captain chaos Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 I've just started to remove my panels but I want to get some qualified feedback. I stated by trying to use a larger drill bit (6mm) to take just the head off but that seemed to work OK on a few but most would just spin the whole rivet. A 4mm drill bit does the job great...taking care to get a decent alignment, the drill bit goes thru nicely and the piece on the inside of the chassis drops off (no doubt to rattle around for all eternity to annoy me!). Using the 4mm bit made me conscious as to whether I was making the hole slightly larger so I'm now using a 3.8mm which also seems to be working OK. For those who have done this before...Am I going about it the right way? What can I put in the chassis to bind up the dead rivets to stop the rattle..or will Arch do this for me? Cheers Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ECR Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 A faster way is to use a sharp chisel under the head. I use an old wood chisel. Care is needed if you are reusing any panels. It overcomes problems with revolving rivets. You also don't run the risk of opening up the holes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CageyH Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 Waxoyl squirted inside the chassis will hold the old rivets in place. Only dead fish go with the flow....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain chaos Posted November 10, 2007 Author Share Posted November 10, 2007 Cheers Roger..I'll have a go with a chisel..It will certainly help with a few where, due to location, getting the grill at 90 deg will be awkward... Thanks Cagey... Just out of interest...how big are the holes to start with? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CageyH Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 I think they are around 4mm Only dead fish go with the flow....! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumster Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 I've just taken all of the ali panels off my 7 and was given the following advice: Use a 5/8" drill bit and don't push to hard, this will take the heads off the rivets nicely without going through to the chassis tube. You can then remove the panel and punch the remaining part of the rivet through into the tubes. This worked very well for me. I had a few that started to spin and then resorted to the chisel method. To prevent the chassis rattling in the future most people tend to spray waxoyl or dinitrol to 'stick' the rivets inside the tubes. Chris Alston C7CAT 1800 Supersprint R248.89 ....and then I jumped in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain chaos Posted November 10, 2007 Author Share Posted November 10, 2007 PS: Not re-using any panels Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumster Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 PS Neither am I Chris Alston C7CAT 1800 Supersprint R248.89 ....and then I jumped in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain chaos Posted November 10, 2007 Author Share Posted November 10, 2007 Chris, When's your car going to Arch? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drumster Posted November 10, 2007 Share Posted November 10, 2007 I delivered it there last Saturday (3 November) and I know another Blatchatter delivered his there last Saturday as well. .....and yes, mine sounded like a South American rain stick 😳 😬 with all those rivets rattling around Chris Alston C7CAT 1800 Supersprint R248.89 ....and then I jumped in Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team Mcalvert Posted November 10, 2007 Leadership Team Share Posted November 10, 2007 I was that other person delivering my chassis to Arch last weekend and damn rivets still haunt my nightmares. How many of the little blighters are there? What's more, before I took the chassis up to Arch I check and rechecked that I had punched all the rivets through to the chassis yet I still found 4 or 5 that I'd missed when I got to Arch Good luck! Michael. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team SLR No.77 Posted November 10, 2007 Leadership Team Share Posted November 10, 2007 If you drill the rivets "through" with a 4mm drill you'll find you remove more of the metal than you would if you just drill the head off, therefore leaving less in the chassis Stu. www.superse7ens.co.uk..........the rebuild 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.Mupferit Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 I understand Arch use 5/32" dia pop rivets which equates to a tad under 3.97mm so a 4mm drill is fine but in any case, even if the hole is enlarged by a couple of tenths (mm) you won't have a problem since the rivet head will expand out to fill it. In my sheet metal factory, we always use a 4.1mm drill bit for 5/32" rivets as the 4mm can often prove a little tight, given the manufacturing tolerances of available rivets, so I wouldn't be at all surprised if Bruce does something similar. Waxoyl or Dinitrol sprayed into the tubes and preferably left for a couple of days before rivetting the new panels in place, to give the solvent a chance to evaporate, seems to be the generally accepted method of stopping weight shift on cornering. 