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removing a rivet..
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:32 pm
by daedalus__
i have a 1985 cadillac fleetwood. i've been taking apart my driver side door because the window motor went out.
the motor is riveted to the door and i have no idea how to get this rivet out.. i've been hitting it with a drill but it's having no effect. help?

Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:38 pm
by Luke
I think you may be asking the wrong crowd bud. PHP is nowhere near rivet removal.
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:44 pm
by Christopher
Angle grinder should do it (or a big Dremel). Just be careful to only remove most of the rivet head and the pry it up if you want to save the motor mount. I used to have no kids and a '66 Pontiac GTO convertible (barrier blue for those who care

) ... now I have little kids and a minivan. But they will go to college some day, and then ...
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 4:54 pm
by RobertGonzalez
At the auto plant I used to work at they shop guys would drill out the center of the rivet, the pry up the curl.
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:36 pm
by daedalus__
arborint wrote:But they will go to college some day, and then ...
bahahhaha
Mine will be finished by then!
I'm starting with my G-Ride. I don't know crap about cars but I'm learning slowly although everything I've had to work on with this car has been a major PITA. I get to fix a motor mount after this. the driver side one on the torque side of the engine is cracked and the engine jumps almost to the hood when i push the gas too hard :\
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 5:50 pm
by redmonkey
Use a drill bit approx 2mm smaller than the diameter of the rivet head to drill the head off. If the rivet starts spinning, grip the shaft of the rivet from behind if possible using pliers or mole grips or similar suitable tool. If that's not possible, use an angle grinder to grind the head off, the shaft of the rivet will probably have a little grip so you will most likely have to punch out the remainder.
Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2007 7:03 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Just make sure you do not wear gloves when doing that. I remember responding to an emergency one time where a guy was using a drill and wearing Kevlar gloves. It was not pretty... for his half a finger or the tip that was left in the glove.
Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:05 am
by daedalus__
Yeah, I got the rivets off but this door is so complicated that I decided to just quit. The motor is riveted into a plastic thing which I think is a mount or something. It has a ribbon that I think connects to the regulator on the motor. That plastic thing is riveted to the window track. :\
Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:18 am
by RobertGonzalez
Dude, what year is that car? That sounds like some crappy kind of engineering.
Re: removing a rivet..
Posted: Tue Mar 06, 2007 11:20 am
by daedalus__
daedalus__ wrote:1985 cadillac fleetwood
It's a sweet ride but these doors are messed up.