Internal sun visor part

[batman]

Hi All,

I am repairing both my '68 280SL visors due to disintegrating foam by following Gary's excellent step-by-step visor repair thread in Dec 2019 where he opens up the visor & replaces the old foam with shoe sole board.

https://www.sl113.org/forums/index.php?topic=30102.0

I have opened-up both visor's, removed old foam and prepared the new shoe sole board.

However, I have run into a problem that I suspect many old visors have.

In summary - the movement up & down of the visor is via a speed nut clip that sits over that part of the thin metal frame into which the chrome swivel sits arm inside. In this way the visor (metal frame) can be moved up & down but the arm stays clipped in place. An external screw tightens or loosens the "grip" the speed nut clip over/on the swivel bar and allows the tightens the movement of the sun visor so that the driver/passenger can position it according to the level of the sun coming through the windshield. 

What happens over 50 years is the either the speed nut clip breaks or the frame where the swivel arm slides into breaks away from the thin metal frame. Please see photos & indicating arrows.

One of my speed nut clips has broken and both frames have cracked in 1 or more of the 4 holding points on the frame.

So, my question is does anyone know who may sell the speed nut clips & has anyone else overcome this problem and if so, how?

[mnahon]

Hi Mark,

I recently went through this, using Gary's excellent thread, to repair a couple of old sunvisors that were in really bad shape.

The sheet metal piece that is spot welded to the bar frame was torn and only barely holding on to the bar frame. I separated it and flattened it out, and got what you see in the first picture below (as you can see, a piece was missing altogether). I used that as a template to cut a piece of sheet metal the same size. I used a drill to get the holes in the right places. Then I bent the sheet around a metal rod of the same diameter as the hinge, to give the right final shape. Finally, I brazed this onto the bar frame in the right location as shown in the next two pictures. The job was not beautiful---I'm a real amateur at brazing, but it doesn't matter because it's hidden.

In the case of one sunvisor, the speed nut was entirely gone. I don't think you'll manage to find those particular speed nuts, if one of yours is lost or broken. I looked around and the closest I could find, at Home Depot, is in the first picture below. If you use this, you should grind the tip of the screw so it's not so sharp. The original speed nut has a second fold to protect the interior of the sunvisor from the sharp tip of the screw. The second picture shows the speed nut clipped onto the sheet metal. On the other side (third picture), I used JBWeld to glue a washer for the screw to bear up against, because the original speed nut includes that as well.

Hope this helps, or gives you ideas for doing a better job than I did. My approach did work and is not visible when the sunvisor is complete.

[GM]

I'm glad I could help you guys with your sun visor rebuilds.
I guess I was lucky because I didn't have to deal with replacing the internal mechanism/support. It looks like Meyer did a nice job rebuilding, but sorry I cannot offer any help, Mark.
Good luck!
Gary

[mnahon]

Gary,

Apart from being very clear and easy to follow, the main thing about your thread is that it was an eye opener. Before reading it, I never imagined these sunvisors were repairable.

Meyer

[GM]

That's funny you say that - I had no idea they were repairable either!
I was just too cheap to spend $500 on a pair of knock-offs, so I had nothing to lose by just diving in!
 

[batman]

Hi Meyer,

Thanks for posting the work you did.

Garry Marks came around to look at my sun visor frame & suggested brazing the break as well. I have never done brazing - so i would need to buy some sort of kit & learn.

My sheet metal is in good condition (except for the break) and so I could just braze to re-join.

The other really interesting info:
Even with you positioning the new clip across the sheet metal and below the swivel arm (whereas the original clip position is wrapping OVER the sheet metal with the swivel arm underneath), when you tightened it can still apply enough pressure on the sheet metal to squeeze the swivel arm & create tension to keep the visor in the "up" position.

Whereas I thought that I had to get either a OEM clip or a replacement with the "bulge" at the top to go over the swivel arm to get the right amount of tension.

Here is a first attempt a few days ago.

I carefully opened up a speed nut as far as I could without it snapping in two, and got it slightly around the swivel arm and when I tightened it - it held the visor up but I am not 100% happy with it as I fear that the new clip may snap in the future (because I have weakened it by prising it open (meaning opening up the visor again!).

More to follow.

Many thanks
mark

[Garry]

Mark,


I have found the thin Aluminium welding rod i mentioned that can be done at a relatively low temp using a butane welder.  I think it would work.  If you would like to try using it i can give you a couple of rods?


Garry

[mnahon]

Hi Mark,

For brazing, I was also learning. I initially tried a plain propane torch and that was not quite hot enough. I then bought some 'MAP-Pro' gas and that made a significant difference. It was a bit of a mess given I didn't know what I was doing, but the result was solid.

As far as the clip goes, it doesn't really need a huge amount of tightening to make the hinge swivel grab. Yours should work too, though I'd be worried about the bulge caused by the speed clip and whether you'll be able to close up the plastic covering over it. I'm sure there's many different ways to do it.

By the way, for closing up the visor, I used crazy glue, rather than Bondic and that worked quite well.

Meyer

[batman]

Mark,


I have found the thin Aluminium welding rod i mentioned that can be done at a relatively low temp using a butane welder.  I think it would work.  If you would like to try using it i can give you a couple of rods?


Garry

Thanks Garry. I may try that. I will send you a PM.
cheers
mark

[batman]

Thanks Meyer,

I agree although I haven't tried to insert the sole board/foam covered frame with first clip effort into the vinyl cover yet. I suspect even if I can get the cover to seal - I will see the new clip bulge.

To all - I have made a nice fitting template of the shoe sole board that others can use if they decide to repair their visors and will post on the forum soon.

[batman]

Hi all-

Here is an update (one part importantly about future visor repairers!).

So the brazing of the broken metal area that holds the swivel arm went very well: thanks Meyer & Garry Marks!

Using a bronze alloy rod (containing flux) & a propane blow torch (Oxy/Acel would be way too powerful for the thin 0.75mm tin), I closed-up and strengthened the cracks. Super strong now.

PART ALERT:
One of my clips/speed nuts that goes over the swivel arm was broken. Can't buy a new one. I tried to fashion a new one from a standard speed nut. No good enough.

The solution was hiding in plain sight.

GHE didn't just make sun visors for MB. They also made them for VW - and they made millions of them!

So I bought a sun visor from a 1969 VW 1600.

Opened up the old VW visor. Almost exactly the same frame shape (but not quite exact enough to use the frame completely) but exactly the same clip is used. So - we now have a part source for our Pagoda visors.

I will shortly post a template of the sole board that Gary, Meyer and I have used.

[mnahon]

Mark, that's a great find for the clip. And a nice looking braze.

Meyer