Sheetmetal/parts sources

[MPhillips]

I have recently put up a 40'x60' shop & purchased '69, '71, and '72 blazers along w/'72 PU which all need various amount of work.

I have about 8 different catalogs, but would prefer buying good stuff from the people helping w/projects at this site if possible.

3 out of 4 of these trucks need threshold/floor replacement so I guess a suggestion on good quality sheetmetal for this phase would sure be appreciated.

Thanks again to all of the veteran builders who point us in the right direction!!!

Mike

[Musclerodz]

I have Tri-Plus sheetmetal which is considered to be the best along with several others on this board. Finding a board vendor that is closest to you will help on freight costs. I know Wes at Classic Heatbeat is in WA which is closer than me.

Mike

[krue]

Click the board vendors link in my sig for a list of all our vendors.

[LUV2XCLR8]

I could have sold you one that was rust free, Blazer that is
post up some pic's of your shop and your Blazers when you can.

[jb4short]

Wes at Classic Heartbeat is definately in "Your neck of the woods" and I've heard nothing but good things about their service

[MPhillips]

Thank you all - I'm planning on posting pictures soon - My father in law just told me he has a brand new front end out of a 72 Blazer he bought in '72 & never used - free! I'm in Northern Caliifornia, but will check with Classic Heartbeat.

[jcfoote60]

I bought Triplus fenders and blazer doors from LMC and they suck! In fact I chose to find OEM doors and fenders and the search has been long. I worked with a local guy who has been in the body/paint and custom hotrod business for years and although he made some attempts to fit them correctly he told me I was better off finding OEM or buy Goodmark parts. Once I looked at the fit of OEM on the doors as opposed to the "new" Triplus, there was no question I made a mistake on buying the the new stuff. Sorry to any board vendors who carry Triplus but it is what it is...OEM or Goodmark.

[jcfoote60]

I need to mention, will the Triplus work? yes they will if you spend enough money on fabbing, cutting, welding, grinding..to make body lines match, hogging out mounting holes, etc. I want everyone to know that I have spent hundreds of dollars on these parts and now I am backtracking and losing that money.... it just sucks and so wanted others to avoid my financial pain.

Jim

[DURRTY]

Remember Our trucks are close to FORTY 40 YEARS old.!!
OK? 40 years ago the sheet metal was put on pretty close to straight. exept for a few most of them have been beat on and rallied around like they were... well... old trucks..

SO regardless if you buy full on OEM steel or the import steel. Its going to take some fitting, strecthing, cutting, pulling and welding to get it all to fit back up.

there is no way anything will fit perfect no matter what it is. Its a fact of the whole vehicle bending, flexing and settling.

Plus the sheet metal should be a bit long and wide for fit up reasons.

Ill bet that TRI PLUS vendor "A" sells the same TRI PLUS that LMC sells. Im not here to pimp LMC in any way. But if you read around most will tell you that the majority comes from tri plus.

If it was easy to get these trucks straight and nice there would be a ton more on the road that looked factory straight??

right??

[jcfoote60]

I'm just sharing my experience with Triplus, I, like the rest of us on the board that have been working on this generation of trucks for years know all about the work that needs done to get them straight. From that experience and now this experience with Triplus stampings, it wasn't even a comparison on how the OE door fit vs Triplus. I litterally hung the OE doors with perfect lines at the windshield frame, rocker and both A and B pillars within 15 minutes. The Triplus was so far off it had me believing I had flexed my tub when changing body mounts. I could go on about the fenders too, but I'm not going to bother.

I spent hiundreds of dollars on Triplus sheet metal....now I'm stuck with having to try and re-sell them to someone who doesn't care how much work they would have to put into them to get them to look half way decent.

The point of this whole discussion is that for the kind of money you spend on Triplus you SHOULDN'T have to butcher the "brand new" sheetmetal or modify your existing truck just to try and get it to fit. Although I havn't have experience with Goodmark on these trucks, I have with other rigs I've repaired and restored. Goodmark fits like OEM or as close to it as you can get. It's your choice on how you want to spend your money and time.

JC

[BlazinKenK]

I too had issues with TRI-plus doors from LMC, the body shop said they could make them fit, but had no idea what it would take. My experience with LMC was very positive as they said they would take them back and pay for the shipping. I was impressed with the service I got from LMC.

[vtblazer]

Originally Posted by MPhillips

I have recently put up a 40'x60' shop & purchased '69, '71, and '72 blazers along w/'72 PU which all need various amount of work.

Cool, you won the lottery then?

Kidding... to the board.

You keeping everything stock or doing some mods?

[jb4short]

Originally Posted by jcfoote60

I bought Triplus fenders and blazer doors from LMC and they suck! In fact I chose to find OEM doors and fenders and the search has been long. I worked with a local guy who has been in the body/paint and custom hotrod business for years and although he made some attempts to fit them correctly he told me I was better off finding OEM or buy Goodmark parts. Once I looked at the fit of OEM on the doors as opposed to the "new" Triplus, there was no question I made a mistake on buying the the new stuff. Sorry to any board vendors who carry Triplus but it is what it is...OEM or Goodmark.

