Welp. Turns out that 1st impressions are worth the time they take to birth. The eBay mirror showed up with a significant portion of the part broken. (see attached) That hole on the edge is where there oughta be a notch.

As for the gears, they were certainly not stripped. They were fused together from rust. Yet another Finally, the eBay micro switch appeared repairable until the brittle wires snapped right at the assembly. Ug. I had to solder and heat shrink wires for the OE micro switch, the junkyard gears and my OE folding mirror motor. UG-a-licious.

I used Permatex 'plastic/metal/your fingers' 5 minute curing weld stuff on the door panel- a bit of a side project. I discovered at the top of the panel plastic door mount along the base of the window had separated completely from the door panel. 'Janky' doesn't do justice to the feeling of leaving that shit falling apart and unglued while I awaited eBay mirror bits. But that Permatex weld appears pretty solid. We'll see how it goes when I remove the door panel next time.

So, I ended up using

• my OE mirror arm (with a notch, instead of a gaping hole),
• the eBay high gloss trim piece (one fewer rock chip than mine),
• my OE/blue mirror covers and gloss trim. (buy any color. Yours will transfer)
• the junkyard mirror gears,
• the eBay glass motor, glass mount and harness
  Oh- and I also used
• the eBay part's puddle light. (it's the little things) I only noticed that the body shop painted over the puddle light when they shot the mirror cover years ago. It's unfortunately not rare when a rookie move in the paint booth is over-looked by a really old fncker (me) who just wants his 16yr old car back.

Three mirrors into one.

I am Tha-RILLED to share that my Frankenstein homologation actually works! They dim... They don't wobble... and when I hit the little "I don't care that I parked too close to an F250" button, the mirrors stay folded in.

OK- Bonus material:

The OE mirror switch. I noticed while I was testing function along every possible silly step, that when I mounted the driver's door switch into its home flush with the door panel, suddenly the mirrors would stop working! W(in-T-*actual*)F!? So, diddling with the white plug would show me power by the lights under the switch buttons when moved a certain way. We have a physical problem, obviously. And where the plug is sat will affect it. Now, how do we make the plug sat where it will complete the circuit?

It's important to note that the white plug on the drivers door switch is back to the car- not the mirror- that's a black plug that we had to Humpty Dumpty so we could thread it through the tiny holes in the stupid mirror assembly.

Anyway, after a day of making mirrors do things they weren't designed to do with one another, and fiddling with what looked like a simple loose connection, I conjured up a fix:

About 1.25" of cut off zip tie. Yep.. Wedge that little bit-o-plastic between the head of the white plug, just inside the locking mechanism and you'll find yourself rewarded with a solid power connection. For how long? Who knows! But drivers side switches are left behind in most yards, so they're everywhere.

Since I now have a graduate degree in how these silly things work, I am set to repair the micro switch on my wife's 2004. Hopefully, a little pressure by cleaning and squeezing the metal bit and some sealant will do the trick.

Also, I think it's important to share:

I have concerns that if I DO get my other E53 working with functioning, non-wobbly mirrors that dim and do all the sh!t they're supposed to... If I *do* get this done.. I fear some sort of apocalyptic reckoning with a 25yr old German prophecy:

"And in the end days, a man will own 2 E53's with fully functioning mirrors."

All I'm sayin is.. If I crack that trim ring on the white one and find a repairable micro switch, the 4th Horseman might just be released. Hug your family. I'm just doing what feels necessary.

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