Just curious as a FNG, I've got some replacement patch panels and am unimpressed with the fit. Is this a result of pre-war OEM manufacturing techniques, the replacement vendor, or both? As an engineer I can understand that perhaps pre-war consistency was not what we would find acceptable today, but thought I would ask...
I would say that it's probably the fault of the top executives who determine what quality of part they want to make. High quality cost $$. I am sure any engineer worth his salt desires to make the best part possible. Unfortunately, it's not his final decision.
I'd say 98% of aftermarket sheet metal ****s...i still have a 40 ford lower 1/4 patch sittin at my shop, sure it would of been new metal underneath the 1/8" plus of filler to get the panel to have the right contours...another neat one was i installed a rear 1/4 on a 67 nova. the taillight ***embly that is suppose to but up to the rear of the panel slid right over the top of it. had to graft the OG piece to the new 1/4..fun fun...
the replacement panels always need to be fitted, bending and reshaping and or cutting to fit are the"norm". the car may have been built with variations in the fit and may have changed over time. the better the installer the better the fit. it is a skill.
i'd agree with slddnmatt.........most are foreign made in wrong gage sheet stock, bad raw material, or jusr bad fit, not matching orig piece contours. Once you find a good source, stick with them, most US made. I have also found that price isn't always a sign of good quality........
I've used a lot of stuff from EMS and *****in Products. None has been an exact fit but it is not that hard to trim them to size. Measure carefully and trim a little at a time. **** weld the seams and finish with a little filler.
Some of the musclecar sheetmetal I've used has been of incredibly good quality, looks like factory stampings, and some has been poor to the point of looking home-made. It also seems like the less popular the car, the poorer the fit on the replacement parts is. Unfortunately, it's hard to tell which one you're getting until your knee deep in cut-up sheetmetal shards and by then it's often too late to turn back.
Hey, If ya think fitting repopped panels is a ***** try to produce them at a profit! Most larger replacement panels are made from large dies and are formed in multi-ton presses. If the dies arn't designed well, and ''tuned well" the parts they produce won't be any better. Too, if a substandard steel is used to save money, and thus offer a cheaper product the end products' fit will suffer. If the die for the master part was designed from a vehicle who's panels shape was very close, but not a dead nuts match for the vehicle you're rebuilding, again, the fit will be poor. Dies used to press sheetmetal parts are used tens or hunderds of thousands of times. If their edges arn't checked often during a production run, many not so good parts will be pressed. Often OEM sheetmetal panels were produced by outside contractors at a cheaper price than could be done in house. Some of the smaller patch panels I've used over the years were not produced on presses, but on bead/swaging machines from poor /cheap tooling. I've used repopped tin for old Fords that fit great, and OEM tin for Ferrari & Alfa that ****ed major donkey ****! You pay yoe money, and takes yoe chances...............I say learn to build your own tin, and than you can only blame the guy in the mirror. " Humpty Dumpty was pushed "
Buying a patch panel is a **** shoot,,some fit good and some don't,,even if they both came from the same source,, But,they are usually better than nothing,,this is were you start to learn metal work,,cut,trim re-shape,,HRP
Most of the repop stuff is made in China, and unless the seller here in the USA is demanding hi quality it's mostly junk. I talked with a rep at National Parts Depot and he said it's up to each company to do QC on the parts that are made for them. Some buyers send reps over to ensure what they buy meets their standards, while others just take it and p*** the **** along.
I have seen quite a bit of the stuff from south east Texas, they make all their own and none of it is like stock. They just can't quite duplicate the compound curves that Henry made.
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