DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Am re-fitting the oil cooler system to my car - 1972 S with the oil radiator inside the front wing.

The radiator has a stone guard and there is a rubber gasket which is riveted around the edge of the stone guard next to the wing, presumably to restrict flow of air and crap around the stone guard.

The gasket set came with a set of rivets that i have never encountered before.



As you can see from the above, moving right to left, the rivets are in 2 pieces - male and female.

They can be assembled in one of 2 ways as shown on the left.

I am presuming the second from the left end set up the correct assembly as this is the only way you would get a solid connection?

If this is the case, then how are they crimped. Do you simply squash the male part down onto the female part or do you squash until both parts are flat?

Or is there some other secret solution?

Thanks

Andrew

Personally, I think the orientation on the left is correct.
The shaft head is then riveted down using a form mandrel that puts a concave dimple in the top before the swaging that exposed shaft down crushing the tube and bulging the sides of it.
The bulging stage opens the edge of the smaller hollow rivet,
The splayingof the smaller hollow rivet gives the clamping force and you can control the crush height so the gasket is pinched and not crushed.

Or you could glue it in place with heavy duty contact adhesive!
Which would be my choice...

Google tubular rivets, might give better guidance.

I think you are correct that the first on the left is probably the correct way round and then crush them. i had a look on the internet and the process looks similar to that used for riveting motor cycle chains together. A friend has a chain riveter so i will try that and if that fails, pop rivet and glue!

Yes, worth a try.
Trouble with pop rivets is you have little control on the crush height before the nail fractures.
This could leave the seal very crushed at the rivet points.
The gasket is to stop air escaping sideways as the radiator will resist air flow so the gasket integrity is important.
Does the stone guard, gasket, radiator all get riveted together buy these rivets as one assembly?
If so, small bolts, large dia thick form washers and nylon nuts would be my choice as you can screw the assembly together just snug enough for an even gasket seal and they will not come loose.
Graham.

911hillclimber wrote:Yes, worth a try.
Trouble with pop rivets is you have little control on the crush height before the nail fractures.
This could leave the seal very crushed at the rivet points.
The gasket is to stop air escaping sideways as the radiator will resist air flow so the gasket integrity is important.
Does the stone guard, gasket, radiator all get riveted together buy these rivets as one assembly?
If so, small bolts, large dia thick form washers and nylon nuts would be my choice as you can screw the assembly together just snug enough for an even gasket seal and they will not come loose.
Graham.

Graham, the gasket is fixed to the stone guard only. The oil cooler and stone guard share two fixing points on the inner wing. On an original 1972 stone guard I had the gasket was glued and riveted. Controlling the crush height of the rivet is important so that the gasket is not squashed. The idea, although an original Porsche method, of using rivets on highly deformable 'rubber' gaskets is a little odd.

Yes, assembling the pieces totally using these rivets seemed a bit odd, but my experience is only with the trombone tube coil and there is no guard at all.
I'd glue it!

i like the idea of not ruining the gasket (wasnt aware of the fragility of the ecosystem round the radiator) and using glue and some small bots/washers/nylocks to be certain. Then i dont need a rivet tool

Keep it simple!

Ordered some small dome shaped allen head bolts so they will even look like the rivets to a casual glance - i will put the nylocks on the side you cant see.

Thanks everyone.

AWD