A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

[Tony S.]

Re: A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

Dave, I sent my A-arms to Marco Hartner who did a great job of riveting my NOS ball joints onto my 1965 A-arms. It was well worth the expense. Your call though, Tony

[Donald H.]

Re: A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

I used the rivet looking bolts on my 67 driver upper and lower and did not have to drill them. I thing I got them at Paragon or Corvette Central.

For my 66 coupe, which I am restoring to be judged, a friend and I set rivets. We did them cold (no heat) and they turned out very good. We used a heavy duty air hammer with the rivet setting attachments. If you or a friend has a heavy air hammer, the attachments are available on Ebay or Amazon and are about $30.

I did build a jig for bucking the rivets, similar to the ones in the Restorer article. I used an old chisel cut flat with with a dimple drilled in it for the uppers. The lowers are a little harder to get to. I used a piece of 1/2" thick plate steel, also with a dimple. But If you are not that particular how the inside head looks, it can be done without special jigs.

Don

[Dave C.]

Re: A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

Thanks very much Don, I figured out that it was just the buildup of powder coating on the lower arms that was binding the bolts ( they are the only part of the car that I powder coated, they were a tad rusty, and I wanted them to look nice and smooth, please don't judge me) as for the upper arms , the rivet style bolts they provided definitely require drilling, so I am going to try to rivet them, my friend has the tool for the air hammer, and I will try your trick with the chisel. As I mentioned the lower ball joints did not come with the proper rivets, so I was thinking of bolting them in , then dye grinding the inside and welding a nice round bead on the end to look more like a rivet.

[Gene M.]

Re: A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

Thanks very much Don, I figured out that it was just the buildup of powder coating on the lower arms that was binding the bolts ( they are the only part of the car that I powder coated, they were a tad rusty, and I wanted them to look nice and smooth, please don't judge me) as for the upper arms , the rivet style bolts they provided definitely require drilling, so I am going to try to rivet them, my friend has the tool for the air hammer, and I will try your trick with the chisel. As I mentioned the lower ball joints did not come with the proper rivets, so I was thinking of bolting them in , then dye grinding the inside and welding a nice round bead on the end to look more like a rivet.

Sounds like more effort than just riveted correctly............ no?

[Donald H.]

Re: A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

If you decide to get correct rivets for the lowers, I would suggest getting them from LIC. I bought two sets, one from LIC and one from Paragon. The Paragon ones were longer and needed to be cut down some.

DOn

[Dave C.]

Re: A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

I know Gene, but as I mentioned, the lower ball joints did not come with the rivets, and I am in Canada so it takes about a week to get anything delivered.

[Gene M.]

Re: A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

I know Gene, but as I mentioned, the lower ball joints did not come with the rivets, and I am in Canada so it takes about a week to get anything delivered.

Dave,
I got rivets at the local tractor supply.

[Dave C.]

Re: A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

Hey good advise Gene, maybe I'll try that, just finished the uppers, I made a buck out of a 3/4" bolt, and cut the end off of one of my air chisel bits and concaved it with a die grinder, but the tool just didn't have the power. Went over to my neighbors truck repair shop and borrowed their $800.00 Ingersoll Rand , did the same treatment to one of their tools and 10 minutes later they were done!

[Tracy C.]

Re: A arm rivet bolts, ( 1967)

Dave,

I can email you my restorer article if you send an email to me at crisler@wheatstate.com

Tracy