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Posted by chriscase@san diego on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 21:15:09 :
In Reply to: Fender Rivets / Helpful Hints posted by Dave Furlott on Wednesday, March 26, 2008 at 19:38:50 :
I found air tool bits the right size for upsetting the rivets.
But for the rest of you, I think a small hammer, about one pound, an acetylene torch, and a 'bucking bar' to back it up would suffice. For my bucking bar, I used a cut off wheel whose diameter matched the radius of the rivet heads. I used a lathe to spin a 2 foot piece of round stock, but it could be done free hand. Use whatever heavy stock you have, you want about 3-4 pounds of steel for the bucking bar. Get the dish started with a drill bit, then grind to final dishnissocity.
Insert the rivet, heat it very red, even yellowish, put out the torch, back it up and whack it a few. Reheat as necessary. Beat it into a neat roundnessosity with many blows, don't try to do it all with one whack, or one heat. Most took me two heats, with an air hammer. Clamp the fender tightly, so the helper can push the parts together snugly. The final strength is when the rivet cools and shrinks lengthwise, making lots of friction between the parts.
Having a helper is good, I had my half blind, half deaf 87 year ole Dad to give me a hand. A challenge for both of us, but I couldn't have done it without him.
Oh, you can do better than the factory if you prime the innersides of the parts ahead of time. "Weld Through Primer" from the welding supply would work good.
Hope this helps, and I'm not just blowing smoke again.