Am an an idiot or is there a trick to drilling out the rivets on an electric choke? I've broken two 7/64 drill bits just trying to drill straight through on these things and all I've done is made a bunch of hazardous metal dust in the process. They're black n decker drill bits, they should be fine - is there another method to getting the black choke housing cover that I could try? Am I just using the wrong type of drill bits? I've never drilled out a rivet before but I feel like there is no way I should be screwing this up this badly.

 

You're an idiot! No, I couldn't resist, just kidding.
Do you have a good "feel" when using a drill motor, i.e.- are you in good control of it?
Why so small of a bit? You only want to remove the head of the rivet - no more.
You will need more like a 1/4" or even 5/16" bit. And you don't run the motor at full speed.
Oh yeah, turning clockwise. I've seen people try to drill a hole with the motor going in the wrong direction.
Drill slowly and be ready to stop when the head releases, otherwise you will mess up the choke housing.
Then just tap the rest of the rivet out of the hole with a punch. Good Luck.

 

I'm glad I stopped before I ruined something! I thought the point was to kind of destroy the whole rivet and replace it with a self trapping screw when putting the choke back. How am I supposed to just remove the head without drilling through the entire rivet, though? Wouldn't using a drill bit large enough to do that bust out the sides of the choke housing?

 

No, you will stop LONG before you drill the choke housing. Once you get through the head of the rivet, it will fall off.
I will do some google searching for a picture.

 

The mandrel is usually steel, probably why the bits broke.

 

Wizz wheel takes about 3 seconds each.

Zzzzzzzzing. Done.

 

That will work also.

 

Just be very careful. The carb metal drills like butter if you were to overdrill.

 

Those things were a real PIA! The rivets on the cover for the IAB valve were even worse! I had to destroy that little copper cover to get to it.

Thanks for all your help everybody!