Repro panel problems

[Chevy305]

So when I redid the body on my 85 K10 about 2 years ago I did all repro parts on it. The core support was really flimzy and the metal cracked and split with in 6 months. Couldn't even support the weight of the radiator. I replaced it with a rust free original part. I bought it from Classic Industries and thats the last part I will ever buy from them...

Also now my passenger side fender has popped a bunch of spot welds and is also cracking on the inner side. I bought it from YearOne but my driver side from the same place has had absolutly no problems.

Anyone else have metal cracking problems or spot welds popping on you?

 

[Randy92782]

My old truck had a repro fender on it. It sucked when i went to pull it off for the first time (painted the truck again) cause when i tried to take out the inner fender bolts the welded nuts on the inside of the fender broke loose and just spun. Made it a PITA and by the time i got it off the fender was junk.

Can't be certain of where the fender came from. Just has me kinda leary of who to buy from

 

[BigBen]

I don't think the problem is Classic Industries, I think it's repro sheetmetal in general. It all seems to bring the suck.

Somewhere in the history of my '74, the passenger fender was replaced witha repro. You can figure it out just by feeling them. Needless to say, I had all the cracking and spinning nuts problems Randy described.

If you want good performance, you need to pony up the cash for NOS GM parts. Sadly, these are harder and hard to come by. I just picked up a NOS tailgate last night after years of watching for one.

I think you'll find that most of the guys on here will agree. Either find NOS or rust-free southern metal long before settling for repro junk.

I'm trying to restore my '74 by only replacing metal with GM parts, and it's brining the $$ value of the project up significantly.... but I hope it will be worth it.

 

[Chevy305]

just think about this though, for the price of a NOS fender you can buy 6 repro fenders.

 

[Randy92782]

but then you have to prep/paint and w/e else to those repros

I'd go with nos or just leave my **** rusty

but i HAVE had good luck on finding nearly rust free fenders and such

 

[BigBen]

just think about this though, for the price of a NOS fender you can buy 6 repro fenders.

Oh, I hear you there.

I guess it's a tradeoff.

Repro: You will be replacing them, and they will suck.
NOS/Rust-Free: You will pay more (likely).

We all have to pick our best option.

Mine is not a trail rig, it is a restoration. Due to that, I will not have any reproduction metal on it. It's already been too big of a headache for me with this one fender.

If I were running a trail rig, I still might pop for a rust-free original just to avoid the headaches. However, you have a great point about the fact that you can replace and rattle-can several cheapies for the price of one good one.

BUT, if you watch, you can find deals on NOS. I got good original fenders from Longbedder on here for mine (Still not installed), and I just got a deal on a NOS tailgate for the price of a repro from LMC:

Fenders.
Tailgate.

Back to your original point:

Yes, all repro steel sucks. period.
Only you can decide if it is worth waiting/looking for NOS for you.

Good luck,

-Ben