DIY Retrofitting JDM Power Folding Mirrors

[hotrod]

Here is what I have done to install my JDM power folding mirrors. Attempt this and/or follow these instructions at your own risk. I take no responsibilities over you hurting yourself or destroying your car or parts of it.

Parts Needed:
Pair of JDM power folding mirrors
Pair of USDM mirrors (yes, you need them)
Spool of 12 gauge wire
Wire cutter
Electrical tape
Solder
Soldering iron
Fish tape
Sewing needle

Removing the USDM Mirrors

Start by removing your USDM mirrors. Peel off the trim by grabbing it from the top, and pulling down.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/01.jpg


There are four screws holding the door panel to the door. Here behind the door handle, behind a plastic plug:
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/02.jpg

In the handle underneath a plastic plug (take out the handle once you got the screw out, it'll just get in the way if you don't):
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/03.jpg

Towards the front edge of the door, behind another plastic plug:
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/04.jpg

Towards the bottom rear of the door:
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/05.jpg


Carefully (and I cannot stress how important this is) pry off the switch panel, starting from the top front edge. Slowly work your way to the back along the top edge.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/06.jpg


Disconnect the plugs. The passenger side will be similar, except you will only have two plugs.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/07.jpg


Slowly peel the door panel off, starting from the top front, and working down, to the back, and back up. You'll hear snaps as you do this. You'll feel a rubber trim around the bottom of the door, don't grab that and pull; it is connected to the door, not the door panel.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/08.jpg

Here's a picture of the back side of the door panel. The red circles show where the clips are, and where you should be pulling.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/09.jpg


Disconnect the plug for the mirror. Then pull up on the bottom half that's attached to the door. Just leave it dangling for now. Remove the three screws circled in red... make sure you're holding the mirror in case it drops.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/10.jpg


Retrofitting the Mirrors

You will have to do this to all four of your mirrors, the two USDM ones, and the two JDM ones. The reason is the angles on the JDM mirrors are more suited for a right hand drive position, whereas the USDM mirrors are more suited for a left hand drive position. If you were to just bolt the JDM mirrors on to your car, the adjustment would be taken to the extremes. Bottom line is, although they don't look different, they are. If you did a right hand drive conversion, you can skip this section.


Peel back the rubber cover, and unscrew the two screws circled in red. The silver clip securing the wires will come off when you unscrew the bottom screw in the picture.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/11.jpg


Take out these three screws on the underside of the mirror housing.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/12.jpg


If you have patience, you can take apart the connectors with the sewing needle. Save them though, because you'll need to put them back together. Remember the other half of the connector you left dangling at the door? Now is a good time to take it apart too. If you have no patience, and are okay with soldering the wires to the mirrors later, cut the connector off. Pull the mirror housing from the base, while carefully feeding the wire through the base.


Now push the top of the glass in, so the bottom is sort of sticking out (the mirror housing in the picture is upside down). Grab the bottom edge of the glass and pull outwards. Once you get the bottom lose, pull down to unlatch the top.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/13.jpg


Here's a picture of the mirror housing with the glass removed. This is the USDM one.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/14.jpg

Here's the JDM one. Notice the additional folding motor towards the right?
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/15.jpg


Remove the three screws circled.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/16.jpg


This is tricky, more so on the JDM ones than the USDM ones. But the idea is the same. I've circled one of the tabs, the one closer to you. The idea is to push the one that's further in the mirror housing away from you, and the one that's closer to you out. This will release the black cover.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/17.jpg

Here's a picture of the black cover, showing the orientation of the tabs. Hopefully, this will give you a better idea of how to take off of the housing. Basically, pry the two tabs apart.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/18.jpg


With the black cover removed, you'll see two screws. Take these two out too. The third point I circled on this picture is a problem area. That corner is not the same between the USDM and JDM mirrors. Consequently, when you try to put your mirrors back together, they won't go back together. You'll have to file that down. I got tired of filing and just hacksawed a chunk off. As long as you don't destroy the area where the screw goes in too much, you'll be fine.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/19.jpg

Here's the USDM motor, removed from the USDM mirror housing.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/20.jpg


Put the JDM motor into the USDM mirror housing... and vice versa if you're trying to keep a clean work area.


Reverse these steps to put your new retrofitted mirrors back on the car. See the wiring section on how to wire up the connectors, but you did take note of which wire went where, and which it connected to right?

[hotrod]

Wiring

First thing I should mention is the relay. It is different from the Civic and Integra relays. They use five wires; we use seven. Why? Because we're cooler. :biggrin: Chances are your relay came with the wires cut. Take note of the colors. These match up to the ones on the plugs that were dangling on the door.


