aftermarket sheet metal quality

[3x2GTO]

This November, my 85 K30 is going to the body shop for rust repair and paint, the shop owner usually uses Keystone base body panels, and says he's had good luck with their quality and fit. I see that LMC has "premium" panels available for my truck, and Keystone also offers an "upgrade in certification" in their panels. Has anyone here tried the better panels? Are they worth the extra $$$. I'll get free freight with Keystone and I live close enough to LMC to pick up the fenders, hood, etc... Thanks!

[Getter-Done]

Here is an interesting read
About this subject in the link below.


Link:https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/loui...void-t787.html

Here is a Funny/whiny and informative thread from this forum.

Link:http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...tmetal+quality










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[3x2GTO]

I read both links, lots of opinions and facts, I'm going to have the shop order the parts from their supplier, which I think is Keystone. The same shop installed a roof skin on my GTO, they ordered the skin thru Keystone and actually received an AMD part. It fit really well, hopefully it'll all work out.

[Getter-Done]

That's probably what I would do.
The guy I buy parts from said They have good quality.











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[3x2GTO]

It'll be impossible for me to control what brand of parts that I'll receive when ordering, so I'm not worrying about it. GoodMark seems to take a beating on quality, but I installed one of their radiator supports in a 66 nova and it looked and fit just as good as the GM one I replaced "minus the rot". But since GoodMark doesn't stamp anything, who knows who stamped that support? Hopefully, my truck will be done in early 2021 and I'll post results then. Thanks for the threads.

[Getter-Done]

Your Welcome.

Post #32 of the 2nd thread was the one that nailed it.
It was by a Top class member( Keith Seymore) that worked for GM.



When we (GM) produce a sheet metal panel it goes through several iterations of "matching" and "tuning". Production volumes of millions of parts make it worth while to stamp hundreds (or thousands) of panels for the sole purpose of wasting them ("robot food" is what we call them), specifically to make sure that contours and gaps fit correctly.

When you are only producing a handful or a few hundred panels you don't have the luxury of all those iterations. You have to try to hit the nominal design on your first or second round of stamping (using fewer hits per panel during the forming process) and post processing (hemming and laser holes) which is highly unlikely.

That's where we are on my current GM program. I have body exterior sheetmetal design/release responsibility for a vehicle that has a production run of nine or ten complete vehicles. We are struggling getting the panels to fit (the first panels were awful; the second batch was exponentially better but still not where we needed to be). Unfortunately the painter is going to have to save my butt.

Additionally - you can't just pick up and move tooling after it has been dialed in and expect to hit the ground running. Moving it from one country to another, or even across the street, will cause you to have to dial it back in.

Also - running thinner material than what the tool was designed for will result in not enough stretch = "baggy" parts, unless the holding features are modified to accommodate it.

Lastly - the setup changes over time, as the build varies dimensionally. As a result you are shimming and adjusting to chase the desired fit and finish through the life of the product. If you move the tools from Lordstown to Wentzville (a real life example) and start at nominal again then nothing will fit.













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[blazer2007]

I see AMD are re-stamping some of there own stuff. I know they came out with 78 style short box dye and some some u tube videos where they were using a mint 68 pickup for re tooling doors etc. They seem to be doing odd stuff like torinos and others. Don,t quote me on this but something to look into

[1971Stepside]

Keystone owns Goodmark, so that is most likely what the parts will be.

[3x2GTO]

Just received a new grill made by AMD for my 76 C20. It came in a Tri Plus box.

[franken]

Which means AMD didn't make it. Almost all these parts come from very few actual makers, but lots of distributors.

[CryingJoker]

I work for keystone which as 1971stepside mentioned does own goodmark. But they do have parts from more than just goodmark for the older trucks. Cab corners for instance have 2 part numbers available one is a goodmark number; the other is a regular keystone number. I will say also out of the handful of parts I've bought for mine already most have come in as triplus which I'm fine with they seem to line up fairly well and are straight.