1967 deck lid slide striker plate-- 3 Rivets and peening

[Dave K.]

How does one peen these tiny rivets? Is the head of the rivet on the backside and you peen the outside---very dangerous (small area) with fresh paint surrounding the striker plate (no room for error). Or is the head of the rivet on the outside and you somehow squeeze the rivet so it gets mushroomed or peened on the backside?

[Mike M.]

Re: 1967 deck lid slide striker plate-- 3 Rivets and peening

there are 3 rivets per striker plate. the rivet oriented in a vertical direction has its rivet head facing the sun. the other 2 which are oriented horizontally, have their heads positioned outboard and the exposed ends of these 2 rivets facing inboard, are peened. i took an old vice grip, drilled a partial hole in one jaw(to accommodate the heads of the rivets ) and the other jaw of the vice grip, i drilled a partial hole to accommodate the peened end of the rivet. the vice grip worked as the rivets on one of our 63's was aluminum and peened easily. best approach is leave the shields in place and tape them prior to painting. good luck, mike