1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

[Ted F.]

Owned this car for 26 years and this is the first time I have had to change the rotors. I have drilled out the rivets on the drivers side. Wow, there has to be an easier way?

How do we set the rivets? Do we just hammer them on?

Any tips would be appreciated!

[Michael G.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

Ted,

I've been Corvette restorations for 20 years. One thing I've learned there are some processes and procedures that are best left to someone who does this on a daily basis. More importantly someone or company that has the knowledge, expertise and equipment. I do most all phases of the restoration however can't do it all. Not worth my time nor do I want to purchase the correct equiptment to some the procedures. Such is the case of your front rotors. Recently sent a set of front rotors to Bairs Corvettes http://www.bairs.com/ http://www.bairs.com/page338.asp. They are removing the old rotors, re-riveting new USA rotors, installing bearing races, bearings, bearing grease seal and adding new studs into the hub. Run out when done will somewhere between .001 and .003. Perfect. Ask for Brian Bair.....tell them RestoMike recommended them. That's how I handled it.

[Joe L.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

Owned this car for 26 years and this is the first time I have had to change the rotors. I have drilled out the rivets on the drivers side. Wow, there has to be an easier way?

How do we set the rivets? Do we just hammer them on?

Any tips would be appreciated!

Ted------


Do you want to re-rivet them for the purpose of originality (even though no one will ever see the rivets when the wheels are installed on the car) or would some other method of retaining the rotors be satisfactory for you?

[Larry M.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

Ted:

Agree with RestoMike. Call Brian and tell him what you need. Then put the rotors in a box and send them to him. In less than a few weeks you will have correct, new rotors to bolt on your car. The biggest delay will likely be UPS shipping.

Larry

[Michael W.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

The biggest issue with fitting new rotors is not fooling around with rivets, but with ensuring that there is little or no runout of the friction surface. Being that the hub mating surface was not necessarily ground perpendicular to the axle when new, it is mandatory to at least measure the deviation. If anything over .003" is found, the best remedy is to have the rotor and hub machined as an assembly. The lug nuts will do a fine job of retaining the rotor in place.

[Ted F.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

A little of both, but mainly just to be safe. What is your suggestion? It sounds interesting enough like one of my thoughts.

[John S.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

Guys,

What am I missing here? I just had my front rotors off my 67 this weekend. Where are the rivets? I know there are rivets on the back rotors. I was not aware of any on the front. Were original rotors 2 piece? Straighten me out here.

John

[Gary R.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

John
There was a time you could buy a complete front assy from GM. I think the last one I bought was $99 but that was 25 years ago.
The rivets are not hard to remove. Center punch,center drill, 1/4" bit, then 5/16" bit just below the head thickness, cold chisel across the flat and a shot with a hammer will break it in 2 and you can drive out the body.
As a lot know I bolt them on to dial in. Fronts can be kiss cut on a brake lathe without a problem. Rears are a little different.

[Michael W.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

Guys,

What am I missing here? I just had my front rotors off my 67 this weekend. Where are the rivets? I know there are rivets on the back rotors. I was not aware of any on the front. Were original rotors 2 piece? Straighten me out here.

John

Original rotors were riveted to the hub as a factory convenience item for final machining and handling of the assembly. Once installed on the car, the rivets are redundant.

Your present units might be aftermarket pieces.

[Ted F.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

John,

That is interesting? I am no expert on this by any means. My front brakes had rivets, but my back brakes did not. Although there were holes where rivets could have been. From what I have been told in this board so far is the rivets are needed to be technically correct, but now for safety. Now I am wondering if there should be rivets front and back and my back rivets were just missing? Hopefully some one will tell us. This is an L71

[Michael W.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

Now I am wondering if there should be rivets front and back and my back rivets were just missing? Hopefully some one will tell us. This is an L71

There were originally rivets front and back, as previously stated for OEM convenience only.

[Ridge K.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

Ted,

I've been Corvette restorations for 20 years. One thing I've learned there are some processes and procedures that are best left to someone who does this on a daily basis. More importantly someone or company that has the knowledge, expertise and equipment. I do most all phases of the restoration however can't do it all. Not worth my time nor do I want to purchase the correct equiptment to some the procedures. Such is the case of your front rotors. Recently sent a set of front rotors to Bairs Corvettes http://www.bairs.com/ http://www.bairs.com/page338.asp. They are removing the old rotors, re-riveting new USA rotors, installing bearing races, bearings, bearing grease seal and adding new studs into the hub. Run out when done will somewhere between .001 and .003. Perfect. Ask for Brian Bair.....tell them RestoMike recommended them. That's how I handled it.

Some of the best advice I've read on the TDB in a while...

And yes, I understand that some folks enjoy do-it-yourself. But some components should be left to the experts.
I chuckle to myself every time someone on the threads talks about rebuilding their own alternator or generator...

[Ted F.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

Thank you Michael!

[Michael W.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

.
I chuckle to myself every time someone on the threads talks about rebuilding their own alternator or generator...

I do too Ridge, after seeing first handed how simple and easy a rebuild of an alternator is. Can't imagine sending them out any more. My first has gone 5,000 miles with nary a fault. I bought rebuild kits for all my spares also and wonder which decade it will be before I'll actually get to put them into service.

Seriously, correctly fitting new front rotors is one of the simplist and most straight forward jobs that can be done on a C2/C3, given proper tooling and procedures. Diving straight in and 'assuming' it must be same as any other car is what causes most problems.

[Pat M.]

Re: 1967 Front Rotor Hub Rivets

I do too Ridge, after seeing first handed how simple and easy a rebuild of an alternator is. Can't imagine sending them out any more. My first has gone 5,000 miles with nary a fault.

I agree. While some things should be left to experts, my alternator was a no-brainer.

I found a non-working but correct one for my 70 on ebay, disassembled it, gently cleaned it, and changed out the "guts". Took very little time and effort, and it's worked perfectly for years since.