[70LonghornCST]

I agree with leaving in those two bottom rivets in if you can help it. I found out the hard way the first time I ever messed with a set of these. The second time, leaving those two rivets in, the only issue I had was the having the right rivet gun to fit in the channel as mentioned above. I had a cheap one from Harbor Freight that had different sized tips, which were either larger or smaller based on the size of the rivet. It is a pain at times to build these windows, but by the second attempt, and even the third and fourth, you'll start feeling much more adept at it.

Good luck and have fun learning. That's part of the fun!

Originally Posted by dmjlambert

I bought the Precision seals and rivet kit with the special little punch from GMC Pauls. It did not go very well on the first one, and I had removed the rivets that hold the bottom of the triangle part.
Attachment 1965566

It was impossible for me to get the rivets back in there. So I used some small screws.

Using the punch for the other rivets did require my wife's help to give me some more hands for about 10 minutes of the job.

For the second window I watched a video online where a guy showing how it's done took loose other rivets, but not those particular ones I had trouble with. So the second one was much easier.

https://youtu.be/WiZOiHmcb_w

I also did not remove the large rivet that pivots for the window. Instead, I removed the smaller rivets that hold the pivot to the frame.

I found that the new rivets from GMC Paul were not drilled deep enough. So when they were completely squashed with the punch, the rivet did not hold the thin metal pieces tight in some places in the assembly. So, I had some drilling and re-doing and experimenting around and thinking about it to waste some of my time.

I finally just took a little drill bit and drilled the rivets slightly deeper and it made a big difference in how easy it all was. I did some looking online to find rivets made with a deeper hole depth, and it was just too overwhelming to look into it and figure out which ones to buy, so I decided next time I do this I will simply buy the rivet kit from GMC Pauls again and drill them out a little before I begin.
Attachment 1965569

After this experience I feel it would be no big deal to do another set of these using the rivet punch.