3.4 Vehicle body joining processes

• Threaded fasteners used in vehicle body joining (bolts, nuts, screws, studs)
• Locking devices that stop fasteners loosening
• Riveting as applied in vehicle body
• Joining body parts using adhesive

• describe threaded fasteners used in vehicle body joining
• illustrate locking devices used in vehicle body
• illustrate riveting as applied in vehicle body
• perform a joining process on vehicle body parts using adhesive
• acknowledge the role of joining processes in vehicle body

“Why are joining processes important in vehicle body work?”

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1. Why a body is made of joined pieces
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Why no vehicle body is made in one piece, and what the three joining methods are for.
2. Bolts and screws
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The difference between a bolt taking a nut and a screw threading into the part, and why it matters in repair.
3. Nuts and studs
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The common nut types you will meet, and why a stud is used instead of a bolt in soft or repeatedly opened joints.
4. Thread form, diameter and pitch
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   How a thread is described and measured, and why the wrong pitch destroys the thread in the part.
5. Bolt grades and strength
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   What the numbers on a bolt head mean, and why fitting a weak bolt where a strong one belongs is dangerous.
6. Tightening and torque
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   What tightening actually does to a bolt, and why the correct tightness is a specified figure rather than a matter of feel.
7. Why fasteners come loose
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   The three causes of loosening, all of which reduce the stretch in the bolt, and why every locking device exists.
8. Friction locking devices
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Spring washers, nyloc nuts, lock nuts and thread-locking compound, how each adds friction, and what they cannot do.
9. Positive locking devices
   40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
   Split pins, tab washers and locking wire, which block rotation physically rather than relying on friction.
10. Choosing a locking device
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Three questions that decide which locking device belongs on a joint, and why the first one overrides the others.
11. What a rivet is and where it is used
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How a rivet works, why its permanence is the point, and where rivets appear on a vehicle body.
12. Riveting a solid rivet
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The four stages of solid riveting in order, and the stage most often skipped that gives a loose joint.
13. Blind rivets
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    How a blind rivet is set from one side, why that changed body work, and its limits.
14. How adhesive holds a joint
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Why bonding spreads load along a whole seam, what else adhesive does that fasteners cannot, and what it demands in return.
15. Bonding a panel
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    The five steps of a bonded joint, why preparation decides whether it holds, and the two mistakes that cause most failures.
16. Choosing the joining method
    40 min · 1 practice tasks · quiz
    Pulling the sub-strand together: comparing the three methods and choosing between them for a real repair.