I have used EMS panels for other restoration projects but now that I have gotten into the F100s I see that there are even more options/sources. Midfifty, Dennis Carpenter, etc all advertise repair panels (and most say that their product is superior to "other" vendors products)...I am looking for the ground truth on which panels are REALLY the best. Would appreciate any firsthand experiences, either pro or con, with these products before I invest a lot of cash. Thanks...

 

My experience with patch panels is they sometimes are close to fitting, but it is up to the customer to make it fit right. All of the cowl panels and the rear cab corner panels that are sold come from the same manufacturer. I had pretty good luck with the cowl panels, but the rear corners are pretty much a joke. I bought the cowl panels from Mid-fifty and the corners from BOTP.

Jeff

 

Anyone know of a source for patch panels for the cab roof just above the drip rail? I'm having some trouble finding any.

 

Haven't seen anyone offering roof patch panels, but it's not a complex shaped area to make your own. Don't try to do the whole length in one piece, cut out a section, fit and weld in a replacement patch, move down and cut another section out and replace it. I'd do no more than 1/3 the length at a time, that way you won't have problems with supporting the roof or it going out of alignment. Do the corners last. You may be able to make the corners out of an exhaust pipe bend of the right diameter and radius or a rear cab corner patch if you don't want to try to form the curve yourself. It's not very hard to form that shape from flat metal with a little practice of the right technique.
If there is enough interest I could do an article on metal shaping.

 

Nuthin,

I too needed to repair the roof as it was rotted out above the gutter. Depending on how bad, i.e. how high up the rot goes you may be able to do what i did.

I cut the rot out pretty much as AX describes, a bit at a time and found that I could replace the material with flat sheet cut into strips then just a little persuation for the final shaping.

If you want to see what I mean there are quite a few pics on my site under build/Cab.

Cheers
Lee

 

That's interesting, Midfifty sells two different corners; one is their premium product and the other is a "junk" piece that they say their competitors sell but they offer only as a lower patch piece. Midfifty also has the right side cowl panel that has antenna holes in it but BOTP shows the same panel with no extra holes. This is at the heart of my original question about where the ground truth lies...it sounds like the answer may be "you pay your money and take your chances".

 

You got it! There was a thread a while back about patch panels and our different trials and errors. When I bought my cowl panels from Mid-Fifty, there was about 3 different paper stickers covering others from different companies. This tells me that they all get em from the same place and sometimes from each other. On the cab corners, none of the ones out there seem to fit the door opening, no matter where they come from. I was lucky enough that the rust on mine started behind the door opening. I was not satisfied with the contour of the corner panels either, they do not match the contour of the cab.
Jeff

 

reamer may chime in here....he's got jigs for cab corners and such.

 

I think all the vendors may get them from Mill Auto Supply which is where I bought mine many years ago when they only sold wholesale and were the only place you could get them. They have a website now (rustrepair.com). You might take a look there.

Lou

 

I just finished putting all four corner patch panels on my 53. My experience echos what others have said. They are somewhat close but need allot of massaging. The bend radii in the area that wraps into the door openings are way too big, they have to be closed up. On the rear, there was not enough material in the area that goes into the door openings, there were wrinkles, some of the wrinkles ending up being folded over each other so there ended up being 3 layers of material. Be prepared to make patch panels to add to the patch panels. Mine came from Mid-Fifty.

 

Yep, I make correct rear cab corners and lower-front fender patches (where the fender bolts to the running bd.) for '48 to '52 trucks. see my gallery
Reamer

 

I'm really curious so let's take a poll: what percent premium would you be/had been willing to pay over the price of the overseas panels for guaranteed to fit ones? Or would you have still gone for the cheap ones simply on price and adjusted them yourself?

 

When you consider confidence in my metal shaping skills (zero), and the fact that the ones out there now are only $30, I'd probably pay at least twice that to avoid having to modify the junk patch panels if it was required for my truck. It's enough of a challenge just to learn how to weld straight.

The rust through on my truck isn't that extensive, though, and it doesn't approach the doors. I'm hoping I can get away with a round patch that's only about 6" by 6" on the bottom curve of the rear cab corner.

 

For myself, not having either the skills or equipment, I'd cheerfully pay double as well. When you're stuck with relying on someone else to set the patch, you really don't want much room for error. It'd be well worth it.

Thinking of providing a service to your less-able friends, are you?

 

Even though my metal working skills are above average, I would still be willing to pay double or more for panels that "fit". My main concern on the "patch panels" is the guage of material they are made from. I know the cowl panels that I put on my 53 are not as thick as OEM.

Jeff