As someone new to Corvette's and to this club it's a bit risky posting a hint or tip - as members have probably being doing what I am suggesting here since the year dot without remarking on it. However, in the spirit of sharing some experiences ......
One of the first things I needed to do to get to the rear suspension was to remove the brake rotors. As this was the first time they needed to be removed the rotors were still fixed to the hubs so the 5 rivets had to be drilled out. (see pic 1)
The rivets are hot pressed into the hub during manufacture and the rivet head spreads unpredictably in the round depression in the brake rotor. I found that most of the rivet heads weren't centred around the hole that the rivet actually sits in. Thus a reasonably accurate method was required to find the rivet hole centre so that the rivet could be drilled without risk of damaging the hub.
Trawling the internet I found a number of suggestions - some quite complex and requiring specific tools that I don't have. Example: fitting the new disk the wrong way round on the existing disk (without wheel nuts attached) , fitting the wheel nuts on the inside of the new rotor and then using a 3/8" centre punch to mark the rivet centre through the new rotor's rivet hole. Neat and very precise - but I don't have a centre punch like that.
I needed something simpler. In my box of spare nuts, bolts and washers I found a washer (pic 2) 19mm in outer diameter with a 3 mm inner diameter that, with a tiny bit of fettling on the outer diameter, fitted the rivet hole perfectly (pic 4) leaving a small hole in the middle just big enough to fit a standard centre punch (pic 3). Simples. That just left me the small job of drilling 20 rivets out....
One of the first things I needed to do to get to the rear suspension was to remove the brake rotors. As this was the first time they needed to be removed the rotors were still fixed to the hubs so the 5 rivets had to be drilled out. (see pic 1)
The rivets are hot pressed into the hub during manufacture and the rivet head spreads unpredictably in the round depression in the brake rotor. I found that most of the rivet heads weren't centred around the hole that the rivet actually sits in. Thus a reasonably accurate method was required to find the rivet hole centre so that the rivet could be drilled without risk of damaging the hub.
Trawling the internet I found a number of suggestions - some quite complex and requiring specific tools that I don't have. Example: fitting the new disk the wrong way round on the existing disk (without wheel nuts attached) , fitting the wheel nuts on the inside of the new rotor and then using a 3/8" centre punch to mark the rivet centre through the new rotor's rivet hole. Neat and very precise - but I don't have a centre punch like that.
I needed something simpler. In my box of spare nuts, bolts and washers I found a washer (pic 2) 19mm in outer diameter with a 3 mm inner diameter that, with a tiny bit of fettling on the outer diameter, fitted the rivet hole perfectly (pic 4) leaving a small hole in the middle just big enough to fit a standard centre punch (pic 3). Simples. That just left me the small job of drilling 20 rivets out....
