Hey to all sportster guys and gals
studid question
how do you take the points cover of a 94 1200
Want to replace it just because it looks bad, but it looks like it is pop riveted on there?:frownthre

your right they are pop rivets, but special sealed ones.
drill off the heads remove the cover and the plate under it popout the tails from the plate and get new revets for the new cover.
or use self tapping screws to hold it on like i did

Drill the rivets out then replace with rivets again (good) or self tapping screws (gooder).

Jim
cool man, thanks for letting me know
want to put something on there with some chrome ya know, the stock one looks crappy

fire medic
cool,
thanks to you 2 man

What? Ain't no points on a '94!

Still called a points cover though.

The holes in the inner cover that the rivets fit are the perfect
size for tapping for 10-32 NF threads. Then use 10-32 X 1/2 "
binding head S.S. screws to attach the outer "5" cover.

If you do use rivets, get them from a H-D shop!

They are not the same as your "around the workshop" rivets.
H-D PN 8699 is needed. (Cheap)
Specially designed so the rivet ends don't fall in the timing compartment.
Using regular rivets can also allow water to enter the timing compartment.

Drill them out, using 1/8" bit. Slowly......

Still called a points cover though.

Called timer cover in my manual. But who cares, right?

As far as special HD rivets, give me a break. That's the whole purpose of pop rivets, as they're called in the manual, so you don't need access to the other side. They wouldn't use them on aircraft if pieces fell out behind them. They are soft aluminum with a steel core (mandrel). The mandrel is pulled with a rivet gun, the back side of the aluminum mushrooms out, and when enough tension is reached on the rivet gun side, of the mandrel pops off. This is plenty water tight as long as the steel mandrel stays put, which its designed to do. Even in an open-end pop rivet, the head of the mandrel stays wedged in the mushroomed aluminum.

Called timer cover in my manual. But who cares, right?

As far as special HD rivets, give me a break. That's the whole purpose of pop rivets, as they're called in the manual, so you don't need access to the other side. They wouldn't use them on aircraft if pieces fell out behind them. They are soft aluminum with a steel core (mandrel). The mandrel is pulled with a rivet gun, the back side of the aluminum mushrooms out, and when enough tension is reached on the rivet gun side, of the mandrel pops off. This is plenty water tight as long as the steel mandrel stays put, which its designed to do. Even in an open-end pop rivet, the head of the mandrel stays wedged in the mushroomed aluminum.
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That's the whole point of using the special H-D rivets so they DON'T have the mandrel pop off!
That's like throwing lose metal in there. NOT a smart idea!

Tolerances are also such that when the rivet is drawn tight, the correct thickness of the parts will pull the cover tight. It doesn't take much to let water in.

Notice how the service manual states the warning in HEAVY print.
They did that for a reason. To warn you when R&R on the timing cover!

Two new rivets will run less than a buck. They were cheap enough, I bought a 1/2 dozen to have in case I wanted to open up the timing cover again. I think it was still close to a buck for 6 rivets. Very cheap!

Using the right parts is the right thing to do!
Don't be cheap. It's a many thousand dollar machine and saving pennies on the wrong parts is dumb.

THE MANDREL THAT POPS OFF IS THE PART IN THE RIVET GUN! The other end gets swaged into the back side of the rivet in the soft aluminum. Pop one where you can see it sometime. I worked on aircraft for 8 years. I popped thousands of rivets. Cheap? Tap those damn wholes and forget about it!