My headlight header experience.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,614
Likes: 350
From: No Where USA
My headlight header experience.
I had to remove the header to remove the rivets and then epoxy the header back in. Don't waste your time with a drill. I ground off the heads with a grinder and then used an electric die grinder I bought in Harbor Freight with a pointed grinder. After I had the header out I went around each rivet head with the die grinder and the rivets fell out. Took me 1/2 hour to get it out. I removed everything in front of the radiator. Including the grills and the brackets that might be in the way. It makes it easier to get the header in and out. I sanded everything with 40 grit to clean up the areas. I did the same with the header and then painted it except for the mating surface. You only need one epoxy setup. 2 tubes that come in a kit. I wasn't sure so I bought an extra one in case I ran out. I applied the epoxy to the header and went to put it in. The epoxy will get messy. I put it in and it wasn't centered and the marks I made somehow disappeared. So I used the inner fender to header brackets to get it centered. Once I started to clamp it up the epoxy was a mess dripping down onto everything. So cover whatever you don't want the epoxy on. Make sure you have your wood and clamps ready. I had a bunch of spring clamps but it turned out I didn't have enough. I had welding vise grips with my welder so I also used those. Clamped everything up and let it sit for 2 days. I also had to fix my rear fender, a piece had broken off so I set that up with the epoxy. I am going to clean up the epoxy drips and then repaint the header. The holes that were there from the rivets were filled in with the epoxy and the rivet bump are no longer there. I am going to block sand the area and skim coat it.
This is not a hard job. It would take a weekend to do. You could probably get away with not having to paint the nose of your car if you are careful because the bumps went away as soon as the rivets were gone.
This is not a hard job. It would take a weekend to do. You could probably get away with not having to paint the nose of your car if you are careful because the bumps went away as soon as the rivets were gone.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Sep 2006
Posts: 2,814
Likes: 469
From: Wichita Kansas
I had to remove the header to remove the rivets and then epoxy the header back in. Don't waste your time with a drill. I ground off the heads with a grinder and then used an electric die grinder I bought in Harbor Freight with a pointed grinder. After I had the header out I went around each rivet head with the die grinder and the rivets fell out. Took me 1/2 hour to get it out. I removed everything in front of the radiator. Including the grills and the brackets that might be in the way. It makes it easier to get the header in and out. I sanded everything with 40 grit to clean up the areas. I did the same with the header and then painted it except for the mating surface. You only need one epoxy setup. 2 tubes that come in a kit. I wasn't sure so I bought an extra one in case I ran out. I applied the epoxy to the header and went to put it in. The epoxy will get messy. I put it in and it wasn't centered and the marks I made somehow disappeared. So I used the inner fender to header brackets to get it centered. Once I started to clamp it up the epoxy was a mess dripping down onto everything. So cover whatever you don't want the epoxy on. Make sure you have your wood and clamps ready. I had a bunch of spring clamps but it turned out I didn't have enough. I had welding vise grips with my welder so I also used those. Clamped everything up and let it sit for 2 days. I also had to fix my rear fender, a piece had broken off so I set that up with the epoxy. I am going to clean up the epoxy drips and then repaint the header. The holes that were there from the rivets were filled in with the epoxy and the rivet bump are no longer there. I am going to block sand the area and skim coat it.
This is not a hard job. It would take a weekend to do. You could probably get away with not having to paint the nose of your car if you are careful because the bumps went away as soon as the rivets were gone.
This is not a hard job. It would take a weekend to do. You could probably get away with not having to paint the nose of your car if you are careful because the bumps went away as soon as the rivets were gone.
Thread Starter
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2002
Posts: 11,614
Likes: 350
From: No Where USA
