How do you fix this??Repo body parts.

[rustbucket66]

There has been a lot of foul language around my garage, regarding the junk repo body parts I have bought. I bought everything new, rad support, inner and outer fenders, and front header panel. In trying to assemble them on the floor, like a front clip, I found most of it wouldn't bolt together at all. Hmmm. In comparing the rad support to the original, there were 5 or 6 things wrong. The repo was 3/8 inch too short from end to end, bends in the wrong places, weld nuts and holes nowhere near where they should be, the cross braces were misplaced, and others. I returned it, and tried another manufacturers, not much better. I returned it, and made repairs on an original. The rad support is very important that it be right. Inner and outer fenders, as well as front header panel bolt to it. Save your original at all costs. I have a bunch of pics of the headaches you might find. I'm not sure if I will get to where everything fits ok, but I have made several alterations already. Ohhh, how I wish the General still made these parts. These pics show how the front fenderis nowhere near attaching to the inner fender, close to 3/4 inch from having the rear holes from fender to inner fender lining up. Oh, these panels are all TriPlus, less the rad support which is in a scrap bin somewhere.

[rustbucket66]

Here are some things on the inner fenders you might find. The hood spring brace has the corners chopped off on the repo, not sure why. GM's are parallel to the brake in the fender. Next, the lower bracket that attaches to the rad support was nowhere near where it should be. drill out the spot welds, relocate, reweld, grind, to position it right.

[rustbucket66]

I'm just getting started. The top of the inner fender at the firewall is cut on 45s from GM. Theirs has one side cut off crooked, and the other side not cut at all, with a hole through it, not sure why. Trim these pieces off. Note how deep the spotwelds are.

[rustbucket66]

More spotweld pics, gonna be a lot of bondo for the bodyman on a brand new piece. Am I sounding bitter yet?? Damn right. Looks like a bowl of soup, some are as deep as 1/4 inch.

[rustbucket66]

Back to the fender not fitting, not sure which piece is not right. Installed original inner fender back on to see any differences. Unfortunately, I didn't keep my outers. Here is a good piece of advice DO NOT DISCARD YOUR OLD PARTS UNTIL YOU ARE FINISHED. You need them to compare and measure to. Try to repair them if at all possible. Note the location of the outer part of the inner fender that I have marked with a felt pen. Then the new back on, 3/4 inch difference. Wow.

[rustbucket66]

Got both inners, old and new on the floor to compare. Put 4 fingers comfortably in the gap at the firewall end on the original. Not even close to getting my fingers into the new one. A bit of a crude way to measure, but it quickly shows the 2 sides of the panel are too close together. Next, drilled out more spotwelds on the braces in side the inner fender, mounted it on, and started bending it out with blocks of wood, big bars, and what ever it takes to get it out to the felt pen line., and flat for the outer fender to mount. Then take it off again and reweld the spot welds. Anybody getting tired yet?

[jbgroby]

I know hind sight is 20/20 but when it came to the fenders, I went with old OEM from RJ Sisneros. I did not want to take a chance with the light weight re-pops too many folks complaining. As far as the spot wleds go, very few folks would even know if they were correcct or not.

[rustbucket66]

Here is a little experiment. Mounted the rust original header panel on front, and bolted on the front splash pan, fit like a glove. Added the new fender, and all went south. Is it the fender, or the inner fender? Hmm. Had to push the inner fender down enough to align. Now the top bolt underneath that fastens the inner fender to the rad support wont line up, even after opening the hole with a die grinder. The bolt will not go into the hole at all. Hmmm. The weldnut is in the right place on the rad support because it is the original. Not sure what I will do about the top bolt on the inside.

[rustbucket66]

Here are a couple of shots of how everything lines up front fender to old header panel. My god.

[rustbucket66]

A couple of other things, one of how much gap has to be pulled in with bolts from the rad support to inner fender, note the fresh air where the light comes in. The other pic shows a piece inside the outer fender at the front that has to be trimed so the fender can go rearward far enough.

[rustbucket66]

Here are some pics of the front of the fender, looking at it from the front side. There are big air gaps on a lot of it. I have stuck some black plastic zip ties in the gaps to show where they are and how wide they are, I hope they show up in these photos. Also note how big the holes are in the corners where I have put the screwdrivers, they fit very loose in there. Looks like more welding there, or a whole lot of bondo. I don't know how you would fix the gaps around the perimeter, maybe just live with it.

