What are these holes in my Suburban door for?

[burbluv]

Can anyone help me figure what these extra holes are for? Going to remove these monster side mirrors and going with originals that I just got but I am also getting ready to get started on the body soon and wondering if I should be covering these up.
Notice that it is only on the driver side.
Any ideas?
Thanks,
AJ

[joedoh]

I think thats so you can be in the cab and still look outside, they I believe are called "windows" :P

just kidding. the three screw holes on the drives door are for the factory mirrors. I have a brand new set of stainless rectangular ones from LMC that I will be using. my passenger side doesnt have the mounting holes though, I will have to drill.

http://www.lmctruck.com/icatalog/cbe/full.aspx?Page=47

I wish they were the round ones but they came free with a parts truck so beggars cant be choosers.

[burbluv]

So you are saying the mirrors I have now were drilled after and the original is further up on the door. Meaning my new mirrors should go in the 3 screw holes which I need to match and drill on the other side and then fill the holes left from the ones I will be removing right?

[rbar]

Yep, your current mirrors are in the "wrong spot" and the other three are factory. Mine doesn't have any mirror mounting spots on the passenger side either. I am thinking about using nutserts for that instead of trying to put nuts on the back side. They work really well and were a great fix for my cowl vent holes where you can't get to the backside. We use them at work all of the time. The flange is really thin and they hold strong. You do have to have the install tool with it.

[derail]

Originally Posted by rbar

Mine doesn't have any mirror mounting spots on the passenger side either. I am thinking about using nutserts for that instead of trying to put nuts on the back side.

That's the exact same thing I used on my passenger door and it worked awesome! If you can look inside of the door, I think most of the passenger doors have the backing plate already in the correct position with holes pre-drilled.

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by derail

That's the exact same thing I used on my passenger door and it worked awesome! If you can look inside of the door, I think most of the passenger doors have the backing plate already in the correct position with holes pre-drilled.

All the ones that I have looked at had the plate predrilled on the inside of the door skin. I like the nut sert idea. I used regular nuts and screws and it was a pain!

[MusicMan70]

I changed out the West Coast Style to go stock.

[RoyL]

Originally Posted by derail

That's the exact same thing I used on my passenger door and it worked awesome! If you can look inside of the door, I think most of the passenger doors have the backing plate already in the correct position with holes pre-drilled.

Is there enough room in there (inside the door) to mark or drill a small pilot hole to get them in the correct factory location?

[rbar]

Originally Posted by RoyL

Is there enough room in there (inside the door) to mark or drill a small pilot hole to get them in the correct factory location?

I have a 63 door that has nothing behind the outside sheet metal where the mirror mounts and I have two 64 and up doors that have a piece of sheet metal spaced about 3/8" of an inch away from the door. On those three doors I am confident I could drill the holes to put the nutserts in and have them work well, all being done from the outside, which is the beauty of the nutserts.

[oem4me]

Originally Posted by RoyL

Is there enough room in there (inside the door) to mark or drill a small pilot hole to get them in the correct factory location?

I couldn't tell you if there is room enough to mark the hole locations from the inside without looking, but it would be simple enough to make a paper template from the drivers side exterior, and then use it inside-out to mark the passenger side. That should get you pretty close.

[derail]

Originally Posted by RoyL

Is there enough room in there (inside the door) to mark or drill a small pilot hole to get them in the correct factory location?

I don't think so. It might be possible with a right angle drill, but I doubt it. I did the same thing that the other guys did and just made a template from the drivers side.

[RoyL]

Originally Posted by rbar

Yep, your current mirrors are in the "wrong spot" and the other three are factory. Mine doesn't have any mirror mounting spots on the passenger side either. I am thinking about using nutserts for that instead of trying to put nuts on the back side. They work really well and were a great fix for my cowl vent holes where you can't get to the backside. We use them at work all of the time. The flange is really thin and they hold strong. You do have to have the install tool with it.

Went to Fastenal, they had 5/16" and 3/8" sizes of the "nutserts" but the $100+ for the tool was a deal killer. I asked if they had anything else that might work. They have these, Auveco PN 12995, 1/4 by 20 thread size. They are called Jack Nuts, says for mirror mounting. I'm gonna try them. Only thing I don't like about any of these type, is the size of the hole you gotta drill in the sheet metal . . . about 7/16" or so.

[bmur66]

Originally Posted by RoyL

Went to Fastenal, they had 5/16" and 3/8" sizes of the "nutserts" but the $100+ for the tool was a deal killer. I asked if they had anything else that might work. They have these, Auveco PN 12995, 1/4 by 20 thread size. They are called Jack Nuts, says for mirror mounting. I'm gonna try them. Only thing I don't like about any of these type, is the size of the hole you gotta drill in the sheet metal . . . about 7/16" or so.

You don't need that $100 tool. This is all you need. Works fine on the aluminum rivet nuts. The steel ones are probably much harder to expand but I don't think you would want to use them anyways. http://www.rivetsonline.com/to-aa184.html

[Trsmotrhed]

This is what's behind the door skin to mount the mirrors.


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[krazy_texan]

yup yup thats what he is saying alot of trucks especially lower optioned trucks only came with one mirror.

[joedoh]

yeah, if you look at the link I posted you will see the mirror mounts match that pattern on your door.

I would only change the mirrors if you care about originality, the ones you have look like they have good visibility. you can look around at some of the trucks on here to see what the stock ones look like.

[MusicMan70]

I did what oem4me suggested, and that worked for me. Make that template and flip it over for the other side.

[Ledslinger]

I know that if you have no mirror or filler screws in these holes, the bottom of the door will rust out directly below.

[dugvera@gmail.com]

[padresag]

I believe that on 60-63 that on the passenger side the mirror mounts farther forward and the angle of the base of the mirror is diff from 64-66. there was a session on this just in the last little while. it has to be mounted forward , otherwise the w/s post is in the way
ron

[dthela]

I have 2 new polished stainless mirrors if interested pm me. (no brkts though)

[aerotruk63]

[Clyde65]

ask for someone with a door without the mirrors and do what OEM4Me said, use a template.

[RoyL]

Originally Posted by Clyde65

ask for someone with a door without the mirrors and do what OEM4Me said, use a template.

Good idea, I forget I know a couple folks with 64-66 trucks ...

I was able to get the passenger side done, I used a spring loaded center punch from the inside to locate the center of the backing plate holes (2 of them) and drilled from the outside.

On the driver's side, that wouldn't work, couldn't get enough access thru the nutplates... Thanks.

[Old Bleu]

RoyL, I have the same problem on my driver side door. Someone bondo'd the original holes and mounted a car mirror farther back. The good new is that the original holes are still visible through the finish, so I hope that I can use a small drill bit to drill through the bondo and then run a tap through the holes to clean them out. The passenger side has never had a mirror mounted, but does have the backing plate. I think I will try your center punch trick on that side since I have a small spring loaded center punch. Of course then I have to fill the car mirror holes...