Possible to refurbish a 914 sun visor? |
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Possible to refurbish a 914 sun visor? |
tumamilhem |
Dec 27 2012, 06:23 PM
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LUFTBRIGADE Group: Members Posts: 1,228 Joined: 29-October 12 From: Jacksonville, FL Member No.: 15,092 Region Association: South East States |
First off, if anybody has a very good condition passenger sun visor with mirror for sale, please PM me.
So I just got another 914 and am trying to correct some parts on it so they are all in good condition. One of the items is the passenger sun visor with mirror. I have two passenger sun visors. Neither will do. Yet I am almost convinced I can make a near perfect one out of both. The first picture is the visor that came with the car I just got. The visor itself is in good condition. The foam is still soft and thick and the vinyl is in good shape. The flap covering the mirror is still attached, though there is no more Velcro to secure it (easily replaced). The problem is the mirror is broken in several pieces. And other than leaving glass fragments on the floor or passenger's lap, it is unusable. And dangerous. Pros: - good vinyl - mirror flap attached - thick, soft foam padding (matches driver side visor) Cons: - broken mirror The second picture is the visor I already had. Vinyl is in good shape, mirror is in good shape, but the foam padding has disintegrated inside, breaking apart, hard and brittle and no longer thick but flat as the padding has disintegrated. There is no flap covering the mirror, not a major concern of mine but am hoping to fix. Pros: - good vinyl - good mirror Cons: - no mirror flap - disintegrated foam padding It seems the mirror cannot be removed and replaced. Otherwise I would simply remove the good mirror from one and insert it in the visor with the good padding and mirror cover. But the mirror cannot be taken out because the vinyl is "molded" around the mirror. I thought about removing the mirror cover from one visor and gorilla glue it to the one with the good mirror. It will have the flap and good mirror, though the visor is thin from disintegrated foam inside. What I am thinking is if I can cut open the seam on top of BOTH visors (the seam goes around the entire perimeter where the vinyl is molded together - you can see the seam go all the way around the visor) and REMOVE the thick, foam padding from the visor with the broken mirror and insert it into the visor with the disintegrated foam (after removing bad foam) and gorilla glue the mirror flap to it after removing it from the visor with the broken mirror. The tricky part is - how to seal the seam up again? I have seen some places sell refurbished visors. I assume they can re-seal these somehow. After all, they were two separate pieces at first to install the mirror and then presumably heat-sealed back together. Has anybody done this or know how to do this? Or any other suggestions on how to do this? Or is there a way to remove the good mirror and install it in the visor with the bad mirror? Or does anybody just have a good passenger side sun visor I can buy and not worry about imposing further ruin to two visors? |
anderssj |
Dec 29 2012, 12:22 PM
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Dog is my copilot... Group: Members Posts: 1,689 Joined: 28-January 03 From: VA Member No.: 207 Region Association: MidAtlantic Region |
Yes it can be done, I did it about ten years ago and have forgotten how.... Do an extensive search here and on the bird site & you should find the article with the trick. The mirror got replaced from in behind, there's a wire frame inside and I used new foam board from art store--it's sorta flexible. Actually turned out to be pretty easy, just can't recall how to seal it back up........ Can't find it on here. Lots of threads on sending them off to be refurbished, but are not looking original (stitched, not seamless, no mirror, etc). Someone suggested carefully slitting the seam with an utility knife and crazy glue back together. Seems risky. I think there was a tech article in PANO some years ago where John Paterak recommended using the utility knife and super glue method . . . . |
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