28 ford sun visor opinions/suggestions

First hot rod, so bear with me. The sun visor on our A is straight and uniform from end to end, when sitting on the bench. But the mounting area on the car is a long curve. When mounted, the visor takes on a curve, but since it is old and thin, and we are basically forcing a warp in it, it is not a uniform curve. To me it looks wrong. Checking car nuts and other sources I see big curves, small curves, straight across, higher mounts, etc.
How have you dealt with this issue? Has anyone reinforced the inside of the visor to take out the flex and "set" the curve, or modified the mounting area so the visor stays straight?
Looking for any and all opinions and suggestions, thanks.


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The original visor on my 30 model A is straight. I don't see why you could not reinforce yours to keep it from sagging or what ever its doing.

Henry, yours is the first one I looked at. I think I prefer the straight across look, like yours, but the 28 doesn't appear to be designed for it. Maybe some pics would help. Kind of hoping someone with a 28 would respond with their solution.
don

The shape of the visor will be somewhat controlled by the shape of the wood header that the visor attaches to.

Do you have a new wood header installed? A picture would help determine what needs to be done.

I have a '30 Ford Coupe and had to modify the new wood header somewhat to fit better.

The '28-'29 visor is a different shape and attaches differently than the '30-'31 visor. The '30-'31 visor attaches OVER the top of the header in line with the roof. The '28-'29 visor attaches to the top of the header just below the roofline on most models.

frisco, yes that seems to be the problem. The header is there, and the bottom edge is curved, where the visor attaches to the bottom of the header. I've tried to attach pics, but my camera is getting a dark spot on one side. As you can see (I hope) the header is curved. On the bench, the visor is straight, but when installed it is forced to curve up in the middle. Just doesn't look right. The header bar is metal clad. I would have to fill in nearly 3/4 of an inch in the middle, to make the header mount straight across. That would make a very large peak above the visor? So, I could reinforce the visor to make the curve uniform - or rebuild the header to make it straight. Just looking for some input before I take either step.

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The visor looks straight in the first photo, but I can't see the gap you are referring to in that photo. Can you take a close up and post it?

The visor looks good in the picture of it on the bench.

The visor looks bowed in the middle in the last two photos. I believe the problem is in the header or possibly in the roof line itself. Do you have a filled roof? Did the windshield posts get pulled in towards the center when the top was chopped? This could possibly cause the center of the roof to be bowed and then cause the visor to be bowed when installed.

In the first pic, there is no visor. That's the top of the windshield, and the bowed roof header. top was chopped, but that header is unchanged from stock. Yes, it sits flat on the bench. the last two show how it looks installed. IF i try to set the visor straight, there will be a gap between the top straight edge of the visor and that bowed roof header. I looked at dozens of 28's on car nuts, and about half of them have this bow in the visor, so it's probably stock that way, but I don't like it. The rest had a straight visor and I'd like to know how they got it that way. Of course, a lot of them have the later model visor welded to the front roof line, but I prefer some header line.
Henrys look just like I want it.

My bad. I didn't even notice that the visor wasn't installed in your first photo. Old age and old eyes.

Below are four pictures I got on the web. Left click on them for a larger view. All are supposed to be 1928 models. One of the chopped sedans and the stock sedan appear to have the visors straight. The other chopped sedan and the sport coupe have visors that appear to be slightly bowed.

The picture of Henry's that you like is of a 1930/31 coupe and has a different style visor.

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oldguy

By loking at your work I beleive you are capable of adding metal to you visor to get it to lay straight across rather than have a bow to it. It would take some work but you could draw a level line for the visor add metal to the front or back of the visor to get it to be straight in the front. I am not real good at explaining things but will try to post a picture for what I am trying to say.

30dee

Edit by the dumb one: Hope this explains what I am saying it would take a little work but can be done, if you want to keep the front edge just would have to angle cut and fill in the pieces , go slow when welding . just an idea on my part good luck

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Frisco, that's what I ran into. It didn't look right when I installed it, but a lot of them are like that. Realize Heny's is a 30/31, just like the look better. What year is yours?
I'm leaning towards rebuilding the header rail to make a flat edge. (problem is, I have an overhead console with all the gauges, wiring etc. behind that header rail and would have to pull it all to start welding on it. PITA.) Hoping for an easier answer.
30dee, I'll take another look at the visor. Don't think adding to the front would work, but maybe adding to the back would.
Thanks for kicking it around with me guys. Easy answer is to just bolt it in, but there's no challenge in that.

My visor is a 30/31 also. See photos in my album on this site. My Coupe is registered as a 1930.

In looking at your photos in your album, I don't think the slight bow is worth fooling with. I have posted one of your pictures below.

Looks good to me.

A possible mod to the visor would be to add a round rod (or tubing) about 1/4" - 3/8" diameter to the leading edge of the visor. This will stiffen/strengthen the visor and reduce or prevent the bowing.

Something else to be aware of is that there is a lot of upward pressure exerted to the underside of the visor when the car is moving at speed. The higher the speed the greater the pressure. The visor on the '28 Ford Closed Cab Pickup in my avatar mounts in a similar fashion to your visor. It is wider from front to back also. Beginning at 80-85 MPH it would begin to buffet quite a bit. I always was concerned that it would be ripped off because of that buffeting.

It didn't look bad, just not right. Thanks to the comments and suggestions, I focused on the visor rather than the header. Re-rolled the corners to raise them up to the height of the center. Effectively, this pinched them in at the front. The visor now pinches in like the cowl does, makes it look custom. Also welded a 1/2inch angle iron about haflway up the underside. Very sturdy. I think I can actually sand it on the car. No way before. that flapping in the breeze bothered me too. Can't happen now.
What do you think?



man, I need a new camera.

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Looks great!!! Nice job!!!

I think it looks great also, your work is good and will be great when done, also a good idea to make it stronger.

30dee