Question About Rivet Bubbles on Hood
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 232
Likes: 0
From: New Market Maryland
Question About Rivet Bubbles on Hood
Can anyone tell me the cause of the rivet bubbles on the hood above the head lights on many C3s that I see? Did they come this way from the factory?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Dec 2003
Posts: 5,727
Likes: 38
From: Fremont CA
The metal panel that the headlght gear bolts to is riveted to the bonding strip and then glassed into the front surround. Corrosion of the riviets makes the area expand and the rivet bubbles you see appear above the headlights. Fix is to remove rivets although you can grind down the area and finish it for a quick fix(3-5 year fix.) If you grind down area, and get at bracket from below and attack the corosion by blasting and priming it, the fix will last a lot longer than just attacking the top area.
Instructor
Joined: Feb 2006
Posts: 144
Likes: 0
If i remember correctly the rivets are made of aluminum and the crossmember is of steel the 2 materials dont mix well, we did drill out all the rivets on a friends 69 and replaced the rivets with SS ones, it's been 4years now and no sign of any problems
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,943
Likes: 44
From: Florham Park NJ Port Credit Ontario
actually, the rivets are not needed anymore. 3M makes a product that will bond the metal headlight surround directly to the underside fiberglass. late Model C3's did not have the rivets either.
