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[Invasion1]

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[bluegp]

Cool; awesome deal!

 

I'll buy it off of you for $26.

[GnatGoSplat]

Woohoo!

I hate Donnelly though. I paid $160 for a mirror awhile back, and all the liquid leaked out. They wouldn't warranty it because I bought it from an Ebay seller.

 

I think Gentex ones are better quality, but for $24.95, that deal can't be beat!

[Mv522]

my friend broke mine last night accidently and now i dont have one and my windshield is cracked.

[Brian P]

that's awesome Davis. I'm having a hard enough time just trying to find an autodim w/maplights!!

[EurosportZ34]

those mirrors are defaintely awesome. a buddy of mine's aunt works for Donnelly and she gets a free mirror each year...i think it's getting close to the year that i get a free one

[GutlessSupreme]

that's awesome Davis. I'm having a hard enough time just trying to find an autodim w/maplights!!

 

:withstupid:

 

you got the one with all the options I was looking for Dave.. damn you!

[jeremy]

glad to hear you got a great deal, but other then the deal, i don't understand all the excitement over a mirror...regardless of what it does...

[95 3-4]

Some people like to have those features, I wouldnt want a car without that either. Thats why I drive a premium luxury coupe and not a W

I only wish my car had autodimming side mirrors like the 97+ Park Ave's, I also do not have a rain sensing windscreen

 

Seriously tho that is a great price and a nice looking product

[GnatGoSplat]

I bought a Donnelly with autodim, maplights, and compass.

It was green, so I bought a Gentex out of an Intrigue with autodim, electronic LED maplights, and aqua compass that perfectly matches the dash displays. Only problem is it's designed to work with a BCM, so it drains power even when the car is off (will drain battery in 3-days). DOH!

I didn't want the temp because the climate control already has that.

[sl3196]

glad to hear you got a great deal, but other then the deal, i don't understand all the excitement over a mirror...regardless of what it does...

 

Same opinion on tan seats.

 

Are these mirriors easy to put in? My gp has the auto dimming but I would like to have a compass too. Also a cool idea a guy in my club did with his 97 gp: Got a mirror with compass and temp and hooked the temp sensor for the mirror into the intake.

[jeremy]

 

Same opinion on tan seats.

 

OWN3D!!!!!!!

[RareGMFan]

Are these mirriors easy to put in? My gp has the auto dimming but I would like to have a compass too. Also a cool idea a guy in my club did with his 97 gp: Got a mirror with compass and temp and hooked the temp sensor for the mirror into the intake.

 

Yes, they're very easy. Usually just a ground, and a wire (a few if you have a compass, temp, etc) going to a power source that only comes on with the ignition on. If it has maplights, you'll need to run the positive wire for the interior lights to a dome light source. If it has temp, you'll need a temp sensor, too. You'll also need a wiring diagram to ID the wires.

 

The only way I'd buy a Donnelly is if I scored a deal like that, too. Otherwise, I've also read many complaints about them failing, which I have not really ever seen a complaint for the Gentex. Plus, I think the Gentex look a lot better. I just wish they offered a lot more of them with the maplights. That Intrigue one Brian's got is really the only self dimming Gentex that gets them, except for some of the brand new ones that are coming out now.

 

Brian, don't know if you recall the thread a while ago when I said I had the same exact Intrigue mirror. You had mentioned back then also that it needs a BCM. Well....I ripped the positive wires out of the fuse box for it....and the car hasn't died since!! But I miss the mirror! There's gotta' be a way to make that thing work in non BCM equipped cars without draining them. I can't believe that damn thing uses up that kind of power, though.

[GnatGoSplat]

Brian, don't know if you recall the thread a while ago when I said I had the same exact Intrigue mirror. You had mentioned back then also that it needs a BCM. Well....I ripped the positive wires out of the fuse box for it....and the car hasn't died since!! But I miss the mirror! There's gotta' be a way to make that thing work in non BCM equipped cars without draining them. I can't believe that damn thing uses up that kind of power, though.

 

Actually, I said that.

There's a way to make it eat less power to where it'll last a couple weeks before draining. First, you have to open it. There are 2 styles, 1 style is glued together and when you open it, you'll have to glue it back together. The 2nd style snaps together. The glued ones are skinnier have the maplight mirrors in 2 humps. The snap together ones are thicker and are smooth on the back. Both types can be opened with an old credit card and a lot of patience/determination. Anyway, you can break the connection of the filament to the display and use a tiny relay to switch it on with the switched ignition. That's what I did, and it reduced parasitic power consumption from 180mA to about 80mA. It will still drain the battery, but it will take a couple weeks. If you drive the car pretty regularly, you'd probably never notice it.

 

OR you can just hook the whole thing up to switched ignition so it will work when the ignition is on, but then the domelight and map lights won't work when the ignition is off.

