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Labor Day Putting down your wrenches or time for
MORE wrenching? 
Plenty of places to share. | | Click on image for the lowdown. 
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Apr 26th, 2026 | | AD Chevy Trucks  Over 6,000 pictures Brad Allen has an awesome collection of Chevrolet factory pictures that he has set up from film strips. Check them out!
Lots of work on Brad's part ... pure enjoyment (and references) for you!
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| | | | Joined: Mar 2010 Posts: 10,270 Renaissance Man | | Renaissance Man Joined: Mar 2010 Posts: 10,270 | Anyone else make patch panels out their collection of otherwise useless items? Clapped out doors, sheet metal cover off of an old refrigerator? I bought a desert cooler radiator off of a 1 1/2 ton fire truck at a junkyard over 30 years ago. I decided to take the upper radiator baffle, but didn't realize that it was a Big Truck and wouldn't work for a 3100. I have been hacking bits and pieces off of it for patch panel for those 30 years and I only have enough metal left to give me a wicked sliver. 
1952 5-window - return to "as built" condition | 1950 3100 with a 235 and a T-5 transmission
| | | | | Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,742 Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) | | Kettle Custodian (pot stirrer) Joined: Feb 2004 Posts: 29,742 | Yep- - - -used to do it all the time when I owned a body shop. There's no point in scrapping perfectly good metal just because it's got a few dents in places. Lots of discarded parts have compound curves that can closely match the shape of areas that would require a lot of hammer and dolly work to make a patch from new, flat metal.
Jerry
"It is better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and eliminate all doubt!" - Abraham Lincoln
Cringe and wail in fear, Eloi- - - - -we Morlocks are on the hunt!
There is nothing noble in being superior to your fellow man; true nobility is being superior to your former self. - Ernest Hemingway
Love your enemies and drive 'em nuts!
| | | | | Joined: May 2015 Posts: 10,997 Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums | | Housekeeping (Moderator) Making a Stovebolt Bed & Paint and Body Shop Forums Joined: May 2015 Posts: 10,997 | I’ve got a collection of sheet metal and other stuff (angle, flat, round) from nearly every project I’ve done. That includes leftovers of patch panels I’ve bought to use on my truck. I find myself digging into the pile pretty frequently.
Kevin 1951 Chevy 3100 work truckFollow this saga in Project JournalPhotos 1929 Ford pickup restored from the ground up. | 1929 Ford Special Coupe (First car) Busting rust since the mid-60's If you're smart enough to take it apart, you darn well better be smart enough to put it back together. | | |
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