Sun vizor rebuild 420G

Mine did not have them on purchase, but I did obtain a recovered set and fit them
also have another set, and would like to repair and recover them in the original style

This will require me to make new backing cards, and stitch new covers.
My question is; are the covers partially stitched, then turned inside out?

any other insights welcome

I will autopsy an old set, but I do not think even they are original
The method of concealing the stitching is what I want to know

I need to do this on my S soon. I am still wandering in the depths of getting all the trim around the headliner in (figuring out which holes are for what is a bother, even once you’ve found where they are located underneath the windlace, wool, and vinyl).

When I did them on my G I did some precision sewing, and went for a visible seam with wide spaced stitches.

I started by laying the cloth out and marking the edge of the card with blue chalk, with the cloth slightly stretched. Then I added about 5/8" to that and cut the line very smoothly. I then folded that edge over and glued it using seam tape (so that the folded over portion of the seam would stay on that side of the card when I inserted it) and sewed just slightly inboard of the original line marking the edge, leaving the outboard end of this “sock” open.

Then I slid the sock onto the card and hand sewed the outboard edge.

It took a few tries to get it sweet. If you use too large a flap on the seam, or stretch the fabric too tight you can see the edge of the flap under the top layer of wool.

Don’t use contact cement to glue the flap, it will gum up the needle, make the thread bind and you’ll end up with the shuttle needing cleaning (and your wife will kill you). You can get iron on edging/facing material which is double sided adhesive.

If you have a suitable sewing machine you could just glue the cloth to the card and sew through the whole shebang, but most machines won’t go through that much material without dropping stitches.

EDIT: To get an invisible seam, with the fabric taut and the end hand sewn equally invisibly would exceed my abilities.

The method of doing the rear section is very difficult indeed, and would be a cock-up, if I had not taken MANY VIDEOS of TWO, being taken down.

This job induces serious Shipwrights illness, as I found the 50yr old card & masonite backing pieces were in poor condition, and needed remaking, which I did with new wood, fibreglass, and POR15, there are 3 different sort of “pins” used to attach everything, the screws and pins can get lost or corroded.

I have enough parts to do it all correctly, fitting the rear section is amazingly complicated
Will do a right-up on this section alone!.

If this job was let to a regular auto upholster, they would bodge it for sure. If it was to be done to the standard I m attempting, I doubt you would get any change out of $1500 for labor alone, and the pre-cut kit is also ~$1500.

I am using wool headlining Felt, which cost $100, and satisfied with it
did this job over 15yrs ago with foam-backed cloth, but the foam has turned to dust, so the fabric sags

the sun visors are problematic, in that there is a moulded section wrapped around a steel bar, and that has foam sandwhiched in between, it is a rubberised material and extends all over the visor

I just performed a scalpel autopsy, and the item is all distorted, and beyond re-use.

to remake the item will need a quite a lot of work, and ingenuity

The stitching is on the inside, with special external stitches on the innermost segment
so stitched outside, then turned inside-out like a sock

I have 2 sets, and they are subtly different in the method of tensioning the visors, one from a '66MKX is very complicated and difficult, the other purchased from an unknown wreck, has a much simpler and effective mechanism to control visor movement

after I hand stitched it, my wife stitched it with a sewing machine, as per original, and it came up well,

this was a fairly complicated task, the visor is made of high density foam molded around a steel bar, with open cell foam inner, and they get warped & soft, here is the best one

DSCN4491-crop

to take out the warp, and stiffen the whole item, I decided to relieve it then bond a section of .025" gal steel on each side using epoxy filler

I know it seems a bit extreme…but in the absence of repair suggestions in the archives

DSCN4493-crop

shes a lifetime job

DSCN4494-crop

the epoxy squeezes through the holes and bonds the metal each side

DSCN4498-crop

padded, with the final cover in prep

I will post some more when it is all up in place, the finished product looks good and works well, there is issues with the mechanism that holds the visor in position, which I will discuss later

the visors are now very straight and stiff, the biggest concern I had was that the combined weight of metal, epoxy and felt padding doubled the weight from ~400g to ~800g, it does not appear to affect the up/down retaining mechanism, but I would make every effort to keep the extra weight as low as possible

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Tony, you are a very patient man.

