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Triumph TR6 - Rosie the Riviter

During the WWII, women did all the riviting on airplanes, but perhaps some of the guys here knows a little about it as well.

I have used roof frame less the front piece that attaches to the windscreen with the two latches. (Sorry don't know the parts by name). I want to make one good frame out of two bad ones. This front piece is rivited at either end. If I drill?? them out, what's the best replacement? How does the do-it-yourself guy rivit? The parts seem to be available, but what tools do you require. These aren't the tiny rivits for the hand tool, these are serious bit of steel.

tks
Mati Holland

Mati,
When I bought my TR6 a couple years back that front
piece of rail that you speak of was snaped off the
original rivets. I cleaned all the surfaces with a wire wheel and mig welded it all together never to
break again.
I notice your in T.O., I'm about an hour north of
you. If you would like to come up I could probably
have it all fixed in about a half an hour.
Here is my email,catrace@rogers.com
Christopher Trace

The Canadians are going to run this world someday. If this BBS is any sample of the real world. There must be more folk from Canada than inhabitants of India.
Don
DON KELLY

Don
I thought we did??

Real cold Winters Don, Canadian Dollar yuk forget Florida, High heating bills, NUDDIN BETTER TO DO = lotsa Canadians Don.:)

Bill
Bill Brayford

There are a couple of different routes you could go for the solid rivets. You can buy rounded drivers for air hammers and then use a bucking bar. Almost anything with some heft can be used as the bucking bar. The main thing is if you can hold it in place while expanding the rivet. When we are bucking solid rivets, I typically use a body dolly as the bucking bar. Then again, we are bucking aluminum rivets. I don't have anything myself that would buck a steel rivet with any size to it. They also make rivet presses, but rather high cost and not really worth it for an individual to get, especially for just two rivets.

I would suggest that you obtain some of the proper rivets, then check with some of your local industrial tool suppliers. Show them the rivet, show them where it goes and see what they think would work for you in this application. If the cost is too high, they may be able to point you to a shop (one of their customers perhaps) that can do the rivet bucking for you. That is assuming that you are looking to go back original. If you don't mind going the non-factory route, then welding or some other fastener type is always an option.
SteveP

Hi Mati

From your e-mails about the bikes when you were buying the car. I gather you like original and precise. I haven't looked yet but the original was likely a hot rivet common before mig/tig welding for assembly of light weight static parts. And tempered steels which this is not.

Rivet is placed in hole red hot swaged and let cool. Pulls tight cooling and rock solid. Thats 1 way for original. 2 rivets can be heated with Oxy/acet. more used fast need a forge.

Other is drill old rivet back side saving head. Clamp new parts old rivet heads and do a carefull spot weld from back. New style hot rivet. As Chris said this works great.

Won't be at car shop till weekend top and frame are upstairs. I will take a look at those can't remember. Maybe can make better suggestion.

"Larned" this many years ago as a North Saskatchewan farm boy. Fixing disking blades which are tempered when rocks and rust broke them loose and old stick welder wouldn't do. Assembly was big money rivets were a dime.

By the way do any of you guys know of an old "so called" portable coal forge. With handcrank turbine still intact. Looks like a heavy oldstyle barbecue. And if the high temp. coal is still around. Gotta be one out there. Mostly for nostalgia.

Bill

Bill Brayford

Hi Mati

I can relate to your concerns.

I have done the following sucessfully on connections where movement is required (soft-top frame joints, door check straps)where the rivet is more of a pin joint than one acting purely in tension. I'm not sure how it would go with a solid-fix rivet. Maybe with this method you can get it tight but not rigid and you may have to give it a clout with a bloody great hammer to get the last bit of pressure.

1)Buy two identical steel rivets. Hold the head of one rivet in the vise, not the pin.

2)Using a countersinking bit, drill into the centre of the head on the opposite side to the pin until you have drilled through and the pin falls just falls away from the head. Don't overdrill as it makes locating the head more difficult when it comes to fixing.

3)Take the other rivet and grind the end of the pin to a point (about 45 degrees). The length to the point of the pin should finish at the outside face of the drilled rivet head, or maybe a fraction past it.

4)Assemble (and clamp) the two pieces in the joint with the pin point going through the smaller 'hole' and finishing at the widest part if the countersunk hole, that face being the most accessible.

5)Spot weld the pin to the face and file off the excess. (Sorry - I know you said DIY but if you don't have access to a welder then you're stuck!!)

The countersunk hole and pointed pin are important as they increase the surface area of the weld, particularly on the pin, and also change the weld to the pin from acting only in tension to acting partly in shear (stronger).

As I said earlier, this is fine for rivets acting as pins in moving joints but with a hefty blow, the pin may deform enough to give you what you need for the front rail.

Good luck.

Roger H

This thread was discussed between 11/02/2003 and 13/02/2003

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