Complaining - I am so damn tired of aftermarket parts that don't fit- ARRGGHH

[Green Machine]

It started when I bought two sets of cab mounts for my 68 and 70, The parts were not the same as oem, and came with cheap bolts, not even grade 5 and the vendor would not return.

Rear wheel tubs came with wrinkles on both ends and mis-stamped holes, returned those and got some more tri-plus from another vendor. Al least those ony had wrinkles in on end so I could hide them toward the front.

Rocker panels , floor sections,lower kick panels, cab corners, and inner rockers did not fit for sh1t without some major tweaking. (all sheetmetal tri plus) New front fenders were a joke, 300 bucks down the drain, ended up fixing old fenders, vendor won't return them,

Inner front fenders needed a lot of tweaking and hole grinding to get close to fitting, New rad support needed lots of hole elongation and grinding of some non square edges where it meets fender to fit.

New 65 dollar powder coated battery box did not line up with all holes in rad support, and did not line up well with inner fender. Don't know if it was box or support problem.

Windsheild to cowl seal holds hood out of position, Heater blower wheel was metal and too small.

Rear bumper and license bracket does not fit for crap with each other, if you bolt them together, it warps the bumper, new licence light came with broken rubber deal that fits in the socket

New dash pad came with tons of extra rubber molded inside, after trimming excess mold flash to fit, I now find that the danm glove box door won't shut beacuse pad sits too low, that pad cost 90 bucks !!.

Winsheild gasket that I had here for 5 years did not fit right, had to remove glass again and order new one.

I ordered some new chrome for the tailgate and the damn clips don't have the tits or prongs to push against the trim, so when you try to install it the clips push inside the trim and won't hold tight.

Ordered two new 5 inch round mirrors for the outside rear view, and the glass distorts so bad, image looks like fun house mirrors.

I am SO tired of the **** that they sell you to fix your pride and joy and the crap turns any fun you may have to parts hell on earth. I'm pissed.

[55454]

It is usually better to go with gm but I can tell you this from experience if it is any help, when you buy for example an nos right fender, the dyes are so worn out the fit may not be perfect and after at least 33 years on the road the parts might not fit as well. I am not an expert just trying to make you feel better. I have seen all the problems you are talking about with repos and it is a pia.

Tommy

[LUV2XCLR8]

Originally Posted by 55454

I have seen all the problems you are talking about with repos and it is a pia.

Yeppers, most of my stuff is GOODMARK, and it fits like crap also, major
tweaking on the inner fenders is need to get them to align, my rad core
support will have to be replaced, this was found out after the entire frt
end of the truck was assembled this past spring, my doors and tailgate
look new, but are OE, and man you could not ask for better parts, I feel
your pain, oh yea, almost forgot, been trying for 2 months to get sticky
sh!t off my hood were they used 2 sided tape and bubble rap to protect
my cowl hood, If I was ready to paint it wouldn't be such a big deal.

[powell72]

Oh the joys of aftermarket parts. The body panels not fitting don't seem to be a suprise but the dash pad and mirrors are things I would have expected to fit.

[Classic Heartbeat]

I am sorry to here that you are having so many problems, but I am here to tell you that not all after market parts are the same. Like everyone has a good point here. Goodmark fenders do not seem to fit as well as other fenders. That is because they buy them from a company named Gorden. The new triplus sinc fenders are much better and in some cases fit better than NOS. As for the rockers, floor panels and any patch panel realy. They are stacked together for transport and will flatten out some. When you combine that with a truck that is 30 plus years old you will have to tweek them some. I have found that triples requires less than others though, including the american made ones by tabco. I haven't had any problems with the mirrors that you speak of, they have always worked well for me. And as for your dash pad.. Not all are created the same. They are all USA made, but there is a couple of different companies that make them. One even has 2 different grades. I built the "Garden Truck" using mostly reproduction parts to address people worries as to fit and look and I couldn't be happier. I did do some tweeking here and there, but no more than when I use Genuine GM and in some cases the after market parts are better than GM, because of the age. Triplus aftermarket rockers weigh a full pound each over the GMs and the finish if far superior also. The one thing that we need to keep in mind when rebuilding these trucks is that GM's specification on body lines is + or - 1/4" and to GM these were just trucks. Built to do a job was number one and appearence was second to that. It is us guys that are trying to make them into something that GM never intended them to be so we are destined to tweek and peak things to get that perfect fit.. GM parts or otherwise. I hope that you have a better time of it if you decide to build another truck. WES www.ClassicHeartbeat.com

