The car I am doing is a complete mess and I need to replace the firewall and the dash. Is there a place to buy the factory rivets and how do I go about documenting what the body shop is doing ? The car is a real X77 car and if he goes to sell it some day I don't want him to have problems ! Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you Emo
My worthless two cents...
The factory rivets used on VIN dash/cowl plates are not available from any sources that I am are of. That said, you 'might' be able to obtain them from the DMV or the Highway Patrol in your state. Since the body shop is replacing the rusted/damaged areas and you ARE documenting the repairs, and there is no fraud involved (like a re-body) you may be able to obtain the rivets through the sources I mentioned. Good luck, and keep us posted.
I am working on a '69 Camaro right now and have a rust that is severe at the windshield are that has required removing part of the front dash area and part of the cowl under the dash, luckily I can retain the original part of the cowl that has the hidden VIN numbers and my cowl tag, so I have ordered a repro dash panel and cowl and then carefully cut out the bad areas in the dash panel and cowl and butt welding in only the areas that needed to be replaced thus saving the important VIN, trim tag and hidden VIN on the cowl, it's a lot of work but I feel the best way to restore the car.
Trim tag and VIN tag rosette rivets are available on ebay. You can push the original trim tag rivets out from the backside. No need to drill them out like many do.