Patch panels

[fatman]

I have a 1952 GMC and I am starting to do some panel replacements. I have put the driver side cowl panel on and hung the door to see how the gap was before I weld it in. I was wondering if the bottom of the panel should be this far out?

[FarmerSid]

So the door gaps on the new outer cowl are good? Where they good before you removed the old outer cowl? If the gaps are good with the new cowl in place, is there enough of the outer cowl lip on the A pillar to spot weld on?

I am replacing the outer cowl on mine and found that the lip on the new cowl panel was quite wide and had to trim it down flush with the A pillar. Mine's not welded in yet, just holding it in place with self tapping sheet metal screws to I can set the gaps on the door and check fender fit.

One thing I will advise. Rebuild the hinges before you go any farther. Mine seemed good after a good cleaning and lubing but the more I played with fitting the door for gaps, the more the hinges loosened up and got sloppy. I just brought a old hinge pin into NAPA and bought 4 that were a bit bigger. Drilled out the hinge to the new pin size and installed. Much better now. It was tough getting the door right with the worn hinges, which I thought were good at first, but after the door was a lot easier to set.

[fatman]

When I bought the truck nothing fit right.LOL. I will rebuild the hinges I have a rebuild kit and I will see if it helps. Thanks for the response there seem to be enough of a lip to spot weld but I will try to move the panel a little bit more to the front and see what happens.

[Iceburgh]

no you will have to trim to fit