Beware replacement sun visor rods!
Thread Starter
Burning Brakes
Joined: Jun 2004
Posts: 936
Likes: 0
From: Tulsa OK
Beware replacement sun visor rods!
My 81 had no sun visors at all when I bought it, Bubba apparently snapping them off to achieve that 'clean line' look. Well, after the past year of driving blind into the sun, I picked up new visors and rods from Corvette America. I didn't see a real need for correctnes, so I just bought the plain 78-79 visors. The only problem is that the rods are made to fit correctly.
For starters, they don't sit deep enough in the hole for the lock nut to be pressed on over the spring. I had to trim down the spring to even get it on. The other problem is the hang down too low and at an odd angle to the roof. Almost like they're sagging, but they're rock solid.
I was able to compare them to a set of original rods in a 78, and could see that the radius they used in the bend is much larger than stock. The original looked like an almost sharp 90 degree angle, while the new ones are a much more gradual curve, meaning they set down lower, and the curve forces the angle of the bar down.
I don't know if of the vendors have any NOS stock left, or if these bad repros are all that's out there now. The images that Wilcox has up on Ebay look right, but that's no guarantee either. I'm not real sure what to do at this point short of getting the torch out and seeing if I can bend the rods closer to where it should be.
At least it's still better than nothing.
Original:
Repo:
For starters, they don't sit deep enough in the hole for the lock nut to be pressed on over the spring. I had to trim down the spring to even get it on. The other problem is the hang down too low and at an odd angle to the roof. Almost like they're sagging, but they're rock solid.
I was able to compare them to a set of original rods in a 78, and could see that the radius they used in the bend is much larger than stock. The original looked like an almost sharp 90 degree angle, while the new ones are a much more gradual curve, meaning they set down lower, and the curve forces the angle of the bar down.
I don't know if of the vendors have any NOS stock left, or if these bad repros are all that's out there now. The images that Wilcox has up on Ebay look right, but that's no guarantee either. I'm not real sure what to do at this point short of getting the torch out and seeing if I can bend the rods closer to where it should be.
At least it's still better than nothing.
Original:
Repo:
Le Mans Master
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 7,106
Likes: 38
From: Newark DE
sorry to say but most repro parts I've had to purchase suck. Repro parts fit like crap in general but unless you can find NOS somewhere we don't have much choice now do we?
you might want to try Dr. Rebuild though as his parts are usually of good quality and even his "repro" parts are pretty good.
He usually lists both NOS and repro IF NOS is available. If no NOS is available for that part than it's just a good quality repro part than.
looks like in his catalog there is no lising for NOS on this part so his repro part is item# 1021940 @ $9.25 each
if you need the LH one with the telelscoping design, than it's part # 1021948 @ $22.00
you might want to try Dr. Rebuild though as his parts are usually of good quality and even his "repro" parts are pretty good.
He usually lists both NOS and repro IF NOS is available. If no NOS is available for that part than it's just a good quality repro part than.
looks like in his catalog there is no lising for NOS on this part so his repro part is item# 1021940 @ $9.25 each
if you need the LH one with the telelscoping design, than it's part # 1021948 @ $22.00
