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The 1962 Thunderbird reproduction muffler hangers come with 1/4"-20 x 1" bolts and nuts in place of the original rivets that were installed from the factory. |
The original hangers were held together with rivets. I decided to research rivets and find out how to duplicate them. |
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Comparison of the old and new rivets. |
Now that the parts are gathered, comes the easy part. Just remove the 1/4" hardware and push the rivets in. If they don't go through just run a 1/4" drill bit through the hole to clean the rubber up. Place the rivet heads on a hard surface (I put a thin aluminum sheet under them on the garage floor to protect the heads from scratching) and roll them over with the rivet tool and a hammer. About four good hits is all it takes to set them tightly. |
That's all there is to it. Here are the heads and ends of the finished hangers. It looks much cleaner, more professional, and authentic than the 1/4" hardware. As you can see the steel is already starting to rust. I might take the rivets back out and zinc plate the steel to prevent this rust formation. |
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