LarryC
Curator of #10105275
The new sunvisors from Henk are nice, but a little thick. While trying to install mine, I realized that they were so thick that they would not fold up tightly against the headliner like the old thin ones because the hinges are too short to allow them to compress against the windshield frame and rubber targa gasket area. As is, they stick out horizontally and are in danger of hitting your forehead. I ended up snapping one hinge the first time I tried to fold the passenger side up. Also, I like the original tightening screw and corner trim, so I decided to reuse those rather than the odd stainless bands supplied with the new visors.
So after looking at the hinge design, I decided that a hinge that dropped down about a centimeter (finger width actually) would provide the necessary clearance. Then looking at the old hinge I realized that it would be easy to fab up one in aluminum stock easily since it is just an angle piece with a pivot on the end. After making up a couple of cardboard prototypes, here is what I came up with. Anyone should be able to do the same. It is not difficult, just tedious and requires careful craftsmanship with hand tools. The whole thing is easier to do than to explain. Lots of filing with a hand file to get nice rounded edges. Then some metal polish to bling them up, or you could just paint them the color of the originals. These are not going to break, so that ham-handed friend is not going to snap them off the first time they try to fold up the visor. Better than 30 year-old plastic.
The basic idea is to cut a thick piece of aluminum flat stock as shown. Then bend the aluminum at the appropriate place for a nice centimeter more stand-off from the windshield frame, and then drill holes and attach a pivot to the ends. The devil is in the details. For the pivots, I used two M5 button-head screws carefully threaded into a hole drilled at the appropriate place. The button-head screws provide a nice finished appearance. Because the aluminum is soft, the steel screws will self-thread if done carefully and the hole is just a little smaller than the screw threads. And they jam tightly once screwed all the way, so there is no problem with the screw turning with the visor. M5s are just the right size to replace the stock hinge pivot.
Here is the driver's side before making new hinges. The visor will not go all the way up and the visor sticks out horizontally. And the plastic hinge brackets are stressed.
The Henk sunvisors are a little wider at the hinge, so the key is to made a cardboard template with the exact windshield frame attachment hole locations as a reference for drilling the exact location of the mounting screw holes in the mounting tabs once the hinges are mounted to the sunvisor. A grinder burr bit makes the countersink in these holes for the countersunk screws that attach to the windshield frame. Use the old mounts to determine how long to make the mounting tabs once the hinges are all fabbed up as there is limited clearance on the outboard hinge where it abutts the targa clamp bracket.
The shape that you will need to cut in a piece of aluminum flat stock. I started with a piece of aluminum like the ones you can find in the metal section of the big box hardware store.
Here is the aluminum stock cut to shape.
Clamp these together and start filing to get a nice clean shape on both and to make them exactly the same, and to remove any imperfections. Then, with them still clamped together, drill the holes for the two M5 screws. Go carefully, stepping up the drill bits until the holes are just tight for the screws.
Here is the finished product.
And attached to the visor
Make up a template like this to locate the tab mounting screw holes. The holes have already been drilled in the picture above using this template.
And here is the visor mounted and properly folded up to the headliner.
Now the visors set flat against the headliner.
So after looking at the hinge design, I decided that a hinge that dropped down about a centimeter (finger width actually) would provide the necessary clearance. Then looking at the old hinge I realized that it would be easy to fab up one in aluminum stock easily since it is just an angle piece with a pivot on the end. After making up a couple of cardboard prototypes, here is what I came up with. Anyone should be able to do the same. It is not difficult, just tedious and requires careful craftsmanship with hand tools. The whole thing is easier to do than to explain. Lots of filing with a hand file to get nice rounded edges. Then some metal polish to bling them up, or you could just paint them the color of the originals. These are not going to break, so that ham-handed friend is not going to snap them off the first time they try to fold up the visor. Better than 30 year-old plastic.
The basic idea is to cut a thick piece of aluminum flat stock as shown. Then bend the aluminum at the appropriate place for a nice centimeter more stand-off from the windshield frame, and then drill holes and attach a pivot to the ends. The devil is in the details. For the pivots, I used two M5 button-head screws carefully threaded into a hole drilled at the appropriate place. The button-head screws provide a nice finished appearance. Because the aluminum is soft, the steel screws will self-thread if done carefully and the hole is just a little smaller than the screw threads. And they jam tightly once screwed all the way, so there is no problem with the screw turning with the visor. M5s are just the right size to replace the stock hinge pivot.
Here is the driver's side before making new hinges. The visor will not go all the way up and the visor sticks out horizontally. And the plastic hinge brackets are stressed.
The Henk sunvisors are a little wider at the hinge, so the key is to made a cardboard template with the exact windshield frame attachment hole locations as a reference for drilling the exact location of the mounting screw holes in the mounting tabs once the hinges are mounted to the sunvisor. A grinder burr bit makes the countersink in these holes for the countersunk screws that attach to the windshield frame. Use the old mounts to determine how long to make the mounting tabs once the hinges are all fabbed up as there is limited clearance on the outboard hinge where it abutts the targa clamp bracket.
The shape that you will need to cut in a piece of aluminum flat stock. I started with a piece of aluminum like the ones you can find in the metal section of the big box hardware store.
Here is the aluminum stock cut to shape.
Clamp these together and start filing to get a nice clean shape on both and to make them exactly the same, and to remove any imperfections. Then, with them still clamped together, drill the holes for the two M5 screws. Go carefully, stepping up the drill bits until the holes are just tight for the screws.
Here is the finished product.
And attached to the visor
Make up a template like this to locate the tab mounting screw holes. The holes have already been drilled in the picture above using this template.
And here is the visor mounted and properly folded up to the headliner.
Now the visors set flat against the headliner.
. Here's what I like:
