Shouldn't a patch panel be better than this?

[toolboxchev]

Originally Posted by ChevyRacefan

Lets talk about "N.O.S." parts. They don't fit either. Nothing like paying through the nose for a part you think will fit as it was stamped by the original supplier. but no. Much of the n.o.s. was Assembly line rejected part.
Meaning the part failed Q/C at the factory, but boxed and sold as a service replacement part.
I have seen "N.O.S." BODY PARTS that don't fit, line up, and need hours of work to make fit correctly, and character lines, body lines line up.
On vehicles that were never hit, but panel is being replaced from rust.
Again, Go price a rear quarter for a o.e.m. new g.m. car or a bed side for a new truck, then look at what the reproduction parts for the 40's-87 cars and trucks Cost.
YOU would not be in this classic vehicle hobby if the parts producers made parts that needed almost zero work to install, and charged accordingly .
Only those that have money to burn would own classic vehicles. As the cost would be A lot higher to restore and keep on the road.
I can buy a 1969 c-10 drivers door shell for 399.99 , A 2019 Camaro door shell is 1114.65 . What would happen if the reproduction body producers, decided to make a o.e.m. assembly line quality body parts? and charged the same 1114.99 for a drivers side door shell for a 1969 c-10?
1) No one would buy them
2) You would repair the old dented and rust filled old door, and pay the body shop the shop rate of 125.00 an hour to fab up a patch, weld it in, body work it, prime it, sand it, block it, And have 800.00+ into a not even in paint old door.
I know why reproduction parts are not going to fit. We as a whole in the old vehicle hobby would never buy parts that fit as the cost of the part would be a lot higher than they currently are. They would be inline with what that new Camaro door cost.
The vendors can't even move the repopped parts without offering sales all the time, or free shipping, or a 15-20% off coupon.

That is some awesome insight to the industry. They used to make those big finned Cadillacs just so Detroit could sell you more metal.

That was the name of the game in the early 50's thru the 70's. Heck I like driving a hunk of rusted metal around town.

[72c20customcamper]

Assembly line rejects ? You do realise by the time a part made it to the line it was painted body color except the cab which was assembled and painted . Anything not welded came to the vehicle painted and assembled

Even if a part made it to the vehicle and it didnt fit it was scraped ,to be stripped and primed it to use as a replacement part wouldn't be feasible cost wise.

[zac]

Gonna try to make it work. Any suggestions? You can see I had to move the panel up to make it more or less match the lower body line on the door. The door needs to be at that height. So I can't move it up more to make it line up with the top part of the mismatched area above the wheel well. Right now the only idea I have is to split it and widen it to match, fill in that area. The curved area above won't match up right, so I just kind of hammer and dolly it as best I can and then use filler. That's all I got.

[Jason Banks]

zac, can't tell how much of the yellow panel is missing underneath. My recommendation is not to use so much of the patch panel. Is that the whole patch panel shown? have you already cut out the fender?

Try to only use what is really needed. If you have already cut away the panel behind, I would just split that edge along the upper crease and bend it out where it looks better and trim off the top of the patch to match the cut you made on the yellow fender.

That area above the fender lip is one of the hardest areas on the truck to block sand and make perfect. Not sure how perfect you are going for.