New Steel Vs Old Steel

[CG]

Whats the latest on repro steel vs OEM steel. I don't think Ive seen near the griping about the quality and how repro steel fits these days. Saw a door thread and they looked pretty nice. Saw a couple of build threads where the fenders needed some tweaking, but no idea how old the repro parts were in those threads.

Are the manufacturers getting it together finally?

[weim55]

I have a pair of recent repop front fenders for my '67. They are pretty bad. The fitament to the original inner fenders is terrible and the body line for the grill surround isn't even close to the shape it should be. For a beater primer driver these would be OK, but for anything restoration or show quality a complete no go.

Steve weim55 Colorado

[silvertonguedevil]

I'm curious about this also. Following...

[RedRider]

Ordered two SWB bedsides; one fit perfectly and the other was 1/2” off. So much for six sigma.

[special-K]

I think all you have to do is bring the topic up and it will be the same old conversation. It's hit or miss, some parts get re-tooled, some have a new maker popping in, and you just have to look for updated info before purchasing. One thing I see over and over again is people judging parts by the vendor when it's the manufacturer that matters. A vendor can switch suppliers at any time on items offered by more than one. You just have to ask the vendor who's part they are offering you. If you get "I don't know", it's time to find someone else. There are parts you can't get around it on, only one mfgr.

I'm surprised to hear about a bum bedside. From my experience, you put a complete new bed together and you have a great bed that the parts fit together on. Some bolt holes may new wallowed out, but nothing to ruin your day.

[68panelman]

I guess if you use ALL repro body parts with a bare cab, then they might all line up, lol

[silvertonguedevil]

Originally Posted by special-K

One thing I see over and over again is people judging parts by the vendor when it's the manufacturer that matters.

This is a very good point! So who's some of the better manufacturers?

[CG]

Interesting, I thought this would be a helpful thread. Lots of views.

[countr]

I am GM only. Parts reproduced are mostly overseas and take away from the experience and value of what we have in our 67 to 72 trucks. Thanks Russ

[CG]

Originally Posted by countr

I am GM only. Parts reproduced are mostly overseas and take away from the experience and value of what we have in our 67 to 72 trucks. Thanks Russ

I get where you are coming from. So the question I asked wouldn't have anything to do with you.

Personally I have a whole lot of NOS steel still in the boxes. If the after market parts have finally come up to snuff I would rather sell my NOS stuff to people like you and use repro parts. Im not a purist. At the price NOS steel is getting these days folks would be way ahead if they did it this way.

[darrellyates]

Originally Posted by special-K

I think all you have to do is bring the topic up and it will be the same old conversation. It's hit or miss, some parts get re-tooled, some have a new maker popping in, and you just have to look for updated info before purchasing. One thing I see over and over again is people judging parts by the vendor when it's the manufacturer that matters. A vendor can switch suppliers at any time on items offered by more than one. You just have to ask the vendor who's part they are offering you. If you get "I don't know", it's time to find someone else. There are parts you can't get around it on, only one mfgr.

I'm surprised to hear about a bum bedside. From my experience, you put a complete new bed together and you have a great bed that the parts fit together on. Some bolt holes may new wallowed out, but nothing to ruin your day.

There are likely a hundred or more threads on this subject on this website alone. Everybody has an experience and/or opinion. I've been told there are only a couple of actual manufacturers. When a part is developed, the suppliers get together and share the tooling cost, each getting a % of the production off the tool. Maybe yes, maybe no. I'm not living in that market, I can only repeat what I've been told (by a vendor by the way).

Another told me that sheet metal comes into the terminal at the dock all in the same container and gets packaged into whoever is buying it. That is, hit or miss. One box goes to customer X, the next part goes into box Y. Again, I don't know.

What I do know is that to make something look really good, it will have to be worked. No, the aftermarket stuff isn't perfect. No, the original stuff wasn't perfect either. I took pictures of nearly 100 trucks looking at the hood/fender gaps as I wasn't happy with the aftermarket parts used on a truck about 10 years ago. Out of the 100+ trucks I inspected, maybe 10% had good fit and gaps. It's more about the care and effort put into finish than if the part was original or reproduction. (And I asked each owner if the parts were original or aftermarket. I included a bunch of "all-original" trucks as well, and documented each as best I could determine.)

I used nearly everything aftermarket on my truck. The cab is original, floor/corners/rockers/kickpanels/dash repair plate/doors/complete bed assembly isn't. The hood and cowl panel are GM as well. A lot of effort, time, and money went into alignment and fit. My truck looks pretty darn good.

I am of the opinion that either can/will work. Just don't expect to simply tighten up bolts and spray a little paint and have a perfect match. This likely won't happen either way you go.

On the plus side, most original stuff has already been worked. Most reproductions are at least rust-free. And, the reproduction parts likely cost less overall as OEM parts are extremely expensive, and any rust repair gets expensive quickly. Plus, repair is done with reproduction skins and patches, as there haven't been many OEM parts for decades.

[Ironangel]

Originally Posted by silvertonguedevil

This is a very good point! So who's some of the better manufacturers?

"Tri-Plus" is as good as it gets in my opinion. Fitting fenders usually requires loosening core and cab support bolts. Tri-Plus are metric thickness of 1.5mm which is actually thicker than the OEM sheet metal.

[silvertonguedevil]

Originally Posted by Ironangel

"Tri-Plus" is as good as it gets in my opinion. Fitting fenders usually requires loosening core and cab support bolts. Tri-Plus are metric thickness of 1.5mm which is actually thicker than the OEM sheet metal.

Is that AMD (Auto Metal Direct)?

[special-K]

The truth is with most parts, there is only one manufacturer and that is the one who gets there first. I never have known of any getting together ad sharing the cost of tooling up. It's the opposite, very competitive and when one is working toward developing a part it's hush hush and rush rush before another gets there. Once one producer has a part made the expense of tooling is too high to share the market. The only getting together is the producer who got there first will package the part with another's name for them because they have to sell the others' product. I have stood in the warehouse of one large well know produced and seen their competition's name on the boxes slated to ship to them. I have also been given a prototype part to test the fit before putting into full swing production. I was asked to keep a tight lip on the matter until they were in production. I sent pictures of it installed for them to judge and in turn was allowed to keep the piece.

There are many good reproduction parts available the fit as well as and of a quality equal to OEM. I personally go with OEM used, first, but would not hesitate to assemble a bed from reproduction parts, and the same with a tailgate. I sold my N.O.S. tailgates when a quality pieces came out. I would not hesitate to use Tri-Plus/Key Part rockers and cab patch panels. Like I said, hit & miss. There are some I would bot use. Things keep hanging all the time. The first tailgates sucked, then got good. Figure everyone gets stuck with getting rid of the crap pieces first before someone moves ahead with another try. Doors were really bad at the top frame, but now the next version is out. No experience with those, so no comments. But I am sure the top frames will not be the bad fit the first ones were.