Patch Panel Quality

[mjlan]

I've noticed that Dynacorn has started producing a few of the common parts for these cars and was wondering if there's much experience with the relative quality of those parts compared to the cheapo imported ones that have been available for a while.

I finally have located a car that I'm going to try and save, but it's going to need a lot of metal replacement. I located NOS Ford front aprons, but I'm guessing there weren't very many Ford rear aprons produced because I haven't found any!

If the Dynacorn parts are better than the Canadian re-pops, I'll go with those, but for all I know they might be as bad as the cheap imported ones....

Anyone out there used them?

 

[Mister 4x4]

Which pieces and parts are you after, specifically? Mine is now approximately 60% repop sheet metal:

• fenders
  
• front valance
  
• floor pans
  
• trunk pan
  
• trunk drop offs
  
• tail light panel
  
• rear valance
  
• quarter panel skins
  
• trunk lid
  

Only the hood, doors, roof, upper quarters, and trunk surround are original, as far as exterior sheet metal that's left. My entire front clip was a rotted mess, so I scored one from a junk yard car and swapped it. I also repaired the cowl vents using more metal from the junk yard car, but they now have replacement cowl vent and cowl cover panels from Dynacorn.

There are also two trunk pans out there - make sure you get the right one for your needs (if you must get into the trunk area to replace metal).

I had purchased a replacement rocker panel from CJ Pony Parts, and it was shaped more like my rain gutters than the car's rocker. I wound up hacking it up for patches and just repaired the car's rocker.

The Canadian panels aren't all that bad. The trunk drop offs I got from OMS, were of better quality than the ones from another vendor (don't want to be bad-mouthing anybody or anything - they didn't make 'em, after all). OMS also sent some Dynacorn fenders and a trunk lid - which fit really well. The quarter panel replacement skins I don't think were Dynacorn, but they fit well enough with some adjustment (which is usually required for all sheet metal replacement anyway). The front valance had the issue of two of three passenger side mounting holes not lining up with the Dynacorn fenders (the original valance I tried to repair lined up perfectly). The rear valance is one of those, "if it doesn't fit - you messed up" kind deals, since you're responsible for drilling the holes in the tail light panel to mount it up (along with the quarter panel fasteners on the ends).

Hope this helps. Good luck with your project!

 

[mjlan]

Thanks for the response.

I know I need to at least heavily patch the rear aprons, and I used cheap panels from CJPP in the past and wasn't too impressed as the hood hinges wouldn't line up, I had to re-drill the holes and re-weld the nut plate on the back of the panel. Not anything against them, they offer two flavors and I cheaped out.

Lesson learned- pop for the best quality panels available and you'll wind up $$$ ahead in the end...

I know I'm going to have to get into the cowl on this car, and if Dynacorn stuff seems to be fitting nicely perhaps I'll get one of their cowls...

 

[Mister 4x4]

Looks like I spoke too soon. A "little birdie" reminded me that the fenders and trunk lid were Apex products, not Dynacorn (wow... talk about "integrity"). rofl

Like I said though - those pieces fit just fine without hassle and are of great quality - and OMS prides themselves (rightly so) on offering only the good stuff (shameless plug from a very satisfied customer).

I would get into the cowls based on the severity of the damage. If it's as bad as mine was (you could literally see my shoes on the pedals through the holes in the cowl with the fenders off), yeah - go for the complete replacement panels. If the damage is minor, then you might just consider repairing it and save the hassle of replacing the panels.