Under an hour, they are still not installed. (Ever have a day you should not leave the house?)
Removing door panels and mirrors under 15 minutes. MAKE SURE WINDOW IS DOWN, or you will have to plug in the switch to lower it. You cannot access inside bolts to mirror unless window is down...ALL THE WAY.
Disassembling the mirrors to install the wires...20 minutes. BUT....trying to feed the wires through the rubber grommet where the mirror housing meets the doors is next to impossible. GM sized the inside of that grommet to be smaller than the factory wires, so that it remains sealed.
Time to break first mirror, priceless.
Ok, here is a problem with their instructions, and with someone who has done this many times before on numerous other cars. I assumed, pushed and cut the F out of my hand.
Here are the problems....
When you pry up the old mirror, Muth assumes the pivot bracket will stay on the mirror actuator, mine didn't, and I never really paid any attention. So, make sure the big ring pivot bracket stays on the actuator, if it doesn't, you have to pry it off the old mirror and snap back onto the actuator to install the new mirror.
Old dumbsh*t sitting here, didn't check. Then when I went to snap the new mirror in place, it shattered, and yes, MR Dumbsh*t sitting here, was NOT wearing leather gloves. (I have never broken a mirror, so I became lax...WEAR LEATHER GLOVES that will protect your hand. Take this from someone with first hand experience.
)
Ok, so now I have a shattered mirror, so I tape the wiring connector to the inside of the mirror harness, and go onto the next mirror. I installed the wiring and left the connector taped to the inside of the housing. I'll install the glass and connect after I receive the replacement mirror.
Install mirror housings to doors...10 minutes.
Running that damn wire through the molex door connectors....pain in the a**. Make sure to have someone with small hands nearby, and who knows how to remove the connector half from inside the door. My fat left hand could not make it (right hand was full of bandages
).
Lucky for me, a friend was nearby working on his ZO6, so I borrowed his hands.
RUN WINDOW ALL THE WAY UP TO REMOVE INSIDE DOOR CONNECTOR.
Also, disconnect the one bolt to the check link to gain an inch of space between door and frame.
Disconnect the connector by sliding up the gray handle till it snaps in place at the top of the connector, pull the connector straight back and out.
Drill the hole as shown...slowly, in order not to disturb the other pins. Now, someone with small hands, has to reach inside the door, around the windows bracket, and push at the top of the connector, remove it, then drill a corresponding hole. To install, is harder, tilt it in from the bottom, and snap in place. (Sounds easy, but it wasn't and if Steve was not around, I would have had to stop there.)
(You may be able to remove the speaker and reach up from the bottom, noticed this after we did the connectors, but didn't verify it would be easier. But from the bottom up, you don't have to worry about the window run channel inside the door.
Now, trying to run the wire through the rubber tube to inside the door is more fun than playing Russian roulette with a fully loaded gun. If you can run a wire through that rubber tube, through the grommet, you are a better man than we were. I cheated, ran the wire on the outside, and sealing the rubber tube and grommet with Kent Industries Leak Chek.
Install the door panels...make sure those J-nuts or U-nuts (whatever you want to call them), that are used to retain the three screws are fastened tightly against the metal frame. Mine weren't, and had to remove the door panel again to crimp them in place. Second door panel the same way, but at least I checked before installing the door panel so I didn't have to remove.
Time so far, about four hours.
I did not connect the electrical wiring to the grounds or the signal circuits, had to leave. However,
updated information there is a large inline connector near the grommet that you feed the wires through. Disconnecting the connector gives you added clearance to see what you are doing. However, be careful when reinstalling, easy to bend a pin. I thought I have accidently broken the BCM voltage wire to the park lock solenoid, since the car would not go into park and I had to manually bypass the solenoid. However, on closer inspection this morning, I had actually bent the pin upon reconnecting the connector. I have straightened it out, and everything works great.
end of update
To sum it up, these mirrors look great, and in my opinion are a great safety feature. Not so much for you, but the small car that you might run over. However, if you are not good at running wire, be careful and WEAR LEATHER GLOVES, and watch those fishing wires near that connector.
RED to match the signals in the rear, and not sure if they offer amber for the H3.