Sorry, I couldn't resist! Anywho, what it looks like you're trying to do is very similar to how the rear Bushwacker Flat Flares are installed. I'm not sure why you need to rivet anything, though. Why not just cut it?

 

Don't make me come down there you sick bastard

 

OP, how do you think that's going to gain you more clearance than the simple cut and fold method?

It's not.

 

That would be a bad idea, it will just leak water inside because the seam sealer is right there at the spot welds. And over time the rivets would fall out, and make a big mess. The picture will show you that the two panels split

 

Yep, there's not enough material to bridge the gap if you lose the pinch welds. Only option is to cut and weld in new steel if you do that. Here's what the gap looks like with the outter half the wheel well cut out, even with it there you couldn't bend or manipulate it to come back into contact with the quarter panel.





I thought I could hit it with a BFH enough to get it to line up with where I cut and just weld things back together but the material just isn't there an there's even less to work with if you wanted to rivet it.

 

I used gas pipe to weld them together