Quality of Replacement Body Parts

[Captkaos]

The new Tailgates that we have can be used as a tailgate.  I haven't gotten my hands on any but other vendors that have used them stated they were not the flimsy crap you normally get.  Doors you get what you pay for, generic fit cheap parts are going to deal you fits, and GM isn't making them anymore...  If it didn't come on the truck expect to spend some time fitting it, or expect to take it to a professional to fit it.  This is true for every panel.

General population has the thought that everything should just bolt up in place with no work to be done, this just isn't a reasonable expectation.  There is a reason why the 73-87 trucks didn't have perfect fit gaps, they weren't necessary.  Drop by a body shop and get their opinion on factory vs aftermarket, they will generally tell you everything requires work to get a good fit.

[PromiseKeeper]

 They made me mad enough I ended up chucking it into the warehouse door through a bunch of windshields they had sitting there

I'm getting this visual of a 160 pound guy going RAMBO with a tailgate and hope he's on MY side if I need some help with customer service It's been a LONG time since I've seen 160! 

I just spent an entire day with the help of a retired body guy getting my FACTORY doors lined back up after paint and new weather strips! These things weren't exactly the epitome of fit and finish on a good day! Like my friend said...these were made to be TRUCKS not luxury vehicles disguised as trucks! 

[Bitzer!]

Slightly different over here due to shipping costs but I needed to swap out all 4 doors on mine due to rot and 2" bondo in places!

I couldn't justify spend "X" amount on doors and double that in shipping. Eventually I found 2x front 100 miles away then a couple of months later 2x rear doors 80 miles away. All 4 needed prep work before paint but they are genuine GM doors and better than any aftermarket panel I've worked on.

Don't get me started on the hood, remanufactured part from china - what a load of poo! And yes I've fitted the anti bend brackets half way along!!

[80stepsideguy]

On my 80 build i needed to replace EVERYTHING. Only thing i kept was the door shells cause they came off of a 86 blazer and the frames were good, they just needed reskinning cause of previous bodywork.I replaced the front fenders,hood,complete bed and i will say i tried going with the cheap taiwan door before the build and i took it off n scrapped it.I paid 35.00 for the door cause it had a dent in it,i had my doors that needed some work so i went on ebay n found a NOS skin and door handle support(pics below) I was looking for the pass side replacement n found 1 but the guy dragged his feet so i went with chris here n was just as happy cause the fitment was dead on.I bought a door skin and 2 fenders from chris and i was very pleased with the quality n fitment.I bought the bedsides from classic industries (not cheap).And the front bed panel came from mar-k products.But the tailgate was a blank cause i had a gate from a 87 but needed alot of work(dents) so that too along with some other parts i had went in the scrap pile.I went thru a lot of trial and error on this truck and learned that if you want quality parts get advice and opinons from others before opening your wallet you`ll save alot .

thanks
pat






the skin from chris n the original 1 i took off

[Engineer]

I lucked out.

Just as I was starting to rebuild my '77, the C4C thing was going on.

I was able to score all original GM sheet metal, rust free, and (mostly) dent free.