Panther Kallista Restoration: Rear View Mirror

I had a good drive around this morning before taking the car back to the garage for the wheel tracking to be checked against the work I had done and very pleased I had.

Tony set up his gear.

and straight away found I was toed in by 1 1/2 degrees so he set to work adjusting the track rod end distances.

He set it up perfect but the wheel was still a little way out so he took it on the road then pulled up to make adjustments until the wheel was straight then completed the setting up back in the garage on the machine. I am pleased to say the tracking is again perfect and the wheel is centrally set up.

Another problem that was highlighted during the MOT checks was the speedo flickering and a trace of an oil leak from where the speedo cable enters the gearbox. I got under the car last week and had a look and saw that the problem lay in the internal spring circlip I had fitted, the original clip had disappeared during the restoration into a black hole so the one I used was not the original and it appears was not the correct thickness.

When I got under I realised immediately what the problem was as the cable wobbled a bit as the circlip was not pressing in hard enough so while at the garage I begged a circlip from Tony and fit in place along with the other. It took a little work to press it home but now the speedo cable is nice and tight, hopefully no more oil leaking, even if its just a trace.

Another job I got on with today was my version of the rear mirror modification, I know that there are a lot of mods out there as unless you are 6 foot 6" it will be very difficult for anyone to see over the hood cover.

I looked first of all for a new adjustable mirror on eBay with no luck so I bit the bullet and cut mine.

I started by removing the mirror

and then separating apart.

The idea is to make the mirror sit higher in the car which means reducing the length of the leg.

I masked of the leg and put some marks on to get and idea of how much material to remove.

I decided on the shorter of the two distances although both would have worked.

I used a air saw and cut the piece out.

I discarded the middle section and drilled a hole in both pieces as centrally as possible.

I then screwed in a self tapping screw in one side and cut the head of the screw, a little grinding to remove the thickness so to allow it to enter the other hole.