Rivets and riveters!

[vette-kid]

Well it looks like I need to add riveting to my skill set. in cleaning up the frame and rebuilding the suspension on my 78 vette I found that the #1 body mount bracket is rusted through! As in pretty much gone! (at least that explains the small crack in the fiberglass on that side though). After researching a bit, it looks as though the mount bolts to the frame and rivets to the body.

Now I know what a rivet is and how it works. But I have never used them myself. Teach me about using rivets and the diffeernt rivet guns. Is this something that can be done with a hand held type gun? Or am I going to need something fancy and expensive?

 

[Ford12508]

Subscribed. Good topic.

 

[George in Rancho Cordova]

The Experimental Aircraft Association website has tons of fabrication tips, including riveting.

http://www.eaavideo.org/search.aspx?t=rivet

 

[vette-kid]

The Experimental Aircraft Association website has tons of fabrication tips, including riveting.

http://www.eaavideo.org/search.aspx?t=rivet

Cool, thanks for the link!

 

[vette-kid]

Really, no one else has any input on this? What riveting tools are you guys using? What have you used rivets on and what type of rivets? Show us your work and explain what you used.

 

[trbomax]

Those are bucked rivets. you can replace them with an air hammer and a back up block or big hammer. You will need to take one of your air chisels ,cut it off and turn the end of it so that is slightly concave,maybe 1/4" or so.Insert the new rivet,hold it with the block,heat it dull red and hammer it carefully,you only want to buck the shank over a bit and expand the rivet tightly into the hole,not smash it flat. Ive done a lot of them this way on truck frame crossmembers. It might be good to practice on a piece of plate in a vise before going after the frame!

edit) keep the air pressure on the low side,depending on your gun of course,I would start at 50 -60 psi. Too much air,too hot,or not a big enough concave will cause the gun to walk off and then you will be starting over. Another tip is to bolt the bracket on and then replace the bolts one at a time with rivets. If you are not building a points car,just push the rivet through,hold it and mig plug weld it on the "bucking "side.

 

[vette-kid]

def not looking to make a show car out of it! Its going to be a street bruiser. I will have to crawl under there again and check, but Im a bit concerned about the fact that the body is fiberglass and the mount is steel. The air hammer method on fiberglass scares the **** out of me! Maybe it has a steel plate on the other side to reinforce it though?

 

[trbomax]

I'm sorry,I was not paying attention. I thought you were refering to the piece that is riveted to the frame. The body 1/2 of this is buck riveted as well,but you do not want to use any heat! There will be a back up plate on the inside, or maybe on a 78 the pillar is riveted in there at that spot. I only have experience w/66's. Anyway I wouldnt try to buck that because when it was originally attached the skin and frame were not in the way! That piece was attached before anything else was bonded to the cowl or pan. Instead,grind or drill the original rivets out and attach the new part with huck rivets. They can be installed from only one side and are just as strong as the soft buck rivets that were oe.

 

[matthew]

Anyone use semi-tubular rivets at home? I use these a lot at work, and like the finish for a lot of things, but the stuff we use is way too expensive to set up at home. How are you tooled for it? What's your favourite supplier?

 

[vette-kid]

I'm sorry,I was not paying attention. I thought you were refering to the piece that is riveted to the frame. The body 1/2 of this is buck riveted as well,but you do not want to use any heat! There will be a back up plate on the inside, or maybe on a 78 the pillar is riveted in there at that spot. I only have experience w/66's. Anyway I wouldnt try to buck that because when it was originally attached the skin and frame were not in the way! That piece was attached before anything else was bonded to the cowl or pan. Instead,grind or drill the original rivets out and attach the new part with huck rivets. They can be installed from only one side and are just as strong as the soft buck rivets that were oe.

Thanks! I did a quick search and it looks like there are a lot of types of huck rivets. Are these the type that are installed with the typical hand riveter you can get at most parts stores? Just find one to fit the diameter hole I have and pop away?

 

[Charles (in GA)]

Can you get to both sides of it? If so, what is wrong with nuts and bolts?

Charles

 

[theoldwizard1]

Simple if you can get the parts in the throat.

It's called a rivet squeezer. You can buy them with hand hydraulic assist or air assist.

 

[gloveman132]

This is the gun I use, but it will be overkill if you only have to do a few rivets.

http://www.howeracing.com/p-7392-rivet-gun.aspx

These are the rivets I like, they will work with any rivet gun.

http://www.adprivet.com/index.html