Josh Kaylor from Truck Builder magazine just did the entire nose of his truck (the article was in the April issue I think) with sheetmetal from LMC (Tri-Plus sheetmetal) and commented in the article how easily it went together and how nice the parts fit.

Manufacturers, like Tri-Plus, allow a lot of people to participate in this hobby and keep trucks on the road that would otherwise be scrapped by making parts available that were either never made by GM or are no longer available. Most parts, including OEM, don't just "Bolt on" in perfect alignment.

[MPhillips]

Thank you for the comments - I'm an OK mechanic, but no bodywork experience at all. I will be willing to pay more for less fitup work!

I plan to keep the Blazers stock, except maybe the '72. It is the best optioned of them all, but might do without doors & make offroader out of it.

How about cab floor & threshold metal. My doors are actually pretty good, the outer edge of the cab floor & threshold are bad in 3 outa 4 of them. Is it better to section the floor pan, or replace entire side? Most of my rust looks like the carpet held to water along door sill until new drain holes were "created". We don't have salt on roads here or the ocean so most rust is due to leaks/wet feet.

Thank you again for the advice!!!
Mike

[jaros44sr]

Gotta see pics, but if it is just the threshold, you might be able to piece in the floorboard patch panel. As long as the A and B posts are nice and solid, but you might end up fooling with the forward cab mount as well. Rugs suck, they keep the moisture on the bare metal, paint worn away by the rug moving with grit under it. Instant rust!!!

Welcome to the boards from Philly...

BTW, I couldn't ask for better repro. doors, took them outta the box and bolted them on.....NO RUST. Sometimes things don't always fit exactly rite, that's why they make shims, when I took mine apart some places had 3 shims, some areas had none. 35 years ago they had to do it and they had original stampings. It's not a perfect world we live in, I for one sure like to bolt on new metal... JMHO

THANKS TRI-PLUS

[MPhillips]

I'll try to get some photos together & posted - gonna cool down to 98 today so won't be a bad time to do it.

[jcfoote60]

I felt like I was ranting too much about Triplus so did some research and in fact contacted Goodmark to inquire where they sourced their doors. The answer was Triplus. The email didn't say anything more other than they are re-boxed in Goodmark packaging. Their website states this...

"At Goodmark, we test fit all of our exclusive parts so you can be assured a proper fit. Only when we are satisfied with the quality will we stock and sell these items to you. Many of our parts are licensed through the original manufacturers assuring the highest quality available. We strive to get you the best parts at the best possible price. So quit searching the junkyards for substandard parts! Get top quality new parts from Goodmark."

So there you go, does Goodmark unbox and test these parts for fit? Does Triplus have first quality and second quality stampings depending on who buys their sheet metal? I don't know the answer but I apologize to anyone who was offended by my posts and particularly apologize to the board vendors who sell triplus, hope I didn't jeapordize any potential sales.

JC

[mbgmike]

Originally Posted by jcfoote60

I felt like I was ranting too much about Triplus so did some research and in fact contacted Goodmark to inquire where they sourced their doors. The answer was Triplus. The email didn't say anything more other than they are re-boxed in Goodmark packaging. Their website states this...

"At Goodmark, we test fit all of our exclusive parts so you can be assured a proper fit. Only when we are satisfied with the quality will we stock and sell these items to you. Many of our parts are licensed through the original manufacturers assuring the highest quality available. We strive to get you the best parts at the best possible price. So quit searching the junkyards for substandard parts! Get top quality new parts from Goodmark."

So there you go, does Goodmark unbox and test these parts for fit? Does Triplus have first quality and second quality stampings depending on who buys their sheet metal? I don't know the answer but I apologize to anyone who was offended by my posts and particularly apologize to the board vendors who sell triplus, hope I didn't jeapordize any potential sales.

JC

No offense taken from us. I am too old

[jb4short]

Originally Posted by jcfoote60

I felt like I was ranting too much about Triplus so did some research and in fact contacted Goodmark to inquire where they sourced their doors. The answer was Triplus. The email didn't say anything more other than they are re-boxed in Goodmark packaging. Their website states this...

"At Goodmark, we test fit all of our exclusive parts so you can be assured a proper fit. Only when we are satisfied with the quality will we stock and sell these items to you. Many of our parts are licensed through the original manufacturers assuring the highest quality available. We strive to get you the best parts at the best possible price. So quit searching the junkyards for substandard parts! Get top quality new parts from Goodmark."

So there you go, does Goodmark unbox and test these parts for fit? Does Triplus have first quality and second quality stampings depending on who buys their sheet metal? I don't know the answer but I apologize to anyone who was offended by my posts and particularly apologize to the board vendors who sell triplus, hope I didn't jeapordize any potential sales.

JC

No worries from me JC...a lot of these posts actually wind up being more informative than anything else; which is the idea behind having "Community" boards. If we all thought the same thing and all had the same information it would get pretty boring.