[kunzman]

Which years did Spiders have a light with a switch on the underside of the rearview mirror? I have a plug that goes to nothing above my right speaker in the footwell. I'm thinking that it went to a lighted mirror in previous years. There is also a plug under the left side of the glove box that is the same type of plug and I believe that it is for the map light option. Both of these plugs have two wires and reads 12v with one wire being hot, the other ground. Don't ask me what color they are as my car is in the garage and under a cover currently and I am too warm right now to go out into the freezing garage.

 

[Art Vandelay]

I think the lighted rear-view mirrors went away a few years before the dash design changed. Annoyed me so much that I bought all the spares (4 over a couple of year's time) I could find on eBay and I installed one in my '87 and '92. They're cheap and easy to restore, but the lighted ones have metal bodies, so watch out when buying a used one on eBay for too much rust. I had mine bead-blasted, repainted with black wrinkle paint, and had a glass shop recut new mirror and cover glass. Highwood Motors used to (may still) sell the replacement switch/bulb holder, which sometimes fails, but all mine were OK. Oxidation between the riveted brass parts of the bulb holder will cause an open circuit, but a tiny bead of solder along each joint will restore continuity. If you want the lighted mirror to go on/off with door opening, splice into one of the original door switch circuits (a ground turns the lights on), but the one on the passenger side is easier to access. The switch in the mirror itself will provide a ground which will allow you to turn on the mirror light even when the doors are closed - very handy, and much more useful than those footwell lights, or the one in the glovebox.

 

[John Gallagher]

My '85 has it. Can be turned on at the mirror and stays on, or it comes on when the door is opened. A timer shuts it off. The door switch is a bit problematic, needs to be cleaned...when it's warmer.

 

[Hooligan]

I believe '85 was the last year. Don't know the first year.

 

[Peter]

I believe '85 was the last year. Don't know the first year.

I have one in my 67....So I think '66 was the first year...the Giulia Spiders obviously didn't have them

 

[the_sicilian]

kunz, i think thats for your Maplight option. mine installed to a lingering and waiting 3-contact wire plug (in a pi formation) that was sitting behind the glovebox waiting for optional use. i thought we both purchased maplights together off the same guy?

anyways, that plug is supposed to be sitting embedded in the black tacky-stuff behind the glovebox that holds the thick bundles of wire there from the AC and ECU/enginebay. i think yours maybe fell down?

i got my maplight installed and it works awesome. took a bit to figure out how to mount it properly, but my mechanic had a dealership and knew the proper mounting.

im going to go downstairs and snap a few photos.

 

[Zunige]

Which years did Spiders have a light with a switch on the underside of the rearview mirror? ...

Lighted mirrors started with the roundtail Spiders (1966) and were fitted to all models up to and including 1985. (Both the 1985 Graduate and Veloce have lighted mirros.) All models with the dual pod speedo/tach configuration have the lighted rearview mirror. Spiders that have the monopod guage configuration (all guages in front of the driver) that started in 1986 do not have the lighted rearview mirror.

If anyone is looking for a lighted rearview mirror, or the light assembly only, the European sites carry them. Just in case you want to order, make sure you have heart medication handy for when you see the price.

Best regards,

 

[Tifosi]

All models with the dual pod speedo/tach configuration have the lighted rearview mirror.

Then where's mine dammit?

No, really. Ain't got one, nor even harness wires headed up there. Or at least none that I could spot when I had the trim off while checking the holes for the visors and cleaning the trim bits proper.

 

[block]

I second Tifosi. No light on my mirror. No sign that one is suppose to be there.

 

[he3r0]

Then where's mine dammit?

No, really. Ain't got one, nor even harness wires headed up there. Or at least none that I could spot when I had the trim off while checking the holes for the visors and cleaning the trim bits proper.

my original 85 grad wiring harness was also missing `em, though replacement wiring harness i`ve got from APE had already that connectors, that i though are for electric mirrors or window motors...

 

[Tifosi]

Y'know, that's odd that you bring that up.

Both of my doors have the harnesses installed for windows and/or mirrors, but they stop in the kick panel area behind the speaker holes after they come out of the door through the rubber accordion tube, and in the door they're just connectors in the vicinity of the hinges.

I wonder if that was another one of those 'one size fits all' type assemblies that every door had simply because it was faster to wire a door when it was being built, then after someone selected those particular options and it had to be done after the car was whole. (why build a door with the window and all that, then put it on a car just to have to take it all apart again to string a few harness leads?)

 

[Zunige]

Then where's mine dammit?

No, really. Ain't got one, nor even harness wires headed up there. Or at least none that I could spot when I had the trim off while checking the holes for the visors and cleaning the trim bits proper.

I second Tifosi. No light on my mirror. No sign that one is suppose to be there.