 

Last and best option that I could think of... a tiny microcontroller. There's some that are real small, just a tiny 8-pin chip. I was thinking I could program one that controls a MOSFET to work like a solid-state relay. It would switch off all power to the mirror 10-minutes after ignition is turned off, and it would monitor the domelight circuit. Anytime a door is opened, the circuit turns the mirror back on for 10-more minutes so domelight/maplights will work. The microcontroller would consume just microamps and wouldn't be a drain at all. I think this is very similar to how the Intrigue BCM works. It would actually be a really simple project hardware-wise, and probably a really simple programming project for someone who knows how to program a microcontroller. Right now I don't have a clue how to program those things, but I've added it to my list of many things I want to learn.

[Brian P]

yeah I was about to say....which Brian?

 

It drives me nuts how GM is making everything bcm-reliant, when it DOESNT NEED TO BE!

[GnatGoSplat]

Yeah, I hate BCM's! If you want to add factory fogs to a 99+ GM truck and want to use the factory switch and wiring, you have to get the BCM reprogrammed. The 03+ are even worse. Everything in the door plugs directly to a DDM (Driver Door Module) or PDM (Passenger Door Module). The only wiring going to those is power and a serial data wire to the BCM. I'll bet a lot of the new GM cars are that way too.

[Brian P]

Yeah GM is making things complicated when they don't need to be. Just like adding keyless entry, even an aftermarket keyless or alarm.

[95 3-4]

Yeah, I hate BCM's! If you want to add factory fogs to a 99+ GM truck and want to use the factory switch and wiring, you have to get the BCM reprogrammed. The 03+ are even worse. Everything in the door plugs directly to a DDM (Driver Door Module) or PDM (Passenger Door Module). The only wiring going to those is power and a serial data wire to the BCM. I'll bet a lot of the new GM cars are that way too.

 

Damn that sounds rediculous, Also if you want to keep your factory keyless entry you cant dump the factory stereo, you must "relocate" it and keep it powered up, damn honduh stuff

[RareGMFan]

Actually, I said that.

 

Oops... :oops: That's why I try to avoid posting at 1 in the morning. Anyway, that's good info, though I don't know jack about electronics, so I wouldn't have a clue where to start on what you suggested. I'll wait till one rolls off the Shawn assembly line, first.

[Stealth]

dude you dont really have all those cars in your sig do you? if you do how the hell did you aquire them all

[Brian P]

blah, he's a lightweight.

[RareGMFan]

dude you dont really have all those cars in your sig do you? if you do how the hell did you aquire them all

 

Weeeellll......

 

*cracks his knuckles*

 

AWD #1: Was looking for a long time for one. After 3 years of searching, found one just a few towns over from me right about the time my 225K mile '86 STE took a dump on me. It was in rough shape cosmetically, but well maintained mechanically. So, knowing there wasn't a very good chance of running into another one, I went for it. The previous owner worked for GM corp at the time the AWDs were produced, so he was my first taste of some real info and stats on these cars. We talked for a couple of hours the first time I came to look at it.

 

AWD #2: She showed up on eBay with only 70K miles on it, and all original (save for the Cherry Bomb Vortex muffler the PO replaced the OEM one with). First STE I had seen of any year with the leather accessory kit still in the trunk. It went for about $3,500 I believe it was. I placed one huge proxy bid, and only one bid, with about 10 seconds to go to take it. Over all, I was happy. A few things frustrated me, like some unmentioned damage, and the injectors went out right away. Three years later, she now just cleared 92K miles. A couple spots of rust that I need to quicly get rid of. Otherwise, she's still one of the cleanest original paint ones still out there.

 

TSTE: I had no intention of buying another car, but I saw this one on eBay, and I just kinda' kept an eye on it. It was listed as a Grand Prix GTE (d'oh!). Opening bid was $1,000. On the last day, it had only reached $1,3xx. For some reason, I just snapped and decided to try to get it. So again, with 10 seconds left, I put in a proxy of $1,700, and got it for $1,4xx. What transpired after that to get it here was one of the biggest pain in the ass dealings I've ever had. I paid $600 to have it transported from VA to IL. Long story, but in any event, there's some ticky tack things that need to be fixed/replace, and a bunch of under the hood things to do, but I thought it was a good purchase over all.

 

TGP: This was an interesting one. I saw it on eBay again. NO description what so ever, just pictures and the seller had HORRIBLE feedback. I e-mailed him to get some info, and got no response. I than looked up their user name since it looked like a company name, and sure enough, found a listing for Royal Truck and Auto. I called up, asked if it had keys, a title, and mileage. Yes, yes, and "not sure, but it's under 200K miles". Thanks, buddy. It was going so cheap and was so close that I figured what the hell, I could at least buy it to part it out. It looked really really bad in the photos. Intake was missing, computer was missing, things were unplugged, fan was loose, dogbone mounts were unbolted, etc. Well, got it for $404!! And they towed it to me for free!! After it got here, I looked it over and thought.....damn, that's not in bad shape at all! I let it sit there for a few days, and than holstbnet threw in a charged up battery and tried starting it. I had everything else we needed to try to get her running. After a lot of backfiring and cranking, she actually started up! We took her around the parking lot. I planted my foot into it when we got around the corner, and the thing just spinned it's wheels till I pulled my foot back. The turbo was whistling to high hell. So, I've decided to keep it and restore it.

 

Aaaaaaaand, there's your summary.

 

blah, he's a lightweight.

 

The curb weights beg to differ! :shock: