Mounting Data Plate on a 40

[philipswanson]

I was wondering how to get those darned rivets out so I can mount a new data plate I bought. I tried grinding the head off one of the old rivets and pounding it out with a hammer. Won't budge, instead is dimpling the sheet metal. Tried to drill the same one out but it is super hard. The drill won't phase it. Anybody have a secret to changing these? Access is hard because the motor, etc. is still in the car. I did rip the old tag off but the rivets are still in place and won't budge.

[Kube]

Grind more of what remains of the nail away and with a small pointed drift, knock it in to the passenger area.
So as not to disturb paint, I'd suggest a small round head burr cutter - 3/16" diameter max...

[philipswanson]

Originally Posted by Kube

Grind more of what remains of the nail away and with a small pointed drift, knock it in to the passenger area.
So as not to disturb paint, I'd suggest a small round head burr cutter - 3/16" diameter max...

Too late for the paint. Already wiped that out. I hate to grind on it any more because the metal is getting thin there and I have already ground it smooth across the rivet head and then some. I tried the pointed punch but it just dents the area. I am going to have to bondo the area and repaint as it is. The small teeth on the shank of the rivets make them difficult to remove.

[Kube]

Originally Posted by philipswanson

Too late for the paint. Already wiped that out. I hate to grind on it any more because the metal is getting thin there and I have already ground it smooth across the rivet head and then some. I tried the pointed punch but it just dents the area. I am going to have to bondo the area and repaint as it is. The small teeth on the shank of the rivets make them difficult to remove.

They're not rivets. They are drive nails.
The small diameter round burr cutter works. I've done maybe one or twenty using this method and have never once hit the paint.

[philipswanson]

Paint is the easy part. I have to fix the dent from all the pounding with a sharp punch. I plan to grind them all smooth, JB weld the new plate in place a tad over and drill new holes for the new nails. I gave up on trying to knock the old ones out. You grind them smooth and then pound on them and the firewall just dents but they still don't come out.

[Kube]

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Originally Posted by philipswanson

Paint is the easy part. I have to fix the dent from all the pounding with a sharp punch. I plan to grind them all smooth, JB weld the new plate in place a tad over and drill new holes for the new nails. I gave up on trying to knock the old ones out. You grind them smooth and then pound on them and the firewall just dents but they still don't come out.

Hmmmm…. I've never had that issue.

Mike Driskell sells small screws that look just like the heads of the drive nails.

[philipswanson]

Using a scribe, I managed to knock out the first one. Problem is it hard to get any leverage and swing a hammer at the right angle. Also I am not in the best of shape. Thanks for the help.

[blucar]

From my experience the "drive nails" Ford used to attach many small data/serial num plates for many years were quite easy to remove.