heater control repair non ac

[1969burb]

I pulled my control apart to see why the levers were loose, and found all four rivets? that hold the main support body for the cables were pulled away from the face plate. I did not have a support on the rear of the control, but i am assuming there was something there from the factory. Does anyone know of a way to resecure this without drilling holes through the faceplate for new rivets or nuts/bolts? I don't know if this type of metal would take welding of any kind. I found a couple of these controls in trucks at a local wrecking yard and they all had the nut/bolt repair already done to them. I'm sure it works just fine, just ugly to look at. So i'm obviously not the first one to have this problem. any suggestions would be appreciated. thanks, steve