Whittling Down Some Small Parts For The Barracuda On The Unimat Lathe

It's not often I have a project small enough to use the Unimat DB200, so when this project presented itself, I took advantage of it. The rocker molding on my 1966 Barracuda uses nylon/plastic "push rivets" to hold the bottom edge of the molding to the car. They are small plastic things that have fingers which are pressed through a hole in the molding, then through a hole in the car's rocker panel, after which the center pin is driven in with a hammer to expand the fingers outward, keeping the rivet in place. A flange on the outer end of the rivets holds the molding flush to the car. Below is a photo showing an original white rivet next to some black ones I found at O-Reilly Auto Parts.

I've read on a Mopar forum that the original white nylon rivets are difficult to find, so I decided to just look at the local auto parts to see what they had to offer. I think these black things will work. I just need to whittle down the large flange to .375" diameter from their original .620" diameter.

I made a simple jig to hold a rivet. I started with a 5/32" drill bit,  then moved to a 1/4" bit.

The jig is .375" diameter so it is easy to cut the rivet to the correct size.

After I completed the first few rivets, I noticed some slipping inside the jig so I used the tailstock to press the center pin further into the rivet to keep the rivet from spinning in the jig.

Here's a shot of the Unimat lathe. It is tiny but for this job it worked well.

I suppose I should put in a photo of the rocker trim after installation. The black rivets kind of show up more than the white nylon ones would but you'll never see them unless you're on the ground.