The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Rivets

I need to get some rivets to use to replace the fender braces, grill work, etc. that I drilled out. Does anyone have information on size, material and source? Thanks!

The board just covered rivets recently.
Try this for a start
http://www.stovebolt.com/bboard/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=4&t=000554&p=

You can buy steel rivets at most hardware stores. Selection isn't the best, though. I have to agree that installing rivets is the best for cosmetics, and, properly installed, will work great. To use the grade 5 bolts, the hole does need to be reamed to a tight fit.

On grill, Pop Rivets! aluminum ones wont rust and run down on paint. I don' care about orig, can't see them w/out bending down/looking in good light! As for frame rivets, I use good hard 3/8" bolts. Best kind have the washer heads and lock-nuts, but can cost big bucks. Ace Hardware and others have them in little box drawerw of special hardware, not many in stock at once. Or good Gr 8 bolts. Problem with most rivets is how to collapse them. little ones need hammer and special back-up tool and usually cant get into part to do that. Big ones used hydraulic press in plants, can't do that at home and heating and pounding on them seems futile.

Thanks, GL! I have seen many people talk about reassembling grilles here, but no one has mentioned pop rivets. That is what I am planning on using.

Ijust recently read an article on this subject for ad trucks in a golden states parts book.There recomendation was to use the steel rivets rather than the aluminum.The alluminum rivets acording to them dont last as the have a tendency to break.

Never trust anything that comes from Golden State. They have one of the worst reputations in the old trucks parts business.

Thats good to know. i havent bought any thing from them but id still have agree with them on the steel over aluminum rivets.Corect me if im wrong but i assume that the original rivets are steel.

I totally bolted mine together with #10 machine screws as I remember. And the rear fender "rivits", I used screws that were from an old clothing locker. They looked like rivits but had thread on the "post". They also had a little sawtooth like edge under the head so they wouldn't turn. But I have sence made some for old bikes I have restored by taking a round head stainless machine screw and taking the head down with my DA sander with 180 grit. Then up to 320 and polishing it. Wouldn't look good on the fender, but you could paint them.

On my 1953 GMC I'm going to use pop rivets also. I was able to order some stainless steel pop rivets from a supplier, cost some more but it should eliminate aluminum from rubbing through and the steel might rust. Just my two cents

I just ordered a grill assy kit from either Brothers or Truck Shop can't remember which-wasn't cheap 15.00-something-but was stainless screws and nuts-if I had to do again would look at local Ace hardware that has a good selection of stainless screws and a small bottle of Loctite(for small fasteners).I think # 10 screws were mentioned -I believe that is the correct size for 55-56 grills.

There are a couple of places out there that sell stainless in bulk, there are a number of websites. They also have complete kits for certain series of trucks - all stainless bolts/nuts/washers for the entire truck. Totally Stainless is one, here's another: http://www.mmsacc-stainless.com/

You can also go to a marine supply website, they have a lot of stainless, and usually a lot cheaper than the truck sites.

It is not recommended to use stainless nuts on stainless bolts. The threads can gall, and you will never get them apart. You can us a steel nut with a stainless bolt. The nut will rust, but it won't be rusted to the bolt. Of course in airplanes we're switching from stainless to titanium bolts, but they cost about 10 times more.

Fred you are correct about stainless fasteners-you can use a antiseize compound or just becareful not to overtighten and get them hot or deform threads-stainless is a soft metal but rust resistent.I have gotten them hot by using nylocks and got fastener half way tightend and had to break cause couldn't get it back off.If used correctly they are good.