[rustbucket66]

Stay tuned for more, I'm only on one side, and the other side is no better. Next chapter is the header panel, the worst panel of them all. This stuff must be made in China. I wonder if they try to put the pieces together at all. Am I angry?? Damn right!!! I payed good money for this stuff, and it would cost thousands to pay a bodyman to try to fix this. They might refuse it, and tell you to get your junk out of here. Brand new parts, don't expect to just bolt these on, and don't paint anything until you know it fits. I can't afford to pay someone for this, and I'm stuck with this junk, there are really no good used parts around here, these trucks were prone to rust as we all know. Now I will try to make chicken salad from chicken sh**.

[sigshooter]

keep on going, and let us know, I have Tri-Plus fenders for my truck but after reading all the posts lately I may find some old GM fenders and work on them

[Budman56]

Sorry to say I was miss lead about my fenders to, and just like yours I will have to spend too many hours trying to fix them. They should have bolted right on without all this work. it just boils down to the fact that we don't complain enough about pour quality japan & china crap. At then end of the day all we really want is cheap parts that fit right. But then again if it were that easy ever one would restore these trucks.
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[gofastnut]

this is scary!!

[Chevy Fleetside]

Im happy I can get a fender from a yard and just use a patch panel. We have alot of good parts here. Maybe I should get into selling used/refurbished parts...

[protrash64]

It's been noted on other threads that there are big problems with the inner fenders being something like 3/4'' off in length which twists the whole front clip, IIRC.

I have used the fenders with all other original parts without too much trouble.

[awbrown]

I feel your pain .. today I was installing inner rocker panels , the ones that go in about 8 inches the whole length of the panel ,and as I was fitting the rocker it was shy on the front ,I thought the rock was wider , but the panel was actually shorter and the cab mount bolt holes were way to high ...this is how it should look this is not how it should look correct width .. not correct

[rustbucket66]

This has me a little wound up now. Went back out this evening for more pain in the garage. Mocked up header panel, have it lining up reasonably good across the top and it comes down the underside of that pretty good. Then when it turns to go straight down, things go horribly wrong. It looks, obviously, like it has to come in at the bottom. It doesn't go, the bracket that runs along the bottom of the rad support is hitting. Pretty close fit huh? I have taken the thing back off, and drilled pilot holes in all the spotwelds that I need to get that mounting bracket off.

[rustbucket66]

Here is the panel back on the floor, and I have drilled pilot holes where the spot welds are. I'll get the brackets completely off, then try to make something align, then weld them on again. Let's hope. Tomorrow, I am buying one of those spotweld drill bits that only make a big hole in one panel. Should save some welding and grinding.

[LT1 Burb]

Wow, I will not buy repop crap after seeing this thread. there is plenty of good parts around still and I would definately spend the same money getting good used parts. If you need a grill surround they are around, I have 5 of them in my shop and I just turned down rust free inners but they may still be available.

[Corts60]

Oh man. That is awful quality. Make sure you are complaining up the ladder as well. And by that I mean write the company and show them the pictures of how awful their product is. Thank you for taking the time for sharing all of this with us.

[rustbucket66]

Here's another thing to do. Ive drilled pilot holes in these spotwelds also on both sides, will need to disconnect the hood spring bracket. Then I will be able to bend out the inner fender a little, so it reaches out far enough to the outer fender where the middle 2 bolts are. It needs to come out so the washers of the body bolts don't crush the lip that stands up on the inside. I've seen lots of these trucks at shows with the bolts crushing this lip on the outer fender. Make sure it is fixed before you paint anything. I have bent the rear out a bunch already, but the hood spring bracket is strong and wont allow for any bending or tweaking in this middle area. Once it is where it should be, I will weld up the spotweld holes, and grind smooth.

[rustbucket66]

The body bolts in that previous picture are just started a few threads. If they were tightened down, the lip would be pushed over. Now, remember the afore mentioned fresh air holes in the front of the fenders? I used zip ties to show where and how big the holes are. I think these pictures will give you a better idea how much fresh air is in there. See the light from the trouble light in behind coming through?? Also note the metal missing on the top and bottom corners, kind of a triangle missing on each. That will be a nice thing to fix. Anyone scared yet? Be afraid, be very afraid.

[MailManX2]

Originally Posted by awbrown

I feel your pain .. today I was installing inner rocker panels , the ones that go in about 8 inches the whole length of the panel ,and as I was fitting the rocker it was shy on the front ,I thought the rock was wider , but the panel was actually shorter and the cab mount bolt holes were way to high ...this is how it should look correct width .. not correct

I ran into the same bolt hole alignment problem when I did the floors on my 60 Apache. I had left the original cab mounts in so I welded up the holes in the replacement floor panel and redrilled them to align with the cab mount holes.

I installed the rocker panels and will have to weld a piece of sheet metal to the replacement floor panel to lengthen it. Then I'll be able to weld the panel at the bottom of the rocker panel.