Hood Rivets

[ALF]

Hi all

Which rivet size did you use?

D1=?
D2=?

[ALF]

Any kind of information would be appreciated.

[C427Kirkham]

Chris Kirkham here. I just stumbled across this thread and I'm fairly new to Club Cobra. I know its been awhile since this thread came to be but I can perhaps shed some light on what we would do here at Kirkham Motorsports.

The original cobras used a very soft alloy. 1100 actually. You could easily dent the body with a good press of the finger. Original bodies were also thinner then the Kirkham bodies are now, by about 10 thousandths of an inch. Kirkham bodies use a old Soviet alloy of aluminum that was alloyed with iron, to make it tougher.

For the hood rivets we would use a button head pop rivet made from aluminum. A stainless rivet would cause a little deformation in the metal because they clamp down much tighter then an aluminum rivet would. However, we do use stainless rivets to rivet the body to the chassis on the underside of the car. This thread was posted a long time ago though so I imagine that the job is already done! Hope it turned out great!

[CompClassics]

To further advise on what I used and the process that I used to install the hood rivets on my aluminum bodied Cobra....

1) the hole position should be so that is directly above and into the hood frame tube. You can place a hole directly beside the frame tube but place it on the outside the hood frame tube towards the outer edge of the hood for those that are squeamish about trying to drill into the frame tubing too.

2) use an all aluminum rivet, aluminum mandrel and an aluminum rivet body.

3) the length of the rivet is dependent on where you placed the hole, longer for holes that intersect the frame tube and shorter for any other placement.

4) disassemble the rivet by using a set of pliers clamping the rivet body and gently tapping the mandrel on a hard surface.

5) prepping the rivet for installation. Using a set of side cutters gentley score the rivet mandrel just under the ball end of the mandrel, this will cause the mandrel to break prematurely before to much pressure is applied to the working surface (aluminum body skin). If you are going to paint the rivet head after installing the rivets you may want to rough up the surface of the face of the rivet head with some sand paper before reassembling the rivet. By roughing up the face of the rivet head it will provide a better bonding surface for the paint to adhere to. Reassemble the rivet and install.

[ALF]

As it is not done yet I'll follow John's instruction

[ALF]

It is now time to do the work!

Does any one have the hood rivet measurement details of CSX 2345?
- Space between rivet

I have this picture as reference, but I would like to avoid guessing and have as much as possible information.

[cycleguy55]

Originally Posted by ALF

It is now time to do the work!

Does any one have the hood rivet measurement details of CSX 2345?
- Space between rivet

I have this picture as reference, but I would like to avoid guessing and have as much as possible information.

How about this, though I do note it deviates from your photo (e.g. no centre rivet on leading edge):



Source: http://www.erareplicas.com/427man/body/hood.htm

[ALF]

Hi Brian
Many thanks for your reply.
As I'm working on a 289 the 427 rivet pattern seems to me to large.

[CompClassics]

ALF,

Email me if you need further help. John

[ALF]

Hi John
Many thanks for your offer and the mail conversation we already had, which was of great help for me. (as all your reply's and parts)

I did yesterday some "drawings" on the hood and now it is my time to reflect and decide if I take left (21) or right (11).