LouWags

Yeah, I originally used epoxy but only where the plastic pins go through the board. There just wasn't much there to put glue on. This time, I'm gonna just slather the stuff everywhere. :-)

--Wag--

Tyteflows

That was my original plan but when I tried taking those staples from the metal bracket to free up the wood, I realized it was going to be a 4 hour ordeal (plus I busted my knuckles a couple of times).

Instead I just went the easy way out...if it doesn't hold with the metal and epoxy then I will go your route. Did you re-insert the staples or drill them out and use small bolts to hold the wood?

C5FORFUN2

Is there a way to lubricate the pivot without removing the cover? Mine are still fine, but a little stiff to tilt up and down.

Tyteflows

Jistari said that WD-40 evaporates and I believe he's right.

Maybe a silicone based lubricant will be better, but you will still have to take the mirror off and tilt it upright and let the lubricant seep down the shaft into the bracket. Seems like you would run the risk of getting it into the fabric though.

I would just wait till it breaks and do like we did with the brackets and epoxy, it seems so much stronger now AND I was able to lubricate the shaft and shore up the floppy ear cardboard thing on the side with a template made out of a cereal box.

LouWags

WD-40 should lube it just fine.

4 hours? If only. I'm too klutzy for that!

Where the staples had been, I drilled tiny holes in the plywood and pushed a finishing nail through each hole, then bent them over. Seems to be working just fine for that part of it.

There was another part with a larger hole that I used a nut and bolt and then cut off the extra bolt.

4 hours. Bwaaaaaaaahahahahahahahaha! (I lost track of time after about six hours!)

--Wag--

madmiguel

C5 you sure can lubricate the pivot with out taking the cover off. I used a little 3in1 oil but I am sure that some graphite would work or lube of your choice...

C5FORFUN2

Thanks, so just stick the straw from the spray lube down where the rod goes in the end or is mirror removal required to get to where the lube is needed? Have not seen a visor apart before, may need to look at someones rebuild pictures.

madmiguel

I'm sorry C5 I gave you bad info. I went back and looked and to get to that pivot you have to split the seem on the visor and open it up. the plus is it's really not a big deal.

DanSavage

Like many here, I had the dreaded Floppy-Sun Visor on the driver's side and the equally dreaded Stiff-Rotating Visor on both the driver's and passenger side.

Knowing that the driver' side was broken and the passenger's side was soon to follow suit, I decided to do surgery on both to fix the driver's side and lube the passenger's side so that it didn't end up broken like the driver's side.

If you've got a black interior, it's probably easier just to buy new visors.

But for those of us with an AE or CE, these shale-colored visors are discontinued, and so they are nearly impossible to buy. So, the only reasonable choice is to restore the visors.

For those that are curious what the inside of the visors look like, I took made a complete photographic record of the work I did.

I raided my wife's sewing kit and borrowed her 'Jack the Ripper' to remove all the stitching around the visor so I would have complete access to the innards. What a mess.



Not only was it broken almost all the way across where the metal part is stapled into the Masonite, but the perforated floppy ears were broken completely loose from their carriers.



First order of business was to squeeze the staples down so that the metal carrier fit tighter against the Masonite to help prevent it from wiggling loose again in the future. I used one of my C-clamps for this job. I squeezed down each staple.



Next order of business was to repair the torn floppy ears. I thought about what would be the best way to do this so that the ears could still flex and decided to use paper packing tape. The tape as fiberglass reinforcing string so it won't ever tear loose and the glue will never come loose from the cardboard. Pressure-sensitive adhesive tape would be unsuitable for this repair because when the glue gets hot it creeps. Paper tape uses horse-hide glue which does not creep no matter how hot it gets.



I used two layers of tape on each ear. Now the ears can flex, but they'll never tear or come loose again.



The perforated seam of the cardboard that stiffens the visor was also starting to tear. The cardboard stiffener is die-cut so that it can be used for either the driver's or passenger's side visor mirrors. I decided to reinforce the fold and seal in the die-cut piece with paper tape.





Next order of business was to pull the broken Masonite together and tack-glue them with CA model airplane glue. The final repair was going to made with 5-minute epoxy, but I used the CA to hold the joints together in their final position before applying the epoxy. The Zip Kicker is an accelerator that makes the glue cure in a few seconds. I pulled the joints together one at a time, applied as much glue as I thought it would take to hold, then sprayed on a shot of kicker to cure the glue.



I had some thin fiberglass sheets of various thicknesses laying in the shop, so I cut these reinforcements out of 1/32" sheet.



I scuffed the backs of the sheets and the sheet metal carrier with sandpaper to give the epoxy more bite.



I applied 5-minute epoxy to the front and back of the outer glue joint and clamped the pieces into place with a small pair of vise-grips while the glue dried.



Once the glue was dry, I glued the other reinforcement pieces.



Here is the source of the problem. The grease used at the factory dries out, then allows the spring to rust against the shaft.



A few drops of 3 In One oil on the shaft at the spring location freed up the shaft so it could rotate freely.



I bought some 100% nylon upholstery thread and a selection of needles. In the end, I used the smallest yarn darner needle and the thread matches the color of the original thread perfectly.