Cut four long wires, and three short ones. You may want to measure your car out for this, so here's what's going on:
The four long wires:

Two going from the passenger door to the the driver door
One from the passenger door to steering column
One from the passenger door to the center console

The three short wires:

Two going from the relay on the passenger door to the mirror on the passenger door.
One going from the relay on the passenger door to a grounding point on the passenger door.



Solder the new wires to the ones coming off the relay. Do this one at a time. Don't go soldering all seven at the same time. The black, blue/white, and red wires on the relay get the short wires; the remaining four gets the long ones (the blue/yellow one is the one that goes to the switch in the center console).


If you took the time to take apart the connectors by the door, solder the wires from the connectors to the new wires. Blue/white to blue/white, red to red, etc. This is why you should do it one at a time.


Use some electrical tape to tape up the soldered joints.


Now is a good time to put the connectors back together too. Here is what they should look like and how they should match up:
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/21.jpg

The picture shows you looking at the connector from the side the wires are going in, not the side where the connectors meet. If the color is white, I've marked it with a "W", otherwise, it's open. If you wired it correctly, the yellow on the driver side mirror should connect to the yellow/green on the driver side harness. The black on the driver side mirror should connect to the red/blue on the driver side harness. Get it?


Mount the relay. There is a depression towards the front of the passenger door almost directly below the mirror. That is where the relay goes. There is a similar set up on the driver door, but with a different relay.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/22.jpg


Plug in the passenger mirror.


There is a grounding point by the door speaker. The bolt is copper. Use that as your ground.


Remove the speaker from the door panel. There are four screws holding it in.


Run the remaining four wires down behind the panel into the area where you just took off the speaker.


Notice that the door jam has a rubber thing that protects the wires as they run from the cabin to the door. That rubber thing is actually three separate pieces. Untape it to reveal the three pieces. Then pull on the angled pieces to free them from the door panel and the body.


Put your hand in the speaker hole, and guide the wire to where you pulled the rubber thing off the door panel. Fish the entire length of the four wires through here first before continuing.


Now run the wire through the angled rubber connector. Again, fish the entire length of the wire through first before proceeding. Do the same for the other two pieces.


Before you put the wire in the hole on the body, reach around under the dash, and feel for a hole with your left hand. Put your right hand in the hole on the outside. Once you figured out what you're working with, feed the wire through. The passenger side is not difficult at all. Once you got the entire length of the wire into the cabin, secure those rubber parts back onto the door and body.


Run the blue/yellow wire to the center console for the switch. We'll deal with this in the next section.


Run the yellow/white wire to the ignition switch. Hook it up to the white wire for a constant 12 volt. If you're lazy, find 15A fuse for your foglights, and wire this white/yellow wire to the fuse.


Now do the same you did for the driver door as you did the passenger door for the remaining two wires.


Finally, plug those two wires into the connector, and attach the male and female connectors. You're almost there!


Installing the Switch

Remove the back portion of the center console by taking out these screws:
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/23.jpg

http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/24.jpg

Don't forget the other side.


Lift the console up from the rear. You'll see something like this now.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/25.jpg

Detach the green plug. You won't see this yet, but in the picture, notice the blue/yellow wire on the very right of the green plug. That is the wire coming from the relay. Pop the USDM switch out.


Here's the USDM switch next to the JDM switch. Cool folding button. :biggrin:
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/26.jpg


Pop the JDM switch in place.


Run the blue/yellow wire from the relay into the outer most slot... like the picture above.


Plug the green plug into the switch.


At this point, you are done. Put the ignition in the second position, unless you wired the yellow/white wire to a 12 volt constant. Press the button to make sure the mirrors fold. You might also want to check the adjustment to make sure they're still okay... but they should be since all we did was move the original wiring into the JDM connectors.


Follow some of the above instructions in reverse order to put your car back together.

The reassembled center console with the JDM switch.
http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/jdm_power_folding_mirror_install/27.jpg

Here's a video of mine in action... click here (http://www.edtang.com/forum/prelude/20060709_jdm_power_folding_mirrors.wmv).

Theoretically, you can wire you car alarm to this so that it will send a 12 volt pulse to the trigger wire (the blue/yellow wire) so that the mirrors will fold on arm, and unfold on unarm. I haven't gotten around to that yet... because I'm still too lazy to do the 12 volt constant. :smile:

[THE ONE]

WoW! Thats all I can think of right now.

[hotrod]

yeah, and i got a headache now. i'm going to bed.

[ogsmakdade]

why can't someone do this for the fifth gen? lol

[Dark_Rican]

Very good...Never got the chance to do my JDM to USDM. Very good.

[sleepyH22]

when i watched the vid, from the front angle..it looks as if the drivers side one came in way earlier than the passenger side...look closer...awesome job though, wish i had em'

[hotrod]

the driver side has a wider angle than the passenger side. so the passenger side has more to fold... more travel... more time.

