Auto Metal Direct Fitment Issues?

[72bluNblu]

I was shocked a few years ago. I saw a box of AMD parts. It said "Made in Tiawan"

AMD has been stamping their parts in Taiwan for a long time. Not sure if they were always stamped there, but, that's how its been for years. They're still the best replacement panels for fit, and they bought up a bunch of the original factory tooling.

Everything up top was fine, it was the rockers (inner and outer), lower part of the quarters, and the floor that were chewed up. I got the full quarter panels because I wanted it to go together where these cars were originally welded together without being all patched together and whatnot... But it looks like if I wanna use these AMD panels they may need to be cut and modified to fit anyway. All the measurements seemed to check out and be the same between sides, but maybe I could get a second opinion or have them check for squareness. Hoping it's just a bad stamping and needs a little modding, and the rest will be fine. But I don't know if I am willing to find out by hanging these panels and throwing away the possibility of returning them...

AMD has been known to make adjustments to their tooling, they have fixed things based on reports of fit as later runs of parts were done. Not sure what generation of stampings those rockers are, but "first run" parts usually require more work than later stamping runs.

But here's the thing, you say the floors, rockers, and quarters are "chewed up", and you removed the rocker. Those parts by themselves make up the majority of chassis strength through the middle of the car. If you didn't brace and cross brace the chassis before you removed the rockers, things could easily have moved.

The other thing is, the body tolerances on these cars have been known to vary by well over a 1/4" depending on the part/area being measured. No replacement panel will ever be a perfect fit for every car, especially almost 50 years later. If the factory parts and construction gave variation of more than a 1/4", you can't really expect replacement panels to do any better. Most cars aren't out by that much, but some are, and with as much damage as you describe there's no guarantee your car is still straight, even if it left the factory that way. Removing and replacing major structural parts is a high level fabrication skill, and the process required to fit replacement parts while keeping everything square is why paying a shop to do that type of work is typically very expensive. It's not a slap it on and tack it up operation, and in some cases a lot of modifications may be necessary to get everything lined up. It can be a lengthy process, and one that can be quite different from one car to another.

 

[jos51700]

Before you do anything, get the frame print and start measuring. Surely someone on here had them bookmarked or something.

 

[jos51700]

Talked to them on the phone just a few minutes ago and was told they don't have a tech department to help with fitment issues at the moment...

BS. Somebody there knows what's going on. Google a name of an employee, call up and get their extension, call them direct and act like they should know you "hey Jim, It's Steve, I haven't talked to you in a while! How's business?" And then explAin the situation. Then, and this is critical, ask for help. The h word motivates people.

And don't ask how the wife and kids are. That can be a giveaway if somebody is single or the kids died in a 3D printer accident.

 

[airgrabber]

If anyone is contemplating Shermans, I'd tell them stay far, far away. They sold me junk qtrs for a 70 Swinger where the marker lite was not in the right place. I had to cut and move it, and they just said yea, they are all like that, and hung up the phone. If I had to, I'd rather have to rework the AMD stuff - at least it is the original gauge thickness as OE stuff.

 

[JeremyAB95]

BS. Somebody there knows what's going on. Google a name of an employee, call up and get their extension, call them direct and act like they should know you "hey Jim, It's Steve, I haven't talked to you in a while! How's business?" And then explAin the situation. Then, and this is critical, ask for help. The h word motivates people.

And don't ask how the wife and kids are. That can be a giveaway if somebody is single or the kids died in a 3D printer accident.

I wouldn't BS you, you're my favorite turd! But on a serious note, I wasn't fibbing about that. That's what they told me (it was pretty early in the morning when I called) and I shot them an email later with the pictures and they responded around lunchtime and we're trying to work it out from there.

Edit: ah, that went over my head. You mean they're giving me a bogus response. They seem to be trying to assist via email at least. I'll let y'all know how that goes.

 

[JeremyAB95]

Before you do anything, get the frame print and start measuring. Surely someone on here had them bookmarked or something.

Good advice - I didn't even think of that. I'll try and dig something up. I am starting to wonder if my frame might be slightly off-kilter from sitting out in the elements for a good part of its life.

 

[JeremyAB95]

If anyone is contemplating Shermans, I'd tell them stay far, far away. They sold me junk qtrs for a 70 Swinger where the marker lite was not in the right place. I had to cut and move it, and they just said yea, they are all like that, and hung up the phone. If I had to, I'd rather have to rework the AMD stuff - at least it is the original gauge thickness as OE stuff.

Yeah, I'm thinking if I have to bite the bullet and massage and modify it, I don't want it to be thick as aluminum foil.

 

[JeremyAB95]

AMD has been stamping their parts in Taiwan for a long time. Not sure if they were always stamped there, but, that's how its been for years. They're still the best replacement panels for fit, and they bought up a bunch of the original factory tooling.



AMD has been known to make adjustments to their tooling, they have fixed things based on reports of fit as later runs of parts were done. Not sure what generation of stampings those rockers are, but "first run" parts usually require more work than later stamping runs.

