The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Driveline Frame Question

Hey guys,

I'm doing frame up restoration on 48 chevy pickup and plan on removing cross members to get at all rust in frame. I plan on grinding and removing all factory rivets/pins what ever you call them to get this done! Can these be replaced with hardened bolts? Is it possible to get new rivets or even install them without special tools? Thanks in advance for any input! Doug

You could, but I highly reccomend you not go that route. Its simply not needed. You can easily remove 99% of the rust/dirt/grime without removing anything by using a grinder with a wire wheel or sandblasting. Once its clean you can go back and treat the little nooks and cranies that you couldn't get to with a decent rust converter or phospho acid to neutralize it then prime and paint. I did this on my 57 and it looks great.

By removing the factory rivits you'll have an extremely hard time getting everything back to being square, bolts are not a good replacement for them either. Rivets expand to fill the hole aroung them and hold tighter. Bolts won't hold nearly as well as the original rivits and will allow for extra flex in the frame. You would also have the chance for them to loosen up over their lifetime as well which could end up being dangerous. If you were just moving one cross member to make room for say a gas tank like some do, then bolts are ok, but not a smart idea to do on the entire frame.

Also reriviting the frame wouldn't be an option unless you have some industrial sized rivit machines handy.
Just my two cents.

cody

With out a frame jig there would be no way to get the frame square.

Besides, removing rivets is not easy. It is not like grinding the head off a bolt and knocking it out.
The riveting process swells the rivet to completely fill the hole as it is staked. Even with the head ground off flush, it takes a lot to drive one out.

Thanks Guys, cleaning it is then!

If you insist on doing this, do one crossmember at a time and make a steel jig to keep things square. I recently re-riveted the rear engine crossmember and made a procedure for it. It's here..

http://speedprint.com/deves50/doc/framerivets.pdf

I do not recommend using bolts because they serve a different purpose. Has to do with physics and engineering shear strengths, etc. Grade 8 bolts WILL work, but its not the best.

One thing a properly installed rivet has over a bolt is when it is headed it increases in diameter filling the hole completely.

I'm with you. Clean up and treat where you can't reach. If you were to replace all the rivets, are you going to be able to keep the paint on the rivets where they pass through the frame after you heat and bang the crap out of them? I'm not saying that Deve's post on the procedure isn't cool. I'm just saying that replacing tight rivets to solve a rust concern isn't practical.

He's right. Applying this kind of heat destroys anything applied within about a 5 inch radius of EACH rivet. Its not pretty. Unless this is a total frame up resto where you totally plan on starting from sandblasting after the re-riveting, don't do it.