[tnblazerk5]

Originally Posted by LUV2XCLR8

been trying for 2 months to get sticky
sh!t off my hood were they used 2 sided tape and bubble rap to protect
my cowl hood, If I was ready to paint it wouldn't be such a big deal.

have you tryed lighter fluid thats how i got it all off my cowl hood and goo gone is also good ,to use the lighter fluid pore it on the glue and let it set for a few mins and then pore more on it and then take a razer blade at a sharp angle 45 or more degrees and peal the glue off then put lighter fluid in the general area the glue was and wipe that area good to get the remaning glue off there

[super72bb]

I can understand fully what you are going through.

I don't know if this will make you feel any better but:

I collected thousands of dollars worth of N.O.S. parts for my 1972 shortbed. Such as... front grill, rad support, both fenders, inner fenders, boxsides, and tailgate. The boxsides were 2200 US. dollars for the pair. The fenders I found were the 2nd set of GM ones I tried. And after spending all of that extra cash on the GM metal you should have seen the stuff we still ended up correcting. The thing is, it isn't easy getting these body parts to fit and it takes an incredible amount of time to get them the way you want them. But after all is said and done and the paint is on you will never regret spending all of those painstaking hours correcting the problems you have, no matter how frustrating it may be. Stick with it and don't let yourself shortcut anywhere and when you are done you will have a one of a kind.

[tnblazerk5]

Originally Posted by super72bb

I can understand fully what you are going through.

I don't know if this will make you feel any better but:

I collected thousands of dollars worth of N.O.S. parts for my 1972 shortbed. Such as... front grill, rad support, both fenders, inner fenders, boxsides, and tailgate. The boxsides were 2200 US. dollars for the pair. The fenders I found were the 2nd set of GM ones I tried. And after spending all of that extra cash on the GM metal you should have seen the stuff we still ended up correcting. The thing is, it isn't easy getting these body parts to fit and it takes an incredible amount of time to get them the way you want them. But after all is said and done and the paint is on you will never regret spending all of those painstaking hours correcting the problems you have, no matter how frustrating it may be. Stick with it and don't let yourself shortcut anywhere and when you are done you will have a one of a kind.

very well said and

[68C15]

I'm starting to lean more towards WES for my parts when the time comes. the extra cost I feel will be offset by his experience, the quality, & not to mention how I believe he will make things "right".

[Deuce]

Originally Posted by 68C15

I'm starting to lean more towards WES for my parts when the time comes. the extra cost I feel will be offset by his experience, the quality, & not to mention how I believe he will make things "right".

Plus it's always good to support board members.

[Richard Dobson]

Yeah, and for the prices we pay for hoods, fenders etc you'd think that it would be a simple bolt on and go deal. Instead it's butt load of $ for parts that have to be massaged to work.

[StingRay]

I am confused about front fenders. I have read a number of times that the Goodmark front fenders are Tri Plus. Now Wes is saying they are Gordon. Is there a definitive answer on the Goodmark fenders?

[Classic Heartbeat]

Thanks guys for the vote of confidence and I will let you in on what I know about Goodmark parts. They are a great company, don't get me wrong on that, it is they tended to go with the lesser priced parts when it comes to importing. There are 5 different companies in Taiwan that reproduce parts for our trucks. Triplus has always been in my experience the best fitting out of them all. They also are a little more quality conches than the others. Goodmark does get a lot of their parts from Triplus, but the last time I bought fenders they did not. I installed one on one of my trucks to check the fit and it wasn't a good fit. This is why I use the Triplus zink coated fenders, I have been extreemly happy with those. WES www.ClassicHeartbeat.com

[72MARIO]

I can totally understand what your saying. I went to thru the same problems. Dont bother with a cowel hoods there a joke too. My brand new $255.00 back bumper is tweeked too because of the junk repo brackets and cheep thin bumpers. 67-68 bezels will not fit worth a dam either. My fenders and wheel tubs were also a 3 week job to make em fit. Door weatherstripping ends in the wrong spot. Should end up front by the light switch it ends by the seat belt. Hood to cowle seal looks wrong somthing is not right. Tri Plus gate was also horrible. I sent it back aslong withthe cowel hood. Found a N.O.S gate fit perfect.


Mar-K headboard. Thumbs UP! perfect. No porblems at all not dremmel needed.

