I recently tried to redo several TR7/8 sunvisors, since they are no longer
being made. I had some luck. I tried the process on 3 and one turned out
very nice.
At the age of these visors, the foam in them has deteriorated, causing the
visors to be lumpy and saggy. I did not want to cut the vinyl because I
didn't think I could successfully mend the seams. Therefor, I did not
remove the old foam. So what I did was to inject some of the spray foam
sold for insulating cracks in houses. They are 2 types that I know of -
Great Stuff regular and low expansion. I tried both.
I built a simple jig with 2 pieces of plywood a few inches larger than the
visor, and fastened 3/4" strips on the one piece, to straddle the visor.
The other piece was then laid on top and 4 C clamps were used to clamp the
other piece on top. This was to limit the expansion of the foam and give
the visors a 3/4" thickness.
I put about a 6-8" extension of tubing onto the end of the tubing that comes
with the spray can, so I could reach further into the visor. I covered the
visor with masking tape all around the cracks where the black rods come thru
the visor, so that any excess foam could be easily removed. This worked
good. I decided that the foam would not penetrate the old foam, so I
injected it into the side of the visor that is normally up toward the header
rail. This should give a more even surface facing down, and any unevenness
would be hidden on the top. I inserted the dispensing tube in thru one of
these areas and pushed it toward the opposite end of the visor. I injected
a fair amount of foam and slowly withdrew the tube, spreading the foam
toward the closer end of the visor. When I thought there was enough foam, I
pulled out the tube and tried to spread the foam more evenly over the entire
visor. And then I put it into the fixture and put on the clamps. It should
be left about 24 hours to cure. This all sounds good, but there were
problems. I first tried the low expansion foam, but that does not exert
enough pressure to fill out the void. It actually seemed to contract as it
cured. I tried 2 other visors with the regular, more rigid foam. They were
both nice on the surface facing down, but on the other side (with the new
foam) the one got all lumpy and the other is very nice. I think the problem
is getting the foam distributed evenly enough. The foam expands, but does
not travel the way I expected it would. Very little came out the cracks,
given the amount I injected. I think instead of expanding, it just got more
dense. The rigid foam provided a very stiff visor. Even the bad ones would
look OK when they are in their normal position, certainly better than when I
started, but I was not happy with them.
The other part of the redo was to recolor the vinyl. I used SEM products.
I scrubbed the parts, and then used the vinyl prep. The vinyl paint is to be
sprayed while the primer is still wet. This worked very well. I have also
freshened up the arm rests and will do the panel behind the seats. This
makes a big improvement, just having a nice uniform color.
These are the SEM colors I found:
Camel is a tan color close to the original tan used in the wedges. It does
not have the orange tint that the original does. They can custom mix these
paints at a paint shop if this is not close enough for you. I only did my
visors in this color since the rest of the interior is the beige color of
the VB interiors.
Palomino matches the VB beige color almost perfectly.
Light Buckskin is an even lighter color with more of a gray tint.
If you can not find these colors in the usual car parts stores, go to a
paint store, they have a much bigger selection.
Jay Snavely
1974 TR6
1980 TR8
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