I ordered some lower doorskins and door bottoms for my 34 pickup last week from a reputable vendor. They weren't bargin ba*****t cheap, but they're not $500 Bobby walden stuff either. To put it mildly, they don't fit worth a ****. It's not my doors either, I've got the closest thing to cherry pickup doors you'll find, just some minor rust in the bottoms, and here and there in the lower bead. The two door bottoms are like a quarter inch different in width, and the lower skins (4" tall) have got a ton too much crown in them, not to mention the folded edges that are pre folded in the wrong damn place. I ordered rear cab corners, they're so bad they're going back, or in the garbage. I guess I'm just ranting..I know decent panels can be had for A's and non pickup 32-34s. Every vendor that has pics up on the web of the pickup stuff though, looks like they're buying from the same supplier. Anybody found a source for quality stuff for the pickups, or am I stuck making this junk work?
I can see a little body work but if the stuff is that bad, I would send all that **** back. Just keep your eye out on a different vendor for a better product. Good Luck
Yep they make patch panels in china and similar places. .......I have however seen panels that are just as ****py made here or in the US. Whenever something gets popular, some lowbuck SOB will start makeing dodgy **** too get a quick buck. Take a look at the Harley parts business .........it is so full of cheap, rippoff **** it is hard to find decent parts. But as long as there are cashed up wannabees too stupid to know the difference, these *******s will make a quick buck. Hang on, it's gonna get worse. The wannabees have discovered rodding and are paying stupid money for **** products. Get a refund, buy yourself a shrinker/stretcher and a swagger and make your own patches.......come on. you know you NEED the tools
The bottoms of those doors are just plain flat sheetmetal anyway, right? Just make a piece to weld in where it was rusted out. Lower door skins are always a waste of time since they're always just a flat sheet with a lip around them. They're so easily made, they're not worth buying.
oh hell no. They're crowned in two directions plus have the roughly 1 1/4" bead on the bottom. I don't mind making stuff, but I think lower doors on one of these would be difficult without a wheel or a power hammer. The bead is about the only part that would be easy.
I HAVE a shrinker/stretcher. Without it, these ****ty panels would be useless Don't misunderstand, these panels are workable, but only just. I am just kinda frustrated it takes so much to make them fit. But, I think without buying skins that cost about what a mortgage payment does, I'm stuck, so I'll shut up
how bout a heads up on who not to buy from ,im looking to buy the same patch panels for my 33. dont have to call any one out but a pm would be cool
I had to do a cab corner on a 60's Chevy truck last week, the guy bought new ones so I figured it'd go easy....nope. The cab corner I needed to completely replace was so crooked, the door jamb side of it was angled such a way that the top of the patch stuck over 1/2" into the door opening. I had to pie cut the patch panel two time to pull it in so the door jamb would be right, and then the bottom was a little bit off. Could never get the backside to line up exactly right, but the owner told me to get it as close as I could without major surgery since it was an area that would never be seen....We know where NOT to buy cab corners from now at least!
I was watching this lame show on TV today ( old car television ...or something ) You know these shows, were they only show three cars in three minutes and the rest is filler BS? Well, in the last segment they show a NORS chevy parts retailer in oakville, ontario then the host raps up the show with a corney smile and stupid comment like this " ....and most parts for vintage chevrolets are still available- now parts are being made in China as well! so it looks like the hobby will be still going strong for years to come" or some BS like that- he said it like it was a GREAT thing!, yeah! WooHoo!...... what a tool. Gee, you don't think that the parts dealer on the show serves up china parts, do ya think?
I have NEVER come across a repop patch panel that was right. some are useless, some can be made to work, but none ever fit like the factory part would.
Dude, I live that **** everyday as a full time bodyman. All the insurance companys buy "aftermarket sheetmetal" from taiwan and china and it ALL FITS LIKE ****! So if it's not oem, you better expect your going to have to work on it to make it fit. Is it fair you dropped your hard earned greenbacks down and got screwed? Hell no, but trust me when I say that is the way 99.99 percent of that **** fits. Good luck.
Hey, Not to rain on anybody's pitty party or anything, but if you think the sheetmetal parts available today ****, you woulda really loved the **** available thirty years ago. I usta shudder when somebody would bring me a NOS fender or quarter, and say this should fit like a glove! **** Me! the rumor was that sheetmetal parts, for parts supply, were stamped on worn tooling, or by sub supplier. Some of the stuff by Carpenter and EMS ain't to chabby when ya look back at where the industry has been. S****ey Devils C.C.
I also heard that a lot of NOS body stuff (the parts set aside as spares) were basically seconds and as a result don't fit as well as the original factory ***embled parts.
Nahh, I'm not going to roll the vendor under the bus, because like I said, I'm pretty sure there's about one supplier for these panels in any real quan***y. As I stated, they work, but it was far more work than I thought it should be to get a good result. What I WILL suggest, is give these guys a try maybe. I didn't, because I was in a real time constraint, hadn't ever dealt with them before, etc. http://www.alfaparts.net/ford32.htm
Any HAMBers ever use Wolf Steel products? ... I'd sure be curious to hear any opinions about their patch panels. In addition to my Hot Rod, I also have a 61 Alfa Romeo Giulietta Spider. Several years ago I purchased a set of trunk floor sheet metal for my Alfa from Wolf (Alfa's are notorious for rotting trunk floors ... the battery is mounted behind the right rear wheel well). Anyway, the Wolf Steel panels weren't even close to fitting ... and were way lighter gauge ... I sent them back and got a refund. I see from their website, that Wolf has expanded beyond "just an Alfa sheet metal supplier" ... and that several of their pieces are "New & improved" (using heavier guage material that is equivalient to the original). I just might be willing to try Wolf again ... HAMBers?
thats a truth. no die set, i dont care what it is, will last forever. but back in the day they used to "have to" last a lot longer. this was due to the fact that all manufacturing companies had to make enough components by law to be able stock parts for 80% of their original production. then as time went on that number was dropped back more and more and then came higher inventory taxes. so now you have subs pretty much making all components for cars anywhere and anyhow they can... even brand new cars. i did work for a molding shop that did touch-ups and repairs on molds for injection molding companies on the production end of it. wed see molds that would come in for cars that had been on the road less than a year. no car company actually owns their own tooling in the U.S. anymore. they sub everything, most times to the cheapest bidder.
Yes, I used wolf steel on my 32 pick up. door skins, cab corners and lower cowl patches left and right. the door skins were all right but the cab corners and the cowl patches were difficult. Saying that, finding a decent 32 donor was too expensive and the ones that were available were junk. A cherry set of 32 truck doors go for $2000.(33-34 are identical) Too expensive. You must remember were dealing with battle aged sheetmetal that is 75 years old... Henrys parts did not fit well when new....He had many plants make his sheet metal all over the country,,,,meaning that, I have heard stories of guys having nos fenders for a 40 ford and one was larger and shape different than the other(not by much but none the less different) I don't know if wolf steel is made in china... but....It was better than nothing. worked for me.
I ordered a repop visor for my 31 A, when I ordered it the girl let me know it was "more of a street rod piece" which I guess meant that it more or less resembled a 31 Ford visor. The workmanship was very poor, eneven lines, and you could still see some of the welds and grinder / stretcher marks on it. It basically is just better than having nothing. I also bought a 40 Ford center grille section from Macs, but they told me UP FRONT that these were made in China and very poor quality (flashing still there, needed lots of tweaking) At least they tried to warn me.
I Know this is kinda OT. but my insurance company tried this with me. My friends that was riding with me during the accident is a laywer, and when they were gonna replace my parets with cheap aftermarket ones on the car., i was talking with him, all it took was a letter from the lawyer, and it got 100% GM parts put back on it. if you read they have to make the car "As it was" before the accident. At least thats how my Insurance company worded it. ANd it was made with GM parts, it will be damn well fixed with GM parts, i dont pay oput my *** for good insurance to have them screw me.
That means that you should not attempt to make it fit yourself. you order it and take it to the body shop that is building your high dollar street rod and let them worry about how poorly it fits
About 10 years ago I did some floor pans on a Corvair. The customer brought in the pans from a place called "Clarks Corvair." Those were the very best fitting pans I have ever seen. I have done a lot of truck cab rebuilding, most of the time cab corners are a waste of time, its easier to build them from scratch then to redo the available **** out there. Gene
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