😬 Brent (aka Arfur Nayo) 2.3 DURATEC SV Reassuringly Expensive R 417.39 😬 Edited by - Brent Chiswick on 11 Nov 2007 10:36:41 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain chaos Posted November 11, 2007 Author Share Posted November 11, 2007 Being bit sad I know...but..I used both my 3.8 drill bit and then chiselled/punched a couple out and then measured the holes...(I should get out more often ) and the holes left were all around 4.1-4.3mm I'm going to use my 3.8 drill bit because, as steve said, I tend to get more metal out of the chassis that way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Mill Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 An old trick (or at least one shown to me by an very old mechanic) for removing rivets was to drill till the rivet just starts to revolve and then slightly incline the drill (I'd guess 10 or 15 degrees). Because the drill and rivet are not aligned the drill continues to cut. Does a very neat job in my experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
philwaters Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 I used a drill (4mm I seem to recall) but stopped as soon as the head came off and then went around with a center punch to push the remainder of the rivet into the chassis.... Phil Waters Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leadership Team SLR No.77 Posted November 11, 2007 Leadership Team Share Posted November 11, 2007 I'm going to use my 3.8 drill bit because, as steve said, I tend to get more metal out of the chassis that way Who's Steve Stu. www.superse7ens.co.uk..........the rebuild 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain chaos Posted November 11, 2007 Author Share Posted November 11, 2007 Sorry Stu... Brain fade I'm afraid Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiF Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 I always use a 4mm drill and then 4mm rivets. No problems for me. There is around 460 rivets on the internal panels. That is why I brought an air riveter for Henrietta's car, my wrist never recovered from doing my seven 😬 Captin chaos, I will give you a call back when I return to Scotland RiF Driving one of the first Duratec 7, and building CA07BON for Henrietta 😬 😬 😬.for pictures of 7 and carbon andCA07BON Edited by - RiF on 11 Nov 2007 18:04:48 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob Morris Posted November 11, 2007 Share Posted November 11, 2007 chaos, what are you doing with the old alloy skin? 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain chaos Posted November 11, 2007 Author Share Posted November 11, 2007 Going down the skip...why? what have you got in mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JACK FLASH Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 Very usefull topic because the job of removing the inside interior panels is also on my to do list to give the hollow space a rust treatment. I have some experience with drilling out rivets (one or two) but I am curious how it is going to be to remove a large quantity. Anyway, a couple of stupid questions and remarks : 1. I thought that there is a special tool for removing rivets. Has anybody seen this tool or am I wrong ? 2. In order to avoid all these problems with rivets, has anybody considered to replace them with another fastener system (grub screws, rivnuts + screws, ...) or at least at the locations where it is very difficult to work (end and bottom of the footwells, ...) ? Jack Flash j.jackflash@hotmail.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Mill Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 If you had a lifetime to spend on the job I guess you could use a small ball-ended cutter in a high speed rotary tool like a Dremel and grind away most of the inside part of the rivet - just have dust left inside the chassis 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
I.Mupferit Posted November 12, 2007 Share Posted November 12, 2007 In difficult to get at areas such as the bottom of the footwell, I have a 90 deg angle drill I can use for these although a chisel is quicker. I wouldn't get too hung up about what tools to use or the exact size of drill bit required. The tolerances used in building the chassis aren't especially close and whether you use 3.8, 4mm or 4.1 to drill out the old rivets, frankly ain't going to make a jot of difference. The new rivets will expand on fitting, provided the hole isn't too big, so don't worry about those either. Just go with any of the above + sharp chisel and centre punch and that is all you need. Brent (aka Arfur Nayo) 2.3 DURATEC SV Reassuringly Expensive R 417.39 😬 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captain chaos Posted November 12, 2007 Author Share Posted November 12, 2007 I have come across one location where it looks to me as though, whoever built the car, made a bit of a mess getting the rivet to hold and now that I've drilled the old rivet out I'm left with a particularly large hole. It's where the scuttle bottom corner overlaps with the dash bar at the bottom. Will Arch be able to fill/patch it for me or will I just have to plug it with a bloody large Rivet! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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