Rear hub cover pins

Bob, that's what I did. I used my smallest drill bit and drilled into the broken levelled pin, all of them were like that and so I bought a set of stainless self tappers from RGM meant for the job, along with a new polished alloy cover. There were no problems except one screw went in at an angle but a solid repair.

You don't need much of a hole, the self tappers, though tiny are sharp and grip well.

Bob, that's what I did. I used my smallest drill bit and drilled into the broken levelled pin, all of them were like that and so I bought a set of stainless self tappers from RGM meant for the job, along with a new polished alloy cover. There were no problems except one screw went in at an angle but a solid repair.

You don't need much of a hole, the self tappers, though tiny are sharp and grip well.

Hello well I think some type of guider to keep the drill in the right place untilyou get the drill to make its hole has these small rivets are very hard todrill and is a challenge even for a skilled machinist, yes these small pins or rivets are not easy to get out and very challenging for the best of us, yours anna j

Indeed Anna and why one of my holes was at a slight angle but you don't need much of a hole, more of an indent and I used the same very small dia drill bit and the RGM stainless tiny screws went in without problems. Don't ask why, but they did?

If your best centre punch will make a mark then it should be possible to drill. As Anna has said use a drill press (pillar drill to us limeys) and clamp the job down to prevent movement. No farting around with a hand held black and decker. I have a wheel where the previous owner just drilled 6 holes next to the original knackered ones, I can still get a socket on the three sleeve nuts. If you really can't get a drill to touch the screws then spark erosion would be the next step.

Yes the original rivets are are extremity hard and no drill would touch them, I seem to remember they had rifled shanks as well just to make extraction even more difficult

I destroyed the already damaged light alloy hub cover and used ground down pincers to remove two of the blighters, the others were either already headless or the heads sheared under the pincers. I then took the hub to a specialist engineer in such matters and they removed the broken shanks for a price!! Spark erosion i think.

One hole had been damaged by me and was enlarged a little, could have been alloy welded but bearing in mind the light nature of the hub cover i filled the hole with soft solder and tapped it down with a punch, drilled a pilot hole and alls well.

The originals are what's known as milled rivets which are hardened and bite into the soft aluminium when hammered home. The easier alternative is to slightly offset the cover and drill new holes alongside the existing ones as there is plenty of casting and use the stainless screws as mentioned.