wonderful

Hello,
Can someone please post a picture(s) of the aluminum riveting tool that was used on the production line Corvettes by General Motors. Also, the name of the company that made this tool. Any information will be greatly appreciated.
Richard

TheSaint

Not the original but what about this one from Willcox?

Link: http://willcoxcorvette.com/repairand...633f4d1a65e182

Vette Daddy

This is what was used on flanges and the like. $350 used on ebay.

wonderful

Thanks for the photos guys. I would like to see how aluminum rivets were installed on fiberglass doors and panels.

JohnZ

All of the aluminum body rivets were set with plain ordinary pistol-grip air hammers ("burp-guns"), with a bucking bar held on the flanged (fiberglass side) of the rivet. You can do the same thing at home with a simple air hammer and 3/16" concave rivet set shank, using a hammer head or other suitable heavy metal item as the bucking bar, and a mini-regulator set at about 10-15 psi.

John McGraw

John is correct, but the factory used rivet guns, and they are very different from the air chisel that you can buy at your local home center store. The rivet gun has a much shorter stroke and hits more rapidly, but with less force. You can use an air chisel, but you have to be very careful about modulating the air pressure, or you can punch right through the fiberglass. If someone was contemplating doing a lot of riveting, I would suggest that the purchase of a good, surplus aircraft rivet gun would be a very good investment. A true rivet gun hits so light and fast, that it is pretty hard to damage a panel if your bucking bar slips off the rivet tail.

Here is a good source of surplus rivet guns as well as all the rivet sets that you would ever need. The rivet sets will also work in your home center air chisel as well. For C2 cars, you will need only a flush rivet set and a bucking bar, since all the rivets are flat heads, but for C1 cars you will need to buy the appropriate dome head rivet sets, as the sets for these rivets are size specific. I have bought from these guys for over 40 years.


Regards, John McGraw

http://www.yardstore.com/index.htm

John McGraw

Also, a properly set rivet will always be driven from the head side and bucked on the tail. There are guys that will simply put the bucking bar on the head and drive the tail with a dome head rivet set, but this method is incorrect and will yield a finished appearance that is inconsistent with the appearance of a factory rivet.

First of all, the head needs to be driven tightly against the panel, so that you get a tight, gap-free joint between the rivet head and the panel, as well as any additional panels. The bucking bar needs to be pressed against the tail just enough to swell the tail of the rivet, but not tight enough to push the rivet back out of the hole. Driving on the tail of the rivet will tend to make for rivets that do not clamp all the layers together tightly.

Also, if you look at an original rivet, you will notice that the tail of the rivet is approximately 1.5-2X the original diameter of the rivet shank, but that the tail is flat on the bottom. A rivet that is driven on the tail with a dome head set will be rounded and instantly identifiable by an experienced eye as non-original. Properly done, there is no way anyone can tell if the rivet is 40 years old, or installed last week.


Regards, John McGraw

TheSaint

Since there is rivets everywhere on a C2 which rivet tools do the members here suggest to buy for this purpose?

John McGraw

Most of the flat head rivets on a C2 can be driven with a set like this:

http://www.yardstore.com/browse.cfm/4,5958.html

There are a few which are hard to get at and you may need to modify one of these sets by grinding off one side of it or buying one of the offset sets on this page:

http://www.yardstore.com/browse.cfm/2,296.html

Then a couple of assorted bucking bars like this:

http://www.yardstore.com/browse.cfm/2,412.html

The truth is, riveting in tight areas, usually requires you find or fabricate application specific tools that work in those areas. I have managed to develop a group of tools that let me rivet almost any rivet on a C1 or C2, but it is about 6 rivet sets and 4 different bucking bars.


Regards, John McGraw

Vette Daddy

I've repaired a lot of bodies and used to use an air hammer. Believe me when I say that an actual rivet gun is MUCH easier to control. It just doesn't bounce around like an air hammer. These tools cost alot more but they are the correct tool for the job. I've bought all of my air rivet guns and tools on ebay.

The "C" squeeze rivet tool was used by GM on the 53-55 bodies where appropriate. There's a picture in Noland's black 53-55 three book series which shows the "C" squeeze rivet tool being used.

Mike Geary

This is not the case on many of the rivets on my '65. Where the shank (tail) was exiting a metal surface, the shank was given the gun and the flange head was bucked. Example: spare tire tub V-strap. You could see the circular witness marks of the rivet set on the strap. Found the same thing on the underbody seat reinforcements.

John McGraw

I have seen some metal parts that had the marks you describe, but I presume that that was because the parts were riveted on a large, floor-mounted rivet squeeze. This type of machine has a spring loaded mandrel on the tail side, which squeezes the parts together tightly before squeezing the rivet. They tried to install as many of the rivets as possible on the sub-assemblies prior to building the body. Any rivet that could be installed without hand driving would have be done in such a manner. In any case, I have never seen tails of the rivets which were not flat across the bottom of the tails. Since flat head sets would have been used regardless of which side was driven or bucked, the witness marks would not have come from the rivet set, as it was flat and would not have left these marks.


Regards, John McGraw

jdk971

thanks for the info john. jim

Dr L-88

Not trying to hijack this thread.............but what kind of rivet tool was used to attach the metal bracket that a power brake booster bolted to? This bracket was riveted (2 rivets) through the vent grill area just in front of the windshield. I "think" these may have been unique rivets and when properly attached looked different than others.
Thanks,
Rex

wonderful

Many thanks people for all your valuable information. I will buy these rivet tools and practise, practise, and practise until I get it right.
Richard

John McGraw

Yep, these rivets were round head rivets, just like the ones used on C1 cars. They are driven the same way, except you use a rivet set that is concave to match the head of the rivet.


Regards, John McGraw