Date: Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:09:57 -0500
Reply-To: Alan Felder <dieseldoofus@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Alan Felder <dieseldoofus@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Refurbishing your own visors
In-Reply-To: <4d1b79350904191723i19865a7dydfce88bbb4debfef@mail.gmail.com>
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Way to go, Jim -
What is the total thickness of the cardboard, and what is the diameter of
the wire? I didn't think the wire was very large, but I've never looked
inside one, yet.
Pics?
Alan
On Sun, Apr 19, 2009 at 7:23 PM, Jim Felder <jim.felder@gmail.com> wrote:
> Sadly, the visors in my 83 deteriorated to the point that they were
> more like cheap, sagging vinyl pillows filled with finely chopped
> rope. The replacements for them are expensive (over $70 for the
> passenger side, not too much better for the driver's) and incorrect
> for the model... they are white on white and my originals are brown on
> white.
>
> When my bro in Austin landed an 82 with a bunch of spares, I swapped
> him for a set of almost equally dilapidated visors to play with.
> Today, during the monsoon, I stayed in the (home) office and tried my
> hand at rebuilding the passenger side. It came out astonishingly well.
> It is not for those without a certain amount of skill but not as hard
> as you would think.
>
> First, take a razorblade and slit the visor on the non-hinged edge all
> the way around. This would be the part you could get to if the visor
> were in the car, snapped into place. Don't cut the back part for a
> variety of reasons you will figure out if you think about it long
> enough.
>
> Now empty out all the crumbs and clean out the inside of the visor.
> Note that it is built on a heavy wire frame.
>
> What you are going to do is make a sandwich to fit as nicely inside
> the skin you've opened up with the razor as you can, and inside that
> you will cut cardboard pieces that fit inside the frame.
>
> Use foam from a craft store that is about 1/8 thick to cut two
> identical pieces of foam (any thin, firm foam will probably do--you
> could just as well use the same flooring underlayment that is used to
> repair the leaking air ducts under the dash) just smaller than the
> outline of the visor. Tracing the visor on the foam and cutting about
> 1/4 inch inside the line does a pretty good job. Slip one in as far as
> it will go to check it, and when doing so, mark the outline of the
> mirror from the back and cut that out. The other side doesn't need the
> relief for the mirror, and you don't need to do it all all if you're
> doing the driver's side.
>
> The foam will be the outside of the sandwich, which will fit inside
> (and be the closest thing to) the vinyl skin of the visor.
>
> What is iused for the core pieces to fit inside the wire frame could
> probably be any number of things including wood, but I opted for some
> really thick cardboard about the same thickness of the diameter of the
> wire frame. I peeled back the vinyl skin and traced the wire frame on
> a piece of paper, inside the outline I had already traced of the whole
> visor, and then cut these pieces out for a pattern to transfer to the
> heavy cardboard. In other words, you want to fill all the spaces
> between the wires and outside the wires--but within the vinyl
> skin--with stiff material the same thickness as the diameter of the
> wires so it feels smooth.
>
> Then I used a spray adhesive to glue in one layer of the foam to the
> vinyl. Then I laid in the cardboard sections after spraying each of
> them. Then I glued in the top piece of foam.
>
> The next and final part was actually one of the easiest. At a table
> with plenty of light, a plastic bag down to catch drips and a tube of
> adhesive trim from my FLAPS, I used the tube of adhesive to spread a
> small amount of on each lip of the seam where I cut it. I used Scotch
> tape in short strips to catch each side and pull it to just touch the
> other, making a perfect and near invisible seam all around. To do
> this, the pieces of tape must touch one another with no gaps. The
> adhesive of the tape makes a wonderful release from the adhesive.I
> don't know how long it took by the clock, but it occupied the final
> twelve laps of the Shanghai Formula One Grand Prix.
>
> And it hasn't looked this good since about 1985.
>
> If anyone wants paper patterns, I can supply them in time.
>
> Jim
>
--
Not all those who wander are lost
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