points cover

[Gone]

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?

[a45junkie]

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

[Scooter_Trash]

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

[Gone]

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

[Gone]

fire medic
cool,
thanks to you 2 man

[br_xl]

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

[Steve3888]

Still called a points cover though.

[br_xl]

Originally Posted by Steve3888

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.

[gusotto]

Originally Posted by br_xl

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.

________________________________________
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.

[wrongpaw]

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.