is supposed to be clamped on to the existing stock mirror, but that looks very clunky. I’ve got a somewhat less clunky answer.

It’s just simple tab and slot construction, plug welded. I used 3/16″ aluminum. The uprights get spread a bit after welding just the get the mirror stalk ball in. You do know the vanagon mirror stalk pops off the mirror don’t you? And you do know the mirror stalk comes away from the van ceiling with a firm twist, clockwise or anti.

Anyway, you’ll get the idea from the pics. I think the concept at least is worthy of trying out in 3D printing. I’d guess it might even be better than aluminum.

Oh and ignore those semicircular cut outs on the edge of the backing. Thought it would be access to the reset button on the mirror. Turns out I goofed on assembly and got the position wrong. But on reflection, (see what I did there? ), it’s easier to take the mirror off the mount to get at the reset hole. That’s because the rubber band attachment things that came with the mirror work pretty well and no need for my initial idea of double sided tape. The fusion model linked does not have the cut outs.

Got a 1/4-20 bolt and wing nut in the pic. No need for the wing nut, just use a reg nut. Oh and I used a pem type bolt just because I had one. Reg bolt fine.

Again I have to say, take this idea as a staring point. While it works great and doesn’t look that bad, it sure can stand some refinement.

Here are the fusion files, if you can use them. The modelled mirror stalk is fairly accurate in the ball size.

mirror-back-archive.zip

Oh i guess I should mention the rear view cam used here, it’s the Toguard CE35-1. Seems pretty good, based on good friend Simon’s install. I’ll post some stuff on the actual wiring and install when I finish that.