Toyota Celica JDM retracting mirrors

Got my JDM retracting mirrors for the Celica installed and working! I made a short clip of the retracting / folding movement because a picture doesn’t show the action unless you are Harry Potter. You’ll find it at the bottom of this post. The clip that is, not Harry.

The whole project started back in 2007 when I got the mirrors themselves and went on to september 2009 when they were finally installed. A lot of time went in sourcing a connector for the switch, which eventually was sent to me by Andrew Stetson. He was stationed on Okinawa at the time and found me an entire drivers side door wiring loom on a salvage yard. When everything was complete it was a question of running 2 extra wires from door to door, add the new connectors and plug it all in.

Mirrors fresh from Canada, missing the connector for the switch!

One of the mirrors repainted in black. Before you ask, both of them were painted.

Mirror assembled and ready to install.

Running extra wires along the original wiring looms.

Still running extra wires along the original wiring looms.

Passenger side almost completely wired.

Switch installed, notice that all original connections are still in place.

Mirror installed and it works!

Playing until the battery is dead ^^

Toyota Celica JDM Steering Wheel

Having won an auction for a JDM steering wheel for the Celica we finally got around to installing it in the car. The wheel is a JDM black leather steering wheel with red stitching, which matches up very good with the overall theme of the interior.

We had to modify it because this wheel originally had an airbag, and my Celica did not come equipped with airbags. The airbag that was in the steering wheel was removed before the wheel was sent from Japan, as is required by law. The connections for the horn are different for the 2 types of wheel which is why we had to create an adaptor and a contact ring to match it to the connections in my car.

The adaptor is made from nylon, machined at home by my dad. The contact ring is messing.

The parts moving into place.

Adaptor spraypainted black and everything glued into place.

Assembly complete!