What tools & parts do I need?

[LI Pets]

I'll be getting my new '77 home this week and know I need to remove the door frame, belly pan and one skin panel by the door.

I was thinking

A center punch
Drill bits (what size)
Rivets what sizes length and dia
(I suppose the sealing alum pop type.)

Rivet gun, I have a compressor if it would help.

What di I need to cut off the stubs and do I need something to grind them down smooth?

What would your tool box have, and where would you buy them?

[Inland RV Center, In]

Originally Posted by Lipets

I'll be getting my new '77 home this week and know I need to remove the door frame, belly pan and one skin panel by the door.

I was thinking

A center punch
Drill bits (what size)
Rivets what sizes length and dia
(I suppose the sealing alum pop type.)

Rivet gun, I have a compressor if it would help.

What di I need to cut off the stubs and do I need something to grind them down smooth?

What would your tool box have, and where would you buy them?

The three drill bit sizes that you will need are #30, 21 and 11.

We have a drill bit assortment kit available.

Olympic rivets are used on the exterior, unless you have a portion of the interior off. You then could use "buck" rivets.

The underbelly uses 3/16" pop rivets.

Drilling out the original buck rivets takes a # 30 drill bit. The holes are then opened up with a # 21 drill bit for the olympic rivets. "DO NOT" drill out the od original rivets with a # 21. The idea is that you can and will have oval holes with the #30 drill bit, since you cannot absolutely center the drill bit. Those holes are trued back to round with the second drilling, using a #21. If you attempt to drill out the old rivets with a #21, again you will have oval holes. The problem then is that you would have to true the hole with a #11and the use an oversize 3/16 rivet. Olympics are not available in 3/16, and if they were, the rivet head would be much larger than the buck rivet heads.

Also you will need a "shaver" if your going to do a bunch of rivets. If not, then you can dress then down with a Dremel tool, but they will all have a different appearance from each other.

You should use "vulkem" sealer when replacing rivets and/or sheet metal.

Andy

[malconium]

I bought a pnuematic pop-rivit gun from Harbor Freight and have been very happy that I did. I already had an air compressor too. The following website shows the model that I bought. I think it was on sale for somewhat less when I got mine but I would still happily pay this much for one. Obviously it does depend on how may rivets you need to set but it does make the job a lot easier. The olympics are also harder to pull than the interior 1/8" standard pop-rivits.

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=93458

I also bought an inexpensive tool for shaving rivits that seems to do a pretty decent job. Check out the following site. You need one of the "microcounterstops" and one of the "rivet shavers". I found that it worked better in a tool that ran faster than an electric drill. I used an air powered cutoff tool that also happens to have a 1/4" collet.

http://www.airpartsinc.com/catalog_gif/page13.htm

If you are carefull you can drill out the rivets without a special tool. I did buy another tool that seems to work well on the Olympic rivets though. The price seems to have gone up a lot since I bought mine and I am not sure I would pay the new amount that it sells for now but in case you are interested check out the following website. The tool self aligns with a rivet head and keeps the drill bit on center. It comes with the right assortment of drill bits and guides.

http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...vetremoval.php

I bought my Olympic rivets from Andy who just posted above.

Malcolm

[tgregory13]

after reading the above post i went looking for a riviet removal tool... found this one it was on sale for 39.95 (reg $70.95), i ordered one.... here is the link:

\http://www.usatco.com/drilling_aids_02.asp

have a good 1
Todd

[LI Pets]

I just bought one also!

[LI Pets]

Originally Posted by tgregory13

after reading the above post i went looking for a riviet removal tool... found this one it was on sale for 39.95 (reg $70.95), i ordered one.... here is the link:

\http://www.usatco.com/drilling_aids_02.asp

have a good 1
Todd

This is one great tool HIGH recomend