Pop rivets and poppers

[AlanT]

Hi All.

Fitting new poppers to my spit body and door. The pop rivets from Rimmers won’t pull tight / too short for the job. Anyone else had issues and found a solution?

thanks

Al

 

[Badwolf]

I'm sure that I read something similar here, some time ago, but don't remember the exact solution. It may have been self tappers, rivnuts or something else, but someone will remember I'm sure

[Colin Lindsay]

If this is for the poppers for the tonneau / hood use small brass setscrews and bolts; you can buy the entire thing as a kit, or used to be able to (I think it was Chic Doig sold them on eBay but I've just looked, nothing there).

Any good hardware shop will sell you the screws and bolts if you take a popper with you to confirm the size.

 

[AlanT]

Thanks. I’ll take a look. Must be a better solution than the rivets.

[Pete Lewis]

if this is hood  poppers you need to add a short tube to fit inside the popper  oor the gun nozzle sits proud and you dont collapse the rivet

there small dia nozles about but a 6mm length of tube will work to extend it into the popper sunken hole 

Pete

[Badwolf]

I do remember the problem with packing the rivets but don't remember if I just chose the largest rivet that would fit so that it expanded enough to grip around the hole. I also need to replace some of mine which have come adrift but may look to do the lot with metal ones if they are available as the plastic ones have worn badly over the years. I never could get the hood storage cover clips to grip onto the interior poppers. 

[PeteH]

Granted it`s a loooooong time ago, (1980`s) But I thought the TRIM rivet/connectors came as a "pop" rivet. ( I may even have a couple somewhere?) Never fitted Hood fasteners, but seem to remember the ones on the 13/60 being screwed on?, (its over 3+ years since I took them off), not riveted?. Got me wondering now?.

Pete

[Pete Lewis]

3 hours ago, Badwolf said:

may look to do the lot with metal ones if they are available

club shop have metal poppers 

give Angie a ring 

Pete

[Badwolf]

This is something a lot of us have done...'a long long time ago in a gala.....'sorry, sort of drifted off there. Unfortunately for a lot of us, we can't remember how we did it. A blow by blow guide might be useful if you are the one doing the job at the moment, to revive our memories for when we need to do it again (ribald comments and thread drift starts now)

[DanMi]

I have a vague recollection that i used the cut off head of a pop rivet placed over the metal shaft before putting the rivet in the gun, that gave enough clearance to pull the rivet tight, but that was 11 years ago so might not remember correctly

 

[GFL]

I used M3.5mm Electrical Switch and Socket Screws in conjunction with suitable nuts, flat washers and locking washers when i replaced them on my Vitesse.

The M3.5 Screws are bright zinc plated and raised countersunk so are a nice snug fit in the Tonneau poppers

Got the screws, nuts and washers from an Electrical Wholesaler if I remember correctly

PS - You need to be able to access the nut with a small spanner for tightening up though, so it may be a fiddle to the ones mounted on the doors?

Regards

Gary

[chrishawley]

Blind rivets ('pop rivets') are the appropriate fastener for this application. Threaded fasteners for the male part of the popper is perfectly feasible where there is easy access to both sides of the job. But for the doors trying to get nuts on the inside could entail hours of misery and bleeding knuckles.

So, what isn't working?

a) Blind rivets most commonly come in 1/32 inch diameter intervals measured in metric e.g. 2.4mm, 3.2mm 4.0mm. One size too small doesn't look like much of a difference in the hand but it's the difference between working and not working. I would not trust Rimmers to send the right size rivet.

b) The rivet should be a loose interference fit or very slight clearance fit in the hole in the fixed part of the work (bodywork in this case). If the rivet is loose in the hole it will tend to pull through rather than pulling up tight.

c) Poppers may have been drilled out a number of the times over the life of a vehicle and thus the holes have gone oversize. If the next size (diameter) up rivet can't be used as a substitute then options include i) use a rivet backing washer (readily available) on the inside of the fixed part where there is access. ii) use a peel or 'peeling' blind rivet where access is not possible: When compressed the shank deforms like the petals of a flower giving support around an otherwise oversize hole. Not so easy to get hold of but Spaldings do them.

Screwfix do an very good mixed pack of 900 (plain) blind rivets for £15. Various diameters and lengths covering pretty much everything  a Triumph owner could want.

Cheers

C

 

[Steve P]

I just used normal rivets of the right length on my Vitesse,but filed the circumference down enough to fit snugly inside the popper,if they are too proud the cover bit won`t snap on properly.

Brass nuts and bolts on my Herald but it was too much of a faff getting hold of the nut whilst trying to tighten them,you need 3 arms.

Steve

[AlanT]

Thanks All, 

will try again this weekend. Build up progressing

[AlanT]

Took the bigger rivets annd file the heads option. Perfect! Thanks for the ideas.

[A TR7 16V]

I used stainless setscrews and nuts on the Herald. It's a faff doing some of the ones at the back, but I found it just possible. But I had to do that in some cases because the hole had grown too large, and I needed bigish washers on the inside. And I just couldn't make that work with pop rivets on my own. Maybe with two, one to hold the washer on the rivet end and one to nip  it all up, it might have worked.

When I repaired the previous hood poppers with pop rivets, I found a small nut in the bits'n'bobs box that just went on the rivet shank before putting it in the gun. Gave enough extra length on the gun to pop the rivet with the flange at the bottom of the dent in the male popper. Without the nut on there, they just wouldn't go tight.

Graham

[Colin Lindsay]

A small, maybe 1/4 to 1/2 inch length of brake pipe worked for me. The longest that will fit over the shank of the rivet and still allow the rivet gun a good grip. 

[AlanT]

Used Pete’s ‘short pipe’ method as suggested. Perfect. Thanks