The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area Paint and Body Shop Best rust-repair panels? (AD trucks)

(I'm sure this isn't the first time for this question...)

What rust-repair panels come closest to factory in terms of thickness, fit, quality ?

Am primarily interested in cowl panels (all of them), floors, and cab corners for the '47-'55 1st series trucks.

Would like to find panels that hit all the factory seams... espeically the outer cowl panels.

Thanks...

I recently bought all of them. The full cowls appear to be 20 gauge and I believe that the originals were 19 gauge. The inner to outers are pretty stout, mine were gray in color. The newer rocker panels are thinner that the older replacements but they have the proper bends at the ends. The newer ones are finished in black. The old style were just one long piece of the same contour and they were of heavy gauge. Since they didn't have the bends at the ends, the inner to outer cowl piece did not fit properly. It appears to me that the new style of rockers do not strictly duplicate the exact contour of the originals. They have a deeper contour, probably to add strength with the thinner gauge.

The old floor boards and separate toe board were of a fairly heavy gauge. The originals I believe were 16 gauge. the new style has a left and right toe board/floor board combined and they are of a thinner gauge.

Frank---I am currently working on a 1954 GMC and have bought some panels from Jim Carter. They fit very well and are about 20 guage. I am making some panels for the floor and inner cab that are not readily seen so do not have to be a perfect fit using 18 guage. I have had some parts back-ordered for a while and wonder if anyone knows if one supplier is better in this regard than others. I am about ready to order parts to rebuild door/window operating mechanisms. Anybody have any tips on where to best find these parts or advice on how to best go about the resto.