Patent ID: 6931730

Claim:
A method of making a body of a vehicle, comprising: forming a space frame for a vehicle having spaced apart holes on a body panel receiving surface to which at least one body panel is to be attached; measuring the location of the body panel receiving surface of the space frame to determine body coordinates and comparing the measured body coordinates to reference body coordinates; inserting rivet nuts into the holes, the rivet nuts each having a head portion that has a top surface and a fastener receptacle; milling the head portions of the rivet nuts to reduce the spacing between the top surface of the heads and the body panel receiving surface of the space frame to correct for deviations between the measured body coordinates and the reference body coordinates; and assembling the at least one body panel to the rivet nuts by inserting a fastener through the panel and into the fastener receptacle, whereby the body panel is secured against the top surface of the head portion of the rivet nut after the head portion has been milled to correct for deviations.