But here's the thing, you say the floors, rockers, and quarters are "chewed up", and you removed the rocker. Those parts by themselves make up the majority of chassis strength through the middle of the car. If you didn't brace and cross brace the chassis before you removed the rockers, things could easily have moved.

The other thing is, the body tolerances on these cars have been known to vary by well over a 1/4" depending on the part/area being measured. No replacement panel will ever be a perfect fit for every car, especially almost 50 years later. If the factory parts and construction gave variation of more than a 1/4", you can't really expect replacement panels to do any better. Most cars aren't out by that much, but some are, and with as much damage as you describe there's no guarantee your car is still straight, even if it left the factory that way. Removing and replacing major structural parts is a high level fabrication skill, and the process required to fit replacement parts while keeping everything square is why paying a shop to do that type of work is typically very expensive. It's not a slap it on and tack it up operation, and in some cases a lot of modifications may be necessary to get everything lined up. It can be a lengthy process, and one that can be quite different from one car to another.

Great response, and very informative! To be clear, I'm having a shop do all the structural stuff. They brought this issue with the rockers to my attention. There were cross-braces tacked in place before anything was removed, but I'm wondering if the frame wasn't a little wonky to begin with.

 

[YY1]

I was under the impression that they had an in-house shop that installed their products.

If that's not a technical department, I don't know what is.

 

[airgrabber]

I do recall reading in the DC chassis manual that the tolerances for building a body on the assembly line back then could be as much as 3/4" off and still it would have been sold to the public. I think this was in the section where they talked about tire fitment and getting the biggest slicks possible under a car. It's not like today where robots are welding these things together and the tolerances have to be tight in order for the automated machines to turn out a consistent product. That's one reason for the gobs and gobs of white seam sealer around the inner rear fenderwells and trunk floor seams. I've scraped that stuff off back there only to reveal some pretty good sized gaps from the factory.

 

[72bluNblu]

I do recall reading in the DC chassis manual that the tolerances for building a body on the assembly line back then could be as much as 3/4" off and still it would have been sold to the public. I think this was in the section where they talked about tire fitment and getting the biggest slicks possible under a car. It's not like today where robots are welding these things together and the tolerances have to be tight in order for the automated machines to turn out a consistent product. That's one reason for the gobs and gobs of white seam sealer around the inner rear fenderwells and trunk floor seams. I've scraped that stuff off back there only to reveal some pretty good sized gaps from the factory.

Even in the factory service manuals right below the measurements I posted above it says the chassis measurements can be off by a 1/4". And that's the structural measurements, not the body. If the chassis can be off by a 1/4", you can figure the body can be out even more than that.

 

[JeremyAB95]

Even in the factory service manuals right below the measurements I posted above it says the chassis measurements can be off by a 1/4". And that's the structural measurements, not the body. If the chassis can be off by a 1/4", you can figure the body can be out even more than that.

My friend told me something similar about his Super Bee when he was replacing the quarter panels. I'm not really seeing any other solutions than measuring the chassis again and referencing it with the frame print, then massaging and modifying the new metal to fit using pieces from the old panels. Which, unfortunately, is probably gonna get pretty costly.

 

[marksmopar1]

I agree with 72Blu. All the A bodies I have taken apart and repaired have a 1/4 adjustment in any direction....it adds up fast when parts are moved around. All these cars of ours were not assembled the same....tolerances were not what they are today.

 

[marksmopar1]

I ordered A Body front fender aprons (the ones that are welded to the firewall then welded to the inner fenders under the hood) Anyway the passenger side fits perfect but the driver side is not usable and requires a lot of mods to work. Taking a good look at the panels all AMD did was create the panels in a mirror image left to right....but that is wrong each side is unique...major issue with those panel beware!

 

[72bluNblu]

My friend told me something similar about his Super Bee when he was replacing the quarter panels. I'm not really seeing any other solutions than measuring the chassis again and referencing it with the frame print, then massaging and modifying the new metal to fit using pieces from the old panels. Which, unfortunately, is probably gonna get pretty costly.

Yessir. Measure the chassis, check it vs the specs, and then start the process of lining everything up. I honestly wouldn't be totally surprised if the major chassis components measure out ok, or close to it. Even when they do a lot of fitting is sometimes needed to get everything lined up.

The door fit is going to be the big test. But even there, you have to make sure the door is right too, you don't want to be fitting the rocker to a door that's sagging on worn out hinges. That's why replacing the rockers, quarters and floors is such a big deal. It's not that hard to drill out the spot welds, and really it's not even that hard to weld everything back together. It's getting everything to line up. The more parts that get replaced, the less reference points you have. With your car needing rockers, floors, and quarters you pretty much lose most of your reference points for the body. That's a ton of moving parts. The rocker is a big deal, the rocker placement will effect the locations of the quarter and the fender. And the door has to line up with all three. And then the floor still has to fit to the rocker too. Never mind that the fender placement also effects the hood gap, and the quarter placement effects the trunk lid fit, bumper gaps, heck even the rear window.

Basically, to do a rocker, floor and quarter you have to juggle every single body gap on that entire side of the car. And that's why it costs so much to do panel replacements, and why it gets