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January 23, 2023

Sun Visors

A standard fitment in most cars is some sort of adjustable shadowing device to block bright sun and glare for the driver and front passenger.  These are almost universal in the way they work.  A flap is mounted on an arm fixed at one end above the windshield.  The flap can be stowed up against the headliner, or flipped down to block sun.  The arm can also typically swing outward to block sun from the side.

Called "sun visors", the ones in the GT6 are totally unremarkable.  They consist of a light metal framework covered with foam padding and thin vinyl.  Mine were dirty and misshapen, but all there.




Though I could tell that they were once padded, they were now saggy and crunchy when squeezed.  The vinyl appeared to be heat welded around the perimeter, then trimmed.  Cutting one of the visors open confirmed that the foam was deceased. It turned to crumbs when handled.




The only real structure inside was a wire frame attached to a metal tube.  It's likely that the construction and materials used in these devices was influenced by US safety regulations of the time.  More substantial innards might risk slicing off the top of someone's skull in a front collision.




There was a rod friction fitted into each end of the tube.  The longer rod is the arm that the visor can rotate on.  The shorter rod clips into a little holder on the windshield frame to support the loose end of the visor.

 


Now, aftermarket replacements are available for these visors. and they aren't all that expensive.  On the other hand, it seemed to me an interesting challenge to try to refurbish the ones I had.  It fits the spirit of the overall project, and I didn't have much to lose in trying.

A little research taught me that modern visors are often have more of a clamshell construction, and this seemed like a better DIY approach.  In keeping with the use of relatively weak, collapsible materials, I decided to try some card stock for the body of the visor.  This is basically poster board, about 1 millimeter thick.  It was cut to match the shape and size of the original units.  It is designed to wrap around the original wire frame to form the clamshell.





For some bulk and a little plushness, 1/4 inch upholstery foam was then glued to the card stock.




Then the assembly was wrapped with some nice black automotive vinyl.





Before I could go any further, I had to get the metal parts ready, first blasting all the paint and rust off.




An interesting note is that the stiffness of the visor rotating on the swing arm rod was accomplished by distorting the rod slightly so that it binds in the metal tube by just the right amount.  The rods on both visors have identical kinks.




Then a nice powder coat. 




The wire frame is positioned and taped in place.




Then the clamshell is folded closed.




After some thought, I decided I wasn't really that fond of the blue tape, so I considered other ways of securing the clamshell closed. 

Some modern visors are sewn shut, so I decided to try that.  The main issue is that at the edges that need to be sewn, the assembly is around 1/2" thick, and my sewing machine didn't like that one bit.  It moaned and groaned about it, but it did manage to sew the seam.  The stitching is not as regular as I'd like, but I'll see if I can live with it.




Then applied the metal parts.




This is the bracket that holds the swing arm to the windshield frame.  One interesting thing is that the bolt that acts as a pivot is actually a lock bolt.  It has a little nylon insert that distorts to bind the bolt against loosening.




As with most things that come in pairs, I usually do one at a time in case I have to refer back to the untouched one.




The passenger side visor included the obligatory vanity mirror.  The design was problematic though, because the mirror was behind a clear vinyl window.  This made it impossible to clean the actual mirror, and any crud that got between the mirror and the window was unreachable.  I decided to defy tradition and not include a vanity mirror.




On the shelf with these dudes.




This was a sort of fun project.  It was one of those happy projects where I had everything on hand, and didn't have to buy anything, so there was no explicit cost.

I think the visors came out fine, but I'm not totally satisfied with the stitching.  My machine could handle the layers OK, but the thickness threw off the geometry, and it wasn't feeding consistently.  If it bothers me too  much, there are always the aftermarket ones available.

Comments to Ed at elhollin1@yahoo.com

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