Repro or Original tool..Revisited again

skelwyth said:

I bought 2 repro fenders for my 67. I primed them and went to install the light housing and they were so far off I couldn't use them. So I ended up beating the original ones into shape and managed to reuse them. The company I bought the fenders from wouldn't take them back as I had primed them. So I have 2 front fenders in my garage in southern california if you want them. I cannot believe anyone would sell them, they are welded in the wrong places. Unbelievable.

Click to expand...

Acooljt said:

I do wanna note that the line could be off on your driver's side simply because your door needs readjusted. They tend to sag after so many years. After a proper realignment, it may not be as bad as you think.

Also, for the love of God, PLEASE go with Ford original tooling. I bought 2 front fenders, a front valance, and a rear valance that were repro's. Well, after MUCH modification done to the fenders, I made them work(but it was a lot of work, not worth it, I shoulda bought the original tooling). And I knew for sure it was the fenders, because I bought original Ford tooling headlight buckets, and man, those ORIGINAL buckets wouldn't work with these crappy repro fenders. So like I said, I did lots of customizing to get it to work. No one can notice when it's fully assembled, but it will always haunt me.

And lets not forget the rear valance. The thing is a half-inch short on both ends!!! It doesn't meet up with my 1/4 panels like they should to create that perfect body seam. So I had to bang the dent out of my original rear valance and strip it's paint and use it instead.

The ONLY repro product I've bought that's worked without a problem is the front valance, which I'm guessing is a fluke.

Please learn from my mistakes, PLEASE!!!

Click to expand...

Acooljt said:

I'd say replace as much as possible(within reason, I mean obviously don't replace something that is perfectly fine). You want as little filling as possible. I would go as far as to say even if it takes you longer to build the car because you have to make the extra money for the originally tooled panels, it is worth the wait. I've almost had my Mustang for 4 years and it's still not finished(though I could have shaved 2 of those years off had bodymen actually been competent people). Believe me man, you'll be much happier looking at a perfect car after 4 years of work, than a somewhat ok car after 2. You don't wanna sit there and look at it going, "Wow, that panel is a little off. Those seems don't meet up. Those aren't flush." You want to finish the car, step back, and just go, "Wow, that was worth every minute of waiting."

Don't end up like me. I've wasted 2 years being jerked around by different bodymen. So I decided to let a friend do it, who is quite good with filler and sanding, but doesn't know the first thing about metalwork. So my car is not even done, and I already know I'm gonna have to take it to another bodyshop to have them fix his metalworking mistakes. The man owns a grinder, but apparently has no idea how to use it, because he didn't grind any of his welds. You look in my engine bay and you can see all the patches he put in. It's like, "YOU IDIOT! If we can see them, what makes you think everyone else won't?" Urgh, you can't trust bodymen, seriously dude, I don't care how nice they are. I'll step down from my soapbox now.

Click to expand...