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Posted by: jjbunn Sep 2 2010, 10:14 AM

I want to replace the black plastic sill plates with a pair of aluminium plates, which I have on hand.

What is the best way of removing the plastic round headed rivets that hold the current sill plates in place, without damaging the plates? Drilling them out looks tricky.

I'd rather not rivet the metal plates, and want to use small self tapping round head screws (I'm not concerned about originality). Is there any practical disadvantage to doing this?

Thanks for any advice!

Posted by: Mikey914 Sep 2 2010, 10:19 AM

Try clear plastic rivets, I know another member sells them here

Posted by: realred914 Sep 2 2010, 10:21 AM

drill them out, hold stead, slow drill speed, just drill enough to remove the plastic rivit head, then off it comes.

good luck

Posted by: dr914@autoatlanta.com Sep 2 2010, 10:32 AM

push the peg through the rivet with a very small drift and then replace them with the factory opaque rivets to keep the same hole dimension.

Posted by: Tom_T Sep 2 2010, 02:44 PM

Julian, IMHO the factory should've used SS screws there to make removal for inspection of the longs easy!

I just slide a single edge razor blade up under the heads & cut them off, then the peg drops or can easily be pushed through the hole. Home Depot, Lowes, Ace, etc. sells those blades in 5 packs for paint scrapers, box cutters, etc., but just hold it flat by the reinforced back edge/corners, rock it back-n-forth to cut & go slow & careful so you don't cut into the threshold.

Posted by: jjbunn Sep 2 2010, 04:35 PM

Thanks for all the great advice, folks!

Posted by: Ian Stott Sep 2 2010, 04:47 PM

I used a sharp wood chisel and gave them a love tap and the head came off clean, make sure you go it from a pretty flat angle and you won't damage the plastic sills at all, or at least I didn't. The stem falls inside and I wasn't worried about that as they are plastic and can't harm anything. The Aluminium sills look great by the way.

Ian Stott
Moncton
Canada

Posted by: tod914 Sep 2 2010, 05:13 PM

Hi JJ, easiest to push the pin through, then the rivet will come out. You could probally pull the pin up if you patient and want to save them. Porsche no longer makes the correct white you'll need for the sill plates, only clear. If you click down by my signature you can see what's involved in installing the ones I have for sale. Much much cheaper than what Porsche will charge. I'm waiting on a quote to have the OEM size duplicated exactly. Let me know if you need any.

Tod

Posted by: BigDBass Sep 2 2010, 06:00 PM

For nearly 4 years I've been debating replacing my black ones with aluminum ones I have on hand, but that little thing known as originality thing keeps poking its ugly face in my bidness