I mean, I could just strip this thing back to metal and start again, but I think it would be a hell of a job and am thinking the panel has more humps in it than a circus full of camels.
this is the offending panel. I guess you call it the valance panel? It is where the rails for the bumpers protrude through, only these have been patched up, tack welded in and what have you.
About a quarter of an inch of bog probably all the way across. The other side is really good.



back view



What would you guys do?

 

What exact year are we talking about? I believe you can mix match years with a bit of modifications. Reproductions are available and sometimes good used are available as well.. What do you want from the finished product? Driver quality, show quality? Going to open it up and put bumpers on it? What are your skills? What is your time worth? There are some pretty darn good professional quality fillers on the market.

Edit: Went to your profile and realize you are from Australia. With shipping on a new replacement part, it makes repair more attractive. If you use filler, do some research and get some good stuff. The good stuff, properly applied, lasts a long time.

 

I'd cut out a chunk where it's all coming apart and weld in a new patch of metal and reasonably straighten the surrounding area as necessary. After that's done I'd redo whatever finish work is needed and be back in business. That's just a bad patch job failing. No big deal.

 

More bondo. I have some stuff where it's held fine for 20 years. Of course I'd finish sand it with 100 grit for good adhesion and paint it afterwards with rustoleum red primer and topcoat with some good old lead paint. I know my methods aren't normal, but you did ask for opinions.

 

From the back side it looks like it's in fairly descent shape, I'd strip it down to bare metal to see exactly what you have do the metal repair as needed and skim over with body filler.

 

I think you would have way more time in repairing that thing than the cost of a reproduction part. Someone may be making it without the cutouts for the frame horns. Since I still work and have some (not much) disposable income, my garage time is valuable. I bought a quart of bondo at NAPA for $17, makes you want to straighten everything, or buy new. Just my opinion. Good luck with it.

 

Gravel Pan, Front, Steel, 1954
Fits: 1954 Ford F-100 trucks
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="cntr" width="205">
</td> <td> Part #:1524-54
Original #:8188
Price: $195.00 EA
Qty: <input id="QTY" class="rght numbers" style="width:40px" value="1" type="text">
Each truck takes: 1
Add To Cart



This is from Midfifty's site, you can also purchase the fillers but I still would strip yours down to bare metal and repair it if it's not too far gone.
</td></tr></tbody></table>

 

Id cut the old fill patch out and start over and do it right. tack Weld it and check for the proper geometry while doing it to limit the amount of filler that will be needed.

You can grind it and put more filler back in and itll work for a while but its not the best choice.

 

For 200 bones plus shipping down under, one can do a lot of repair work, especially themselves. The panel doesn't look all rotted, just needs the frame hole fill redone. Too many people will overdo the filler when it isn't necessary. Chances are the filler can be removed, the patch redone properly and less than half the amount of filler put back in to finish it correctly.

From the looks of the repop pictured above, the metal gauge is thinner and it will need a bunch of finish work and filler to make acceptable anyway.

 

Peter, how much metal fab equipment and experience do you have? Mig (with shielding gas) and/or tig welder? body hammers and dollys? Sheet metal tools? DA and or straight line or longboard sander?
If you have the equipment and the ability, then the right way to fix it is what 56 Panel, Wayne, Mike and others have recommended: Strip it down to bare metal to see exactly what you have, then either cut out any unrepairable damage and replace it with new metal then straighten the rest. It's obvious from the back that the work done was not done right, but you can't just spot repair it. "Bag of walnuts" beat on/beat out lumps and bumps in solid metal can be fixed pretty easily and successfully with a 40.00 shrinking disk and a 7" high speed angle grinder, it's almost like ironing out wrinkles in a shirt with a flatiron. I'll be posting a write up on patching and straightening fenders soon including using a shrinking disk.
If you aren't comfortable with doing the metal work then I'd highly recommend going with the repop valance in either metal or FG. Welding in a patch to cover the frame holes in a new panel is a fairly easy basic job, FG is even easier. I'll be filling the frame holes in the F1 fenders I'm doing, one with a patch to just fill the hole, the other as part of the larger rust repair.

 

Here's a teaser of the lower fender repair:

 

I see a new monkey face grill in that pic, bout time. Seriously, the average person on this forum does not have the equiptment or skills to perform some of the repairs required, some don't have the time and quite frankly it comes down to cost and time. I don't have a problem with repop items. I have over 40 hours in my hood alone, if I could have bought a new one at a reasonable price I would. Having said all of that, if you have the skills and the equiptment, go for it.

 

I'm teaching Gary how to repair his rusted F1 fenders using fairly low tech basic body and fabrication tools. I'll be forming the patch panels primarily using handmade MDF hammerforms.

I too would use repop parts, but no one makes repop front fenders or patch panels for the Bonus builts. I hope to demonstrate the fact that there is no voodoo involved in doing body work.

 

Thanks guys for all of those fantastic replies. Yeah, was kind of curious to see what others would do with such a job. My skillset is pretty basic (hence asking before just diving in and doing it), so I might get away with doing a bodgy job for time being. Definitely not a showgirl, and plan to get it resprayed one of these years.

Ax, am a big fan of your work, so keep me posted in what you are up to as far as panel work goes. Am not familiar with a shrinking disk.

So much filler in this thing! Bit like everyone else; if I strip it back, it could be a long road to getting it right.

I'll chew it over and let you know how it goes.
Thanks again, guys.

 

You could always buy a repop for the truck and then use the stock part to practice on. If you develop skills that are good enough then you can make the stock part exactly perfect and go that route (to keep away from repops)