As my Aussie friends say…NOICE!!

I need to repair/recover the visors on my P6 Rover: been noodling around ideers in my head, and this helps!

Nice work Tony. A very fiddly job, well executed.

I was sort of hoping that someone would invent a 3D printer which uses a wool filament.

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a pic of the near finished refurbishment of sun visors (and headlining)

the mechanism that allows the up/down movement of the visors are fiddly, and the additional weight of the mirror side made it likely to flop down, so I shimmed that side with al beer can

(I did not give enough thought to weight until I did the first one)

for the MKX/420G pedant, they have a different, and not entirely compatible system

to make matters worse, some of the parts are not original to my car, and require bespoke fitting

I will post up pics of the old visor covers later, which show how they should be sown, definitely the best way, and looks good

3 items in hand, uppermost the late style tensioner, below its thin chrome finisher, lowest, the early integral chromed tensioner casting

the nut, bolt & clamp fit into a small bracket spot welded into the support frame, meaning parts do not interchange, as the early support frame does not have these brackets, (and the early casting will not fit the late frame)

there seems to be other subtle differences as well, the late system is improved engineering imo, the early style is difficult to prevent visor flopping down…a much more lightweight approach than mine would be needed if you have the early system (MKX)

The hallmark of a TRUE engineer…:wink:

as promised here is a pic of how the visor is stitched, 2 examples, OEM, and some later upholsterer, I went for the OEM style, bottom is not stiched, top is glued & stitched…(side was nailed !)…I glued and stitched.

the cover needs to be very tight, especially on the corners.

everything is done inside out, hand stitch, test, draw pencil lines, and machine stitch in tighter, test again, do final machine seam, cut excess

I think the MK7 and MK2 have a simpler backing system, but glad I went " all out" for OEM style finish.

One word of warning, if you are forced down the path of overhauling your visors, as shown above, strictly minimise additional weight

I would suggest something a little bit more forgiving than galvanised steel, perhaps a high density plastic?

Wow, wonderful thread. I have the earlier mechanism with springs. I guess they changed it for a reason. I think the visors themselves are also of different construction with a simpler foam core glued at the edges, no stitching. I believe some reinventing of the wheel may be needed since finding the late 420G mechanism would likely be impossible. Since I will be starting the engine reassembly on my return, I will likely set aside the big visor project for now.

As for the rear section of the headliner, I was able to repair and recover the original backing, but getting it to fit properly with original clips was impossible. I used 1" velcro for the broader side pieces, 1/2" velcro to reattach the center and tubular trim as well as the lower thin side pieces. These
are giving me fits now, as their increased thickness is hindering refitting the wood trim, and I’ll have to deal with this on my return.

I think I have the earlier MKX items fitted

It took me a number of years to find them

My repairs of the front wood trims that accompany the the visors was epic, I had to repair the 3-ply backing board and " let in" scraps of original walnut veneer to make it good

Good tip on the rear section of headliner, My repair of this area was not to my satisfaction, and really requires me to do it again

I also used “headlining felt” instead of foam backed material. This is wool cloth, and in my opinion, looks closer to original than newer style foam backed material.

It costs about the same, but the reason I used it is my car is Dark Blue, and it gets very hot here in summer. Collapsed headlining is an issue on many much newer vehicles, the main problem being the foam backing simply disintegrates due to heat

Thankfully, my front wood is pretty good, a little veneer patching needed where the mirror base was stuck only.

One other tip if you redo anything. I used foam backer rod split in half for the profile of the bead. While I used 1", I would go for 3/4 had I to do it again.

I understand about the foam backing - I had the very problem on an e-type hardtop. The headliner material I am using for the mk10 has no backing, just is very heavy with a tall knapp. That’s enough for the side pieces. On the rear panel, I adhered a cloth backed foam to the hardboard, another layer of fine muslin to the foam, then the headliner material. It’s really quite stuck. Ideally, I would rather use closed cell foam sheeting, but can’t get it anymore locally.