Restoring 240Z Sunvisors

[AZ-240z]

I just bought a pair of original. early 240z sunvisors. After 30+ years of sun exposure, the padding inside has, of course, sagged and pulled them out of shape, but the material and everything else is in great shape.

Has anyone thought of, or attempted to open these up some way to replace the inner padding? Any good ideas how one might attempt to do this and then close them back up to look new, again?

Thils club has a good collective brain trust, so I appreciate any ideas you may come up with.

I'm one of those restore to original guys, but this might be a bit too optimistic to think that this could be done with good results.

Thanks for your thoughts.

Dan

Original owner, hls30-20419

1/71 240Z

IZCC# 12324

[26th-Z]

I don't have a clue, Dan.

[MikeW]

Opening them would be easy enough. It's the getting them closed back up that's the problem. I'm thinking you'd need to carefully slice them along the one seam and later try to seal that back up. How was it done originally? From memory it seems like the vinyl is fused together using heat. I'd certainly practice on a disposable pair before attempting this on anything rare.

[Zulaytr]

I just bought a pair of original. early 240z sunvisors. After 30+ years of sun exposure, the padding inside has, of course, sagged and pulled them out of shape, but the material and everything else is in great shape.

Has anyone thought of, or attempted to open these up some way to replace the inner padding? Any good ideas how one might attempt to do this and then close them back up to look new, again?

Dan,

It is a little tricky but here is what I did- take a Xacto, it has a sharp point, and very carefully cut along the seam at one of the ends. Be sure to take your time because the straighter you cut on the seam the easier it will be to seal it up later. Only open up as little as needed on the end. Once you have done that carefully slide out the frame and old padding. Usually the padding is taped to the frame so it prevents you from just removing the padding. Go to your local hobby store, like Micheals or MJ Designs and buy new thin foam and some CA clue. The needs to be the thin style. Cut your new pad and then slide it all back into the vinyl. Run a thin bead of thin CA glue along the seam line a seal it back up. Gluing a small section at a time is recommended. If the vinyl is stretched after you have sealed it, you can use a heat gun to warm the vinyl and let it shrink. Be careful because too much heat in one spot will melt the vinyl. If the vinyl needs to be re-colored you can buy some vinyl spray at your local automotive paint store that will freshen them up.

Good luck

ZULAYTR

Bob

72 240

96 300ZX

[Ed]

Would it be possible to inject some sort of glue into the visor at different locations. Then place the visor on a flat surface, place something flat on top of it and using some weight press the whole thing for a couple of days while the glue cures?

[AZ-240z]

Bob, Ed

Thanks for the ideas. I was thinking along similar lines in both cases. I Have a third, newer visor that I think I will experiment on, and disect it, first, using Bob's approach of opening up one end to get frame and padding out. I was thinking, after opening up the seam, I could glue strips of similar vinyl to the inside edge of both sides of the open seam, and once I had replaced the padding and frame, use those extended seam edges to glue the seam shut. I could, then, trim off the added vinyl strips, but they would give me material to handle in make the closure of the seam. Maybe even use a soldering iron with a wire tip to fuse the seam shut.

Am I making any sense with this idea? Since the vinyl has already stretched with years of heat exposure, it will probably give me a little extra material to make the closure.

It helps a lot, Bob, to now know what makes up the inside of these, as I plan the best way to get them open. Thanks.

Any other thoughts out there? I think that this can be done with good results, but I will let you know.

Dan

[TomoHawk]

On my 280Z,

I was going to remove the covering completely, then all the padding and cut a piece of the corrugated plastic board, RTV silicone ( or Goop) it into the metal frame, then have the vinyl sewed up along the edges. I'm also reshaping the metal wire frame to fit the new rearview mirror.

thx