Sagging visors: one fix

[FMARTIN <fmartin@ithaca.edu>]

Hello all. 

I'd noticed a couple months ago some posts complaining about 
sagging sun visors. Lo and behold, it recently happened in our 
100Q (driver's side, of course). Damned annoying, as every time 
you go over a road bump, the visor drops down. Here's the what I 
found, and how I fixed it (so far, so good, at least).

I removed the two mounting screws and took down the visor. In 
fiddling with the thing, I pulled mightily on the mounting rod, 
and was (pleasantly) surprised to find that it pulled right out 
of the visor - nothing holds it *into* the visor but 
compression/friction. The rod is actually only 4-5 inches long. 
(I'd assumed these ran the full length of the visor.) 

The rod does have two opposing flat spots - these match up with 
metal clip-sides you see when you peer into the hole whence it 
came. (About 3/4" in is all.) I didn't cut into the visor to see 
it, but I assume that there is a metal spring clip, U shaped, and 
it's back has broken. After some meditation (and medication: 
Canadian strong-beer), I did the following: ("end-on" view below, 
as if visor were in down position)
 
       __
      /  \    A. backbone of spring clip
     |    |
     |    |   B. sides of spring clip; matching flat spots on rod
   {||----|-  C. Sheet metal screw, which I installed. 

Installing a sheet metal screw as above takes the place of the 
broken backbone of the clip. Drawing tight grabs the rod's flat 
spots again. 

Not a hard fix, but some hints: 
1) Drilling the hole: need 1/8" give or take, dep. on screw size, 
*sharp* bit. That's spring steel. I broke one bit in the effort. 
2) Location: eyeball it, but it'll need be about 5/8 in and same 
amount down (from leading visor-edge) - you're trying to catch 
the clip, but *miss where the rod goes*.
3) Be careful and steady in the drilling. Pick the side you want 
to show a screw head, and start on that side. If you're clever, 
and your blood alcohol content is under .3, you can go through 
one side of the clip and partly through the other, *without* 
going completely through the other side of the visor. NOTE: if 
you do go all the way through, or the screw doesn't do the job 
you can instead use a small (nice-looking) bolt and nut. 
4) Re-insert the rod, and tighten that screw. Turn the rod to see 
if you've gained enough friction, adjust as needed. 
5) Re-install visor to car, check adjustment/action again. 
6) If happy, raise your blood alcohol content another .2 with 
another Molson's XXX. Settle in for the evening by turning out 
the garage lights, slap a George Thorogood tape into your 
cassette deck, and recline the drivers-seat back. If unhappy, do 
the same thing, and try again tomorrow nite. 

E-me if need help. Sorry for the long message for a relatively 
minor problem. HTH.

ATTENTION DAN: I'd gladly pay an annual fee to support the 
Q-list. (Espec. if included a Q-List sticker). I've saved enough 
in cheap mail-order Pentosin, address found here, to more than 
cover the cost.

Frank M.
'89 100Q
'88 Mazda 323 GTX