I sewed the visor back together in two passes with a back-and-forth stitch using the original holes to duplicate the look of the original stitching. Here's the first pass.





And, here's the second pass.





Last step is to tuck the top corners back in between the two sheets of cardboard.



One side of the driver's side visor mirror hinge was also broken. When the visor was up against the roof, gravity held the mirror cover against the switch. But, when I pulled the visor down, gravity pulled the cover away from the switch, turning on the light. I tried gluing the broken hinge pin back to the cover, but there was too little glue area.



I had some 1/4" x 1/16" round neodymium magnets, so I decided to glue these to the mirror body and the cover so they would hold the cover tightly enough against the mirror body to depress the switch. These magnets are strong enough that they would also keep the cover from moving, but still allow the cover to be raised. First, I scuffed the surface of the magnets with sandpaper.



Then, I scuffed the section of the mirror body and cover where the magnets would be glued.



Lastly, I daubed a dot of 5-minute epoxy to one side of each magnet where they met the mirror body and cover. I closed the cover and carefully aligned it to the mirror body and weighed it down to hold it in place while the glue dried.



The finished product. Now the cover stays closed and aligned to the body, but can still be opened and used.



Now my visors operate smoothly and I know they will for many years. If they start to get stiff again, I'll pop them out of the roof and cut open the stitching and lube the spring, then stitch them closed.

MMHAMMER

Nice informative post - I think I'll tear mine apart and will probably make plywood replacements.

DanSavage

Thanks!

Since I've got a stock on hand of thin plywood, I thought about doing that, too. But, the vanity mirrors are 'riveted' into place and I couldn't think of another way to re-attach the mirrors once all the 'rivets' were popped.

The 'rivets' are actually just studs that are molded into the backs of the vanity mirror base. Once they are poked through the fabric and the Masonite body, they are melted down to form 'rivets' that secure the vanity mirror to the visor.

If you look at the areas in the other pics I posted above that are highlighted by the red arrows below, you can get a better idea of what I'm describing.

bthollow

@DanSavage--excellent DIY tutorial. I, too, have the dreaded driver's side floppy ear visor. I'll give your step-by-step a try and hope to duplicate your end result. Very nice job!

3boystoys

The aftermarket ones I bought are much better quality than the originals.

DanSavage

Thanks!

It took some serious intestinal fortitude to cut open the visors on a Corvette that I'd only had for two weeks, let me tell you.

I had originally only planned to cut enough of the stitching to allow me to glue the broken Masonite body. Once I started cutting and realized just how much of it was broken, I knew the best thing to do was to open up the visor completely.

When you get ready to lube your spring/shaft, you'll know you have enough lube when the shaft can slide easily through the sheet metal mount.

Mine wouldn't slide at all when I first opened up the visor. After a few drops of 3 In One oil, it slid easily back and forth. Same for the passenger side. Now, both visors operate easily, just like they were new.

DanSavage

Do you recall where you bought yours? I looked around and was able to find black visors, but I couldn't find any in gray.

bjones7131

I used the zip tie on the top but most of the pressure exerted on the mirror is on the bottom and tape and velcro didn't seem robust enough so i removed the visor and mirror was already loose so I opened the mirror and placed it where it should be and drilled a small hole at each bottom corner through the plastic and secured the mirror to the press board with 2 small phillips head screws. Made it very sturdy and you don't see them unless the mirror is open. You can paint the screw heads black if you like. Make sure you don't drill and screw all the way through the press board and use a short screw so as not to protrude through the visor material. This was more robust fix than tape and velcro. Hope this helps.

150kWh

Dan your post #29 is epic and should be in pewter99's DIY megathread. Thanks.

... Particle board... yuck! How has your surgery held up over time? Are you more careful about how you grab it?--usually the decision to fold down the visor is pretty urgent, and at least for me, I don't put pressure carefully at the hinge. I just grab it.

FWIW It seems like whatever supply of aftermarket visors used to exist at one point is now gone, so the options right now are your surgery, OEM, or just go without. I'm really tempted to disassemble one to salvage the hinge, fit a piece of wood or 1/4" ply and paint it. I don't need a mirror, I just want something usable as a visor.

If an aftermarket manufacturer is reading, I'm sure colored plastic would stand up better, and you could probably charge more for the couple other colors besides black. (Sorry Dan!) Any cheap fabric cover, even without any padding, would be more appealing. If it folded backwards (forward against the glass) super flat that's a selling point. ... And, I'd also heavily consider paying a premium for an upgraded model with homelink--I mean, the power is there at the hinge, so why not?

.. with a car that drives so great, does so many things right, it's annoying when the little stuff falls apart before its time. Oh well.

jdvann

Has anyone had luck changing out the bulbs? They wont budge...I have a set of visors to experiment on since I just replaced both on my wifes vert. I practically destroyed the bulb holder on one of the bad visors and still the bulb base is stuck...

DeeGee

I posted the original "Zip Tie Mod" but like many others my visors are now showing their age. I need to replace the covering so thanks for all the new info

Chicago1

LOL 180 for a new set? That's just insane