[sleepyH22]

ok i got ya!

[na93prepre]

nice thread. i just cant seem to get those 3 rusty ass bolts off of the bottom of the mirror, zizzy

[kokanee27]

ya i had the same problem, i ended up getting one out of 3 of each mirror and stripping the others beyind reconition, but you can go to your local home depot and buy a stripped screw remover, its basically a bit thatll fit in any drill, cost about 3 bucks

[na93prepre]

ya i had the same problem, i ended up getting one out of 3 of each mirror and stripping the others beyind reconition, but you can go to your local home depot and buy a stripped screw remover, its basically a bit thatll fit in any drill, cost about 3 bucks

Reason why those 3 bolts are a paind in the as* is b/c they have lock tight on them. Wow the only ones aside of the front seats that I've come across of so far.. I am all the way to the part with you have to etch away at that damn lil screw housing... Where's my dremel :kaioken: haha

[kokanee27]

ya once you get that dam part grinded away you are home free though
i just got my new relay in the mail yesterday and i got my mirrors running, the entire time i was doing the project i was thinking about how all the effort just wasnt worth the final product, but i was wrong, i just love pressing the button lol

[na93prepre]

ya once you get that dam part grinded away you are home free though
i just got my new relay in the mail yesterday and i got my mirrors running, the entire time i was doing the project i was thinking about how all the effort just wasnt worth the final product, but i was wrong, i just love pressing the button lol

how much do i have to take off (screw hole)? is there a good detail picture of how much? thank you

[ogsmakdade]

I have an extra switch and relay if anyone wants them (wts so make an offer)

[kokanee27]

how much do i have to take off (screw hole)? is there a good detail picture of how much? thank you
to be honest im not even sure, but theres an easy way to find out,
the reason you have to is cause then the mirror part wont mount on the mount part, so i just grinded away till it fit enough

[na93prepre]

today i was going to do my wiring and i came on here to print out the instructions with pix and the pix are gone. were'd they go... i miss you so.. haha i'm blonde and could use pix right about now

[hotrod]

the server hosting the pics is having problems right now. :(

[crj_lll]

Hot Rod,

Great write up. I was wondering if you had any tips for finding the whole in the body under the dash. I have lard hands and when I reach behind the dash all I feel is a relay/wire jungle.

Everything else went very well. Thank you again.

[hotrod]

fish tape is your friend. feed it from the door jam... carefully poking your way through.

[crj_lll]

I have tried that and I am hitting some body panel just inside the inlet point. Which way do I go once I am in the opening? Up/Down/Left/Right?

[hotrod]

it just goes down once it's in. the driver side is a little bit tougher... more wires over there. but the idea is the same. you might have to shove a little, but nothing too hard or you're going to be sorry... if you know what i mean.

[crj_lll]

Ok, I finally got through. I wanted to ask a question about hooking it up to your alarm system?

Coming from the door there are seperate wires for the un lock and lock feature. Coming back to the door there is one wire to do both. I would think I can tap into the one wire on the way back for the 12 volt pulse to activate the mirrors. Does this sound right?

[mizlude]

wow

[hotrod]

i still haven't hooked mine up to the alarm system yet. i got the relay that i need, just been busy. so i can't take credit for this. this tip is from someone else:

To use them with an alarm, it's actually very simple but you need to get a Bosch SPDT Relay available at any automotive or electronic shop.
Connect fused 12v+ to terminal #86 and 30. -Alarm signal to terminal 85. Then tap a wire from 87 to 12v+ blue/yellow of the mirror relay.
OF course -alarm signal must be available in your alarm. In my case, it is a separate channel. You can also connect it to fold/unfold when you arm, but you need to find a wire from the alarm that can give a signal when arming and disarming. Lock/unlock is a possible one. That's it!

[crj_lll]

What do the terminal numbers refer to?

#86
30
85
87

Are these the terminals on the alarm, car fuse or mirrors?

[hotrod]

the terminal numbers are for the bosch relay.

[crj_lll]

Does anyone know if the button on the controler sends a single puls when it is pushed or if it sends a timed pulse to open and close the mirrors?

Basically want to know what controls the timed closing funtion, the relay or the controller button?

[muha22752]

im ganna try this one out on my 5th gen

[929on9]

This is something I have never thought of but am now going to attempt to accomplish. Now that the seed is in my head I will only have to get over the hump of sourcing the parts necessary to get it done.

The other thing I was thinking of, my buddy has an '05 Acura TL and the passenger mirror itself angles down (the same amount each time & goes back to your driving setting once out of reverse) when you are in reverse for sighting the curb/parking space if backing in/up. I wonder if this would be possible to integrate in to our mirrors?

I am finding so many ideas for my Prelude...I hope my opportunity to help another member will come sooner than later, Sweet looking mirrors guys amazingly creative mods