-
Hey Guest!
British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!**Upgrade Now**
(PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Hey - did you know if you click on the title of a thread it will take you to the first unread post since you last visited that thread?
but were afraid to ask: 
STOP!! Never post your email address in open forums. Bots can "harvest" your email! If you must share your email use a Private Message or use the 
smilie in place of the real @
Pretty Please - add it to our Events forum(s) and add to the calendar! >> 
TR4/4A TR4A conv top disassembly
- Thread starter Dono
- Start date
Share this page
The only problem with replacing rivets with bolts is the rivet takes of very little room, width wise, whereas a bolt will have a nut, and tightened against what? Rivets are there for a reason, they are narrow and don't need to be tightened. To answer your question about how or where to find the appropriate rivets, I cannot help you there. I ended up sourcing a used frame that was in much better shape than my OE one.
sail
Darth Vader
Offline
Greetings, I just drove thru your neighborhood a couple of weeks ago.
It’s not very hard to drill out the rivets. You want a drill bit larger than the shaft (maybe quarter inch) as it is the head of the rivet that needs to come off. Go easy so when you get the head off you don’t drill the hole in the frame larger. I would use rivets to put the new top on. If you haven’t done them before get some extra rivets and put them in something to practice and drill out a couple as well. Really quite simple with a cheap pop rivet gun and electric drill.
The hardest part for me was putting in the lift a dots for the rear deck. You want to put the holes in the top as far apart as you can stretch them, working from the center one hole at a time, so the back window is tight when you are all done. I used a small socket sunk into a 2x4 to hold the male part of the dot and a half inch center punch with a hammer to spread the dots. My wife held everything down against the socket with something like a spanner because there is not much extra length on the bottom part you will spread. I had to do a couple of them over.
Do not put the snaps on the sides on until every thing else is done.
Put the straps on good and snug with the cross bars placed correctly. Then with some contact cement on the frames leading edge and inside the top you have to eyeball how tight to make it. Do it when its warm and get it as tight as you can.
Riveting the track on the leading edge you will need something like a very small socket to fit in the track for the rivet gun to push against because the head on the gun is too big and won’t fit against the bottom of the track. After than you can swear for an hour or two while you pull the rubber seal into the track.
Then the rest of the snaps and a few rivets will complete the job and you can put the top back down and go for a drive.
Clear as mud? I have only done this once and it turned out quite well. Take your time and ask more ?’s.
It’s not very hard to drill out the rivets. You want a drill bit larger than the shaft (maybe quarter inch) as it is the head of the rivet that needs to come off. Go easy so when you get the head off you don’t drill the hole in the frame larger. I would use rivets to put the new top on. If you haven’t done them before get some extra rivets and put them in something to practice and drill out a couple as well. Really quite simple with a cheap pop rivet gun and electric drill.
The hardest part for me was putting in the lift a dots for the rear deck. You want to put the holes in the top as far apart as you can stretch them, working from the center one hole at a time, so the back window is tight when you are all done. I used a small socket sunk into a 2x4 to hold the male part of the dot and a half inch center punch with a hammer to spread the dots. My wife held everything down against the socket with something like a spanner because there is not much extra length on the bottom part you will spread. I had to do a couple of them over.
Do not put the snaps on the sides on until every thing else is done.
Put the straps on good and snug with the cross bars placed correctly. Then with some contact cement on the frames leading edge and inside the top you have to eyeball how tight to make it. Do it when its warm and get it as tight as you can.
Riveting the track on the leading edge you will need something like a very small socket to fit in the track for the rivet gun to push against because the head on the gun is too big and won’t fit against the bottom of the track. After than you can swear for an hour or two while you pull the rubber seal into the track.
Then the rest of the snaps and a few rivets will complete the job and you can put the top back down and go for a drive.
Clear as mud? I have only done this once and it turned out quite well. Take your time and ask more ?’s.
Sail, and others, Thank you for the comments. Maybe I was unclear, but I'm focusing on the frame, not just the top. I am probably going to drill out the factory rivets, then clean & paint and re-assemble it w/ driven rivits. Fitting the fabric top will come later, looks pretty easy from write-ups I have from TRF. I'll keep the forum posted on progress. Thanks! Don