HOW TO - fix that annoying sun visor that sits just too low

[Bushbasher]

Ok, seeing as I was asked for pictures I thought I'd try and do a better job of it this time and do a little "how to" for anyone who might be interested.

There are 2 versions of this little bush mechanics mod but both have exactly the same result. The first will take just 10 minutes or so, but can be a little untidy looking, and requires :-

1 x phillips head screwdriver
1 x file
some kind of packing ( in my case it was 10 x 5c pieces from the consol)

First remove the visor retainer clip from the centre of the roof and file down the front side of the retainer then refit -

Before



After



Doesn't look like much but it makes all the difference!



Then loosen the 2 screws holding the visor hinge plate in place by the A pillar, removing the rear one completely so as to facilitate getting the packers in. This can be as simple as a bit of cardboard or washers or coins etc., whatever you have will probably do. Once the packer is in place at the rear edge of the visor hinge plate tighten the front screw a bit then replace and tighten up the rear screw next to the packers. Then finish tightening the front screw. Doing it this way, I found, seated the hinge plate better and got everything to fit snug. If you do the front screw all the way up first you struggle to get the rear screw in and if you, do it won't sit right.

I don't have a pic of the packer version as it's done to my Fairlane which the missus took this morning but you'll get the idea from the pics further down of the neater version.

Ok, the not so quick version took about 30 mins of messing around but the result is much neater.

For this I needed:-

1 x phillips head screwdriver
1 x file
1 x saw
1 x belt sander
1 x dremel
1 small piece of wood

Exactly the same as before but this time find a piece of wood and shape it appropriately to fit under the hinge plate instead of packers.

Cut your wood -





Shape it using the belt sander -



then finish with the dremel till you have this -





*note - this shape wasn't quite right and ended up being sanded back to a lesser angle for final fitting.

Then refit same as with the packer version; half tighten the back screw then do the front tight then nip up the back.

The end result looks like this -



The net result is that the visor sits higher when folded forward giving a much more comfortable line of sight allowing you to see up the road better into an afternoon sun and giving you alot more adjustment.

BEFORE



AFTER



All it needs now is a bit of colour to match the roof and it won't look too bad.

There is of coarse a bit of a down side to this. The first is that the visor no longer sits up hard into the shaped roof and hangs down about 10-12mm or so, probably not too worrysome but the bigger negative is that if you swing the visor round to cover your side glass you end up with this -



..... but nothing a t-shirt or towel hung from the window won't fix, haha.



Cheers
Bushbasher

[Mr Hardware]

Well done mate! If i could rep you again i would!

[private9]

Well done mate! Those sunvisors annoy the hell out of me, and if my mrs wasn't so vertically challenged, I'd be giving this a shot for sure!

[Bushbasher]

Mate, my missus is 4'10" so you're not alone but this little mod won't affect how low it hangs at vertical, it'll still swing down to the same depth. This just allows you to push it all the way forward towards the windscreen so it rotates back UP higher than before so you can see under it better. It's amazing how much difference it being just 40mm or so higher makes.

Bushbasher

[JC]

Bushie - if you made that wooden addition level, would that give you the movement required to get the sun visor to the front angle you need, while maintaining the ability to have it sit straight on the side window? Or is the angle important to get the visor to flip further forward against the screen? I am assuming the spacer is what allows extra movement, so a flat spacer would work better on the side as well???

[Bushbasher]

Hi JC, no mate it wouldn't really work. If you pull your visor out of the retaining clip and rotate it down and back you'll find there's 2 distinct spots at either end of the rotation where the visor settles in the full open or full closed position, like there's a ball and socket affair on the shaft or some sort of spring loading mechanism. that's what holds it full closed up into the roof or full open forward towards the windscreen. If you just file away the centre retaining clip and try to push the visor further forward it'll tend to drop back into it's pre determined "rest" position. A less used and stiffer one will stay up for a while but will eventually work it's way down and an older looser one will just drop back into place. All putting a flat spacer in will do is lower the whole affair which just exacerbates the low visor problem. The other problem with a flat spacer would be the alignment with the centre retainer would be wrong and it would either not go in at all or bind up depending on the thickness of the spacer. The only way to make it stay full forward hard against the windscreen is to fit a wedge or spacer as described.


Cheers
Bushbasher

PS. There would be a way to do what you want but it would mean removing the visor from the shaft it rotates on and modding the spring loading setup inside the visor or probably the easier way, if you have a blow torch, is to heat and twist the shaft a bit to facilitate the same result without using the wedge spacer I made. That way you'd have the best of both worlds with the only noticable evidence being that the visor still wouldn't fold all the way back up into the roof, which is what happens now but that's no biggy in my book. If I had a blow torch I'd have given it a go but I don't so I didn't, lol.