trying to replace widow channel on my '63 Wagonaire.

[wagonairedriver]

Time to start making the wagonaire weathertight (ish), and less rattle prone. I bought new window channel for all the doors, including the rigid runs for the front doors, the runs that the wing window closes against. I've got it all apart, but can't figure out how to secure it all together again. One needs to go through the window channel, the stainless backer, and the wing window L-shaped weather stripping that the wing window seals against. Has anybody figured out how to do this? I planned on using my pop rivet gun to hold everything together, but the nose won't fit tightly into the bottom of the window channel. HELP. I need ideas.
Thanks, Kelly

[mmagic]

I think I had the same dillema on the Champ last year. Pop rivets were too big so I ground heads on brass screws quite thin so they wouldn't interfere with glass in the channel. I then used these to replace the rivets that held the original pieces together.

[thunderations]

You may need to grind the sides of the rivet gun nose to get it to fit into the channel all the way. I've done a lot of these in other cars and have a special rivet gun nose adapted just for this. Sometimes you need to grind the sides of the rivet head also.

[rockne10]

I've installed them using a small drift or punch; laying the rivet head on a hard surface with the channel exposed upright and tapping the rivet barrel flat within the channel.

[bennys_64]

I've installed them using a small drift or punch; laying the rivet head on a hard surface with the channel exposed upright and tapping the rivet barrel flat within the channel.

Not sure what your resources are, but I thought I'd add to rockne10's comment. If you have someone to hold the channel for you: Put a bucking bar or the head of a ball pein hammer tight in a vise with the flush side of the head facing up. With someone holding the channel up for you, the (solid) rivet in the hole with the face directly and tightly pushed against the bucking bar/hammer face, you can take a steel punch ( the bigger the diameter the better) and hammer to hit the shank of the rivet. If you can keep from slipping off it gives the rivet a nice bucktail that you can easily dial in one shot at a time. It sounds like a pain but after the first one or two you get on a roll.

Under the correct circumstances, one of these can make the job easy... http://www.yardstore.com/browse.cfm/4,3898.html

Good Luck!

[garyash]

I bought a package of assorted brass tubular rivets at Ace Hardware - and a handful of small bearing balls about the same diameter as the rivet shanks. Push the shank through the layers, place a drill bit sideways on top of the head ( a bit large enough to protrude a little beyond the channel), and put a bearing ball on the end of the rivet. Use ViseGrips to squeeze the ball against the end of the rivet enough to start it mushrooming outwards. It's a little tricky and works best with a helper so that there are 4 hands available. On your first try, the ball will fly across the room and hide in a pile of something on the floor, but keep at it. Once the tube is spread enough to hold things in place, I used the end of piece of square stock drilled just enough to make a cavity and used it buck the rivet tight. See pic attached.

[mmagic]

With all the varied creativity on this board to solve the simplest problem we should all be restoring fine classic cars like Studebakers !

[Roscomacaw]

I've done what thunderations did - ground the sides of pop rivet heads so that they'd sit as deep as possible.