So I'm doing more Rust repair. Generally I hand make body patches and pretty much metal finish things off. Who has personally used there patch panels and how do body lines match and contours fit. They have a very large list of body pieces. I'm looking at the fender patch for 57 Ford but I suspect the Quality or lack of would be the same on most of there pieces. What makes me wonder is all there pieces come with a step in them for Lap weld. We all know you can't metal finish a double seam. If there parts are just kind of close, I don't need the lesson. The Wizzard
Stuff I have used on a 50 Chevy was decent, better than most, but not great. Also, it was heavy gauge, which is fine, if its right... but the heavier gauge material made it quite difficult to work, and make right.
Just last weekend I spent the day tacking 2 braces and a floorpan, all from EMS, into my '52 Chevy. The stuff fit well, all the lines mate up really well, and the metal is nice & heavy. My pans had a step around the edge, presumably for overlap; if you don't want it just cut it off! I **** welded mine- I wouldn't overlap them either.
Used a 1/4 and a door bottom for my 39, we had to modify both of them to fit.... Seems as if they were both a little long. No problem for me to trim them down, cause I am an amerture at best and it would have taken me forever to start from scratch. If you are acustomed to making your own panels, you will probably not be happy with them. I aloso used a "tool box" (back of the coupe inside panel) from EMS, it's fit was pretty good. http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg64/JMD_LCMS/39%20Ford/Picture020.jpg http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg64/JMD_LCMS/39 Ford/Picture021.jpg Thes pictures were made before we "finished" the patch, but you can see that we had to change where the edges came together with the old metal by cutting small sections out near the end. In all fairness to EMS, there was a lot of work done on this part of the car way back when so it may have fit better on a place of the car that had not taken a hell of a hit at one time... http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg64/JMD_LCMS/39 Ford/DSCF1071.jpg The front bottom portion of the door frame is a part of the EMS lower door kit. We used this part of the kit in conjunction with some of our own fab connected to the good original metal as soon as it was sound. The lower door kit was not "like original", it did not have all of the bends and such as stock (all one stamping), but it was a good start for me at the time. Since I am better at working with metal I might not buy this kit if I needed to make the same repair today.
I used there 1/4 panels, rocker panels & tail panel on 39 Chevy coupe & was quite happy with the out come. Like what was said before, they are a heavy ga. I but welded them in also. For what it's worth
I'm working on the Front fenders right now. I spoke to a local Body shop owner today who says He has installed these exact patch panels. He knows me pretty well and says with a little extra work I'll be happy with them. He informed Me that He thought they were wider than a stock fender and the center ridge didn't line up well as is. In his shop they fixed them with Body Man in a Can. I ordered both sides with the inner brace piece today. I'm hoping for the Best and will post an update once done. Thanks for all the input. If all goes well I'll use there quarter panel pieces also. The Wizzard
I've used them on a few projects and I can tell you that you will need to modify them sometimes extensively to fit but the general shape is there which is good if you don't have a lot of metal shaping knowledge or tools. I could never understand why the aftermarket parts suppliers don't find nos panels or clean originals and make the molds from them. And they are thicker guage than the originals which makes metal finishing a little tougher. My 2 cents.
I used one of their tail pans on my 38 Chevy Coupe. I was very pleased with it. Like everyone says, its not gonna fit right out of the box. Takes some t*******.
============ when was the last time you saw a nos floor pan???? if we find them we use them including clean originals. remember for ford ***embly line rejects were sent to the dealers for there parts dept to sell, nos parts come from old dealer stock. belive me we spend a lot of time trying to make sure the parts are as close to oem as we can get , sometimes the good stuff just does not exsist. and yes when needed we can ask alot of specilist and industry experts to help us make them right, but there is financial limit to the part. make the best we can for the market will pay. oh by the way are we sure that the recieving car is straight and level and not twisted from age and abuse???
I used ems rear floors and tunnel in my wag, wish I would have bought all my pans from them. I was very happy with the fit, just a little t******* to make the fit really good. I will buy the rest of my panels from them, 1 at a time, stupid small car repair budget! Brad
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