[arkracing]

Originally Posted by Green Machine

It started when I bought two sets of cab mounts for my 68 and 70, The parts were not the same as oem, and came with cheap bolts, not even grade 5 and the vendor would not return.
I am SO tired of the **** that they sell you to fix your pride and joy and the crap turns any fun you may have to parts hell on earth. I'm pissed.

What did you end up buying for Cab and support mounts? if you bought GM parts do you have part numbers for the support mounts. I am having a bad time with my aftermarket stuff as well. including my mounts.

Tri-Plus "Goodmark" Radiator support...modify greatly to get the fenders and hood to line up..."Sh***y" at best.
Inner Fenders...Tweaked to fit, Rockers, Cab Corners, Floor Supports, Floors....floors didn't even have one of the beads rolled in the right spot for the "kick pan" area...it was 2" off the original.

From now on i'm looking for good used parts and fixing Originals stuff if at all possible

[Green Machine]

The reason I went with new tri-plus fenders for my 68 was because of the good things I had heard about them. "all new tooling", "previous tri-plus was good, these are better", "sheet metal as thick as original" - NOT !!, I just couldn't see spending 300 bucks to fix my pretty good originals, when I could buy new for less than that (plus shipping though) Far from being the best fitting part they were the single worst fitting parts, to keep it short let's just say everwhere they needed to line up they didn't. I may have gotten a bad batch but the vendor would not return them because his supplier would not return them. Well, I bought them from the vendor, don't you think he should eat the cost then, (he's a board member here too), now I'm stuck with them, ended up paying to fix originals, and yes GM just built trucks, supposedly didn't care about fit, but guess what, even with the inner tub problems and core support issues, they went right on and with a minimum of shims they fit near perfect.

I do have one good thing to say about the wood bed conversion I bought from Mar-K. That is some damn fine fitting stuff !!! The front bed panel fits EXACTLY like it should, nice thick metal, doubt if even an expert could find a difference, same with the rear bed brace. The floor supports were all perfect, not ONE hole had to be enlarged to fit, and wood was real nice as well as the stainless strips, all holes where they're supposed to be, which was nice that all parts measured as they should, because if you have ever done one of these, there are about 100 parts it seems that have to line up with each other. If the parts were needing massaging on something like that it would be impossible to get a straight, square bed. Only complaint about Mar-K is that they don't supply a short support to go between wheel tubs, said it wasn't needed, Well the wood floors I remember seeing all had those, but I tried it and was way too soft between there, I ordered one from LMC of all places (actually have had no problems with LMC yet), and it fit just like the Mar-K stuff and made a big difference in floor strength. Without it I think there would be 4 rows without a brace. MAR-K are you listening ?? You need to get that support for between the tubs in your kit !!

[72MARIO]

I would agree with you about the 4 support that goews between the tubs. It's a must have. I will say it again. Mark-K has Awesome fitting parts.

[Green Machine]

Arkracing - We're talking 1/2 ton mounts right ?? I bit the bullet and paid $99 bucks for the bed, cab and rad support kit from LMC. The cabs mounts were exactly like the originals, had correct size washers and came with grade 8 bolts (not the chaep grade 2), the bed bolts were grade 5 carraige bolts, can't find grade 5 carriage bolts too easy, I can't beleve some would have you trust you life on cheap grade 2bolts !!!!

Now I have to mention, that LMC does not seem to know the difference between the rad support mounts on a 67-68 vs the 69-72. My set from LMC came with the tall mounts that are correct for 69 up, not 67-68. The one good thing I got in the crappy mount sets was the correct rubber washer and steel washer setup, used the grade 5 bolt from the LMC kit though, so if you are 69 up, the LMC although more money is what I will buy again for my 1970 prodject.

[lloyd k]

ive done bodywork for25 years -worked at two different g.m. dealerships and one ford and have built or worked on several vintage cars,ive found that allot of nos parts that are left have been set aside because they didnt fit twenty years ago(stamped wrong-door skins welded wrong -any number of things)when building a car or truck and depending what kind of restoration you want ,it pays to take all these things into consideration and never take anything for granted.ive gotten so pissed at what people have sold me and said yey its perfect and start working on it and itll be all wrong. p.s. i have a story about an 99 mustang that was parked and hit by a speeding car.rear quarters,rear body panel,rear floor section,i think an inner and outer rockerpanel(all factory parts) welded up by a guy i work with,after about two months on the frame rack(we had several racks at this shop)maybe longer,looked good.primed undercoated -ready to put the rear suspension in and theres no holes for the control arms and they are in there in such a way they could not be drilled,(ah ****).insurance company ended up eating it and they totalled the car.wouldve hated to see the bill on that one -sheww

[arkracing]

Yeh I got a half ton. I didn't know there was a differance between the 67-68 and 69+ core support mounts???? maybe that is the issue that i have with my energy suspension mounts...since they sell one kit for the cab mounting 2-wheel drive. I had to shim the front cab mounts up almost 1/2" to get the door/fender gap to even be close to right. ARGH!!!!!!! junk! I hate it

I also know that there is a differance with the 4x4 vs 2x4 as well.

A supplier here in town has GM stuff I think i'm going to stop buy there today and see what they can do for me. i know GM ones will be $$$$$$ there but I want my S*** to fit correctly and @ this point the $$$$$$ doesn't bother me. I want it to at least look like someone who knew what they were doing put it together.

[Green Machine]

Arkracing - If you haven't already done this, be sure to mount up your front bumper and make sure the rad support is not too high or low, also check for centering side to side, my frame might be tweaked a little and had to shim right side of rad support 1/4 to align nice with bumper.

As far as the cost goes, yeah I'm in and past that point, trying to keep costs down, I just want to get it done and have wasted too much money. Right off the bat, my first body man screwed me out of 1400 bucks. I guess I have bought about 500 dollars worth of stuff I can't use or return to date, return shipping costs get expensive also.

I look at it this way - Any fool with a down payment can buy a new truck, but it takes a real jackass to fix up an old one !!!!

[junkyardjohn]

(quote) I may have gotten a bad batch but the vendor would not return them because his supplier would not return them. Well, I bought them from the vendor, don't you think he should eat the cost then, (he's a board member here too), now I'm stuck with them.(quote)
HOW ABOUT POSTING THE NAME OF THIS VENDOR WHO WOULDN'T HELP, SO ALL OF THE OTHER MEMBERS KNOW WHO NOT TO BUY PARTS FROM. JOHN

[Green Machine]

I am a little reluctant to post who the vendor(s) are, because I don't want to piss anyone off. The one vendor I got cab 2 sets of cab mounts has basicly a no return policy, but my credit card company took care of them. Please read the web sites fine print, and call and ask about return policy before you buy anything from anybody.

The other vendor had a problem since I got the fenders in November, and my body man sat on the project until March before getting started. The parts were shipped straight to body shop, and that is about 20 miles from me, so it is harder to manage what is going on. This vendor is atleast trying to work with me some by getting me some additional parts at cost, but it will take a while to recoup some $300 worth of discounts, plus some of the stuff I just got from him has problems also. He has rave reviews here, and don't want to shoot myself in the foot. Until this gets squared away, I don't want to get blacklisted from this board.

[Harold Shepard]

I agree with Lloyd, many of the NOS parts were cast offs from the factory. As vehicles came down the line parts were pulled from the stack and if they did not fit correctly they were set aside to be used as replacement parts for the inevitable wrecks that would occur. As far as the aftermarket parts not fitting I agree with you 100%, I thought that the Gordon fender in a Goodmark box was a mistake, but the gordon stuff is almost as crappy as the eagle junk. I tried one of each and the lnes were not even close to right- in fact even elongating the holes would not have gotten them close as there was not enough extra material above the hole to slot the fender. As for Mar-K products, they fit excellant. I too have a bed kit from them and had no problems putting it together. Even with the knowledge of GM NOS I still say GM parts are the best way to go, in my case I found a NOS fender and it lined up perfectly. We all like to think our trucks are perfect but you never know what the previous owner did to them after all they are all used vehicles.

[PICKMUP]

"After market doesn't fit as well as GM"!
We have beat this thing to death over the years. That is the one message you should bring away from this. If you want only the best, buy GM at any price. If you want quick, clean, inexpensive parts, get the repros and make them fit. That is what most of us do, quite sucessfully... but don't get the repro and then decide to return it because you don't like it. If it is defective, it should be returnable...if you don't like it because it is a repro, then sell it to someone else. Vendors (I hate that word. It sounds like a hotdog cart at a carnival) should not have to take back good parts that people just decide they don't like.
If any vendor "guarantees" the fit to be as good as GM, then they are stupid and deserve to get the parts back. I explain and show comparisons of repro parts vs GM parts. I give lots of little tips on installation and problems and I don't get returns...but I only work one-on-one with my customers in the store. It takes more time and I don't make as much money, but I like the results better. I don't do the mail order/shipping thing.