The MF ones now come in black epoxy like the one in your gallery. The left side fit fine. The right side is a mess.

Here is the mismatch in length at the jam, the rear side is all aligned at the tuck point .. note that this is with the new panel ON TOP of the old, so it is actually worse then this, there is just too much panel body before the first step, so it can never align.. almost like it slipped in the press. (but the last one was just as bad)


and on this one, (A little hard to see ) is the space at the bottom of the door edge and the door post.. the lower lip of the patch is pinched with my vice grips, so it can't go in any more.. there is a huge space..


and here is the new door post piece layed over of the old one.. note that the new one is SO much bigger it completely covers the old one


and here is how that looks mated to the original post edge


and here is a look down the back edge of the door post, with the front edge aligned, showing how much too wide the door post is


Sam

 

Sam, the problems you are having with the door post and rear panel is the same as I have with the LH door pillar and cowl panel. The lower end just doesn't come close to matching. Also these patch panels are so thin that I wonder how long the cowl panels will last with the fenders bolted through them. I guess the suppliers think that because we are building 50 year old trucks, so we have to take whatever parts we can get. Jeff

 

I bought a set of plain steel corner patch panels (unpainted) from F100 Connections in Lynden, WA a few years back and the driver side fit perfect the first time after incorporating the "lessons learned" from the right side. On the right side, I cut from the the high point just above the frame, up and around to the door jam. Wanted to be sure to cut out ALL the rusted thru and rust affected areas. I actually cut highter than I needed to and that was where I got into trouble. The last outer vertical stiffener indent in the rear of the cab ran into the part I cut out but I did not see that as a problem as the patch panel had the indent already incoporated. I cut out all the old rusted metal, cleaned everything real good, even fabbed up some replacement sheet metal for the inner parts that were bad. When all that was done, I fit the patch panel, starting at the door jame and worked my way aft. Everything fit fine till I got to the vertical stiffener. It was off by at least 1/2". I ended up spending a lot of time hammering the stiffener so that it would align with the oem. I finally got them welded together but it it still very noticable as a mismatch when the bed is off. If I had it to do over, I would have cut low enough to miss that part. Had I done that the patch panel would have been a good fit which is what happened on the left side.
FWIW, I also got my door panels from the same place and they were a good fit. Again I cut away more OEM metal than I needed to.
I'm surprised that the MidFifties panels are such a PITA as I have been pretty happy with most everything I have gotten from them (not everything). I hope they get it worked out and make things right for you.
Good luck.

 

I've experienced the same type of frustration you are describing. I actually fabricated my own lower door posts since I didn't like any of the ones I saw from any other supplier. The patch panels took me the good part of a month to fit correctly. Lots of patients, rebending, clamping, and welding. Make sure you have your door on when you get a final fit, in order to match the curve of the panel with the bottom curve of the door.

Just my two cents.

 

Would the short patch panels work to repair this? I seem to have only minor cancer at the lower edge only and not all the way to the door opening.
Thanks, Jeff

 

Yes, particularly if the door edge line is good. Stay under the mount hole as much as possible..

Sam

 

Well, Sy from Mid Fifity finally had a chance to look at my pictures, and confirmed the problems I am seeing.. unfortunately he doesn't have any alternative patch panels.. He said all the suppliers are using the same forms, and so will end up with the same set of issues..

Sam

 

Sam: Sy is female. I bought my patch panels from dennis carpenter and they weren't any better. Took a while but I just cut out the rusted areas and beat the new panel sections untill they fit.
Chuck

 

It is a shame, but it is a fact of life that the patch panels are made overseas and the original patterns aren't real good or I suspect here possibly due to a lack of communication were made to fit over the original part that was given as a pattern. Also the dies wear and are not replaced so the bends soften. If the fit is critical, then the only alternatives are to fab your own or alter what's available. The latter would probably suit Jeff's needs as it doesn't look like he needs the doorpost portion.
This is not a new problem if that's any consolation, I remember using patch panels to repair rear quarterpanel rustout on a 57 Ford station wagon in ~ '60 and the fit there ended up making the wheel wells 4" shorter!

 

I spent the day putting the outer cornre on, and slicing out the extra material.

got it all lined up and about half welded in..

Sam

 

I ordered a set of corners from BOTP. The LH seems like it will be workable, the RH is a joke. Looks like I will be trimming and cutting for some time to make these things fit. As others have said, it looks like they made the dies for the patches to fit over the old panels.

Jeff

At least on the RH patch I only need about 4" of the bottom.