The long-awaited, hard-sought semi-tubular truss head rivets in a particular size and length for the roof to galvanized drip channel made their way across the pond at long last. First order of business was to remove all the bolts holding the roof to the windscreen and sides, then drill and punch out all of the temporary pop-rivets as well as several remaining originals that were missing heads. Then clamp the parts together firmly and rivet the new ones in place using a hand held anvil and shaped punch.
Out of the 168 total around the roof channel only 16 needed to be replaced so most of the time was spent on disassembling and reassembling the roof bolts. In the absence of a rivet squeezer tool and dies for of this size, teamwork with a handheld anvil (sledgehammer) and some diy blacksmith-made punches had to suffice, in fact only one punch (the top one in the photo) was necessary to obtain the most workable results. If and when the vehicle can be dried out in a space or time that is warm enough, caulking can be applied over the rivets and the major water ingress issues should be tamed. Until then, we continue to tarp–but the rivets are in!