Hmmm, interesting... Maybe they started some of the transition mods in '85, and not '86... (The only cars that went through a "transition" were the Graduates.) I pulled off the light assembly from the rearview mirror off of a Spider with the chrome non-remote door mirrors. The only model Spider version that has those mirrors is the '85 Graduate...

Best regards,

 

[Tifosi]

Yup, them are the outside mirrors I gots. (trapeziod or whatever they call them)

 

[Zunige]

Yup, them are the outside mirrors I gots. (trapeziod or whatever they call them)

Now, I'm wondering... I'm going to call the shop and ask them to check the car that I took the light assembly from. I'm sure the car is still there...

Best regards,

 

[Tifosi]

If it's of use...

Now, to sorta go in line with the thread in a rambling sort of way: the holes for the power mirror whips are present in the doors under the foot of the mirrors.

So, somewhere along the line, at least the harness bits for the lighted center mirror and power mirrors/doors became somewhat standardized AFA being in the car, regardless of whether the actual items were fitted, and in the transistion phases, there may or may not have been 'completeness' to various sections of said harnesses? (that's my theory anyway )

 

[kunzman]

kunz, i think thats for your Maplight option. mine installed to a lingering and waiting 3-contact wire plug (in a pi formation) that was sitting behind the glovebox waiting for optional use. i thought we both purchased maplights together off the same guy?

anyways, that plug is supposed to be sitting embedded in the black tacky-stuff behind the glovebox that holds the thick bundles of wire there from the AC and ECU/enginebay. i think yours maybe fell down?

i got my maplight installed and it works awesome. took a bit to figure out how to mount it properly, but my mechanic had a dealership and knew the proper mounting.

im going to go downstairs and snap a few photos.

Thanks, I do not have a map light yet. I have been outbid out on two separate occassions on ebay. (I think you won one of them!) Working on another one now and if I win then I'll need to know how it mounts and what kind of screws are used. I have found the plug for it (just where you said), but there is also another plug on the other side by the footwell above my right speaker and it also reads 12v. It is not for the mirrors as my mirrors are already hooked up and working. I'll snap a few photos of each plug in few moments.

 

[kunzman]

mirrors / maplights / rearview mirror lights

If it's of use...

Now, to sorta go in line with the thread in a rambling sort of way: the holes for the power mirror whips are present in the doors under the foot of the mirrors.

So, somewhere along the line, at least the harness bits for the lighted center mirror and power mirrors/doors became somewhat standardized AFA being in the car, regardless of whether the actual items were fitted, and in the transistion phases, there may or may not have been 'completeness' to various sections of said harnesses? (that's my theory anyway )

I'm thinking your theory is right. One of my plugs is for the map light. The other (I think) was used on previous models to hook up the rearview mirror light. Now was the maplight ever offered as an option with the cars that had a rearview mirror light? Or did Alfa create a harness that did both so they could transition away from the rear view mirror light and go to an optional maplight? Seems redundant to have both. The harness on my graduate also has the wires for power windows already in the doors. In fact, when I redid my interior I debated about leaving the window cranks off and not cutting the holes in the leather door panels for them and putting window motors and mechanisms in instead. But, I decided to keep it simple and I was not sure what kinds of problems I would run into with doing the upconversion.

As a side bar, I am switching to the mirrors that Tifosi posted when I do my respray. I'm also going to change the wiper arms and blades to chrome. So my '90 will have a few retro parts on it: wood steering wheel and shifter and chrome mirrors and wiper blades, but nothing that cannot be put back.
(I'll also repray the caps on the mirrors at the same time so I can go back to stock in the future for someone else.)

 

[kunzman]

Wiring for map light and ?

Thanks, I do not have a map light yet. I have been outbid out on two separate occassions on ebay. (I think you won one of them!) Working on another one now and if I win then I'll need to know how it mounts and what kind of screws are used. I have found the plug for it (just where you said), but there is also another plug on the other side by the footwell above my right speaker and it also reads 12v. It is not for the mirrors as my mirrors are already hooked up and working. I'll snap a few photos of each plug in few moments.

Here are the pictures. Both plugs are the same type of plug. The one next to the center tunnel has a red and a black wire (it also has electrical tape wrapped around it). I assume this one is for the glove box map light? The one near the right speaker has a yellow and a black wire. This is the one I think would go to the mirror light?
Last picture shows both of them on either side of the passenger floorboard.

 

[the_sicilian]

yup. the one on the right is the plug for the maplight option. i guess its not pi-shaped.

buy that one on ebay man. its a nice feature. (i paid 65$ for mine and they are rarely sold) heres a photo of mine installed:

 

[the_sicilian]

i also have the mirrors you photo'd there. make sure you dont get the knock-off version sold at some vendors (i got mine from ARriccambi. try alfaparts) and theyre actually a really good mirror. theyve lasted years and dont vibrate at all.

ive really been wanting to consider the stainless wiper arms and blades as well for both my 1990 and my 1974 models. do you know who has them? can i possibly paint or chrome the ones i have?