Westy drivers know the issue; the stock rearview mirror placement does not permit a decent view to the rear past the upper cabinet.� You can only see a few car lengths back and this is inadequate.� The PO of my van installed a second mirror lower on the windshield and that helped but it was removed by the state inspector last time around as a violation of the vehicle code.� I reinstalled it recently but the adhesive gave way soon thereafter.

I picked up a bay mirror at a junkyard, having heard the stalk on those was longer and that they pop into position easily replacing the Vanagon mirror.� The stalk turned out to be the same length, so no improvement.� Since the bay one only cost a few bucks I figured it was expendable so I cut away about 1/2" of the rubber coating and hacksawed through the pot metal stalk, then drilled holes in the two parts.� I then found the longest bolt I had handy and cut off the head, then screwed the threaded ends into the two parts, effectively lengthening the stalk by about 2" and thereby positioning the mirror lower so it provides a better angle of view to the rear.

http://picasaweb.google.com/bike2vcu/MirrorModPix?authkey=Gv1sRgCLPW7cal94ydeA#

This is a big improvement but it needs finishing.� I'll try a slightly longer bolt for more drop and finish it to make it more attractive, but I think this will work.� Thanks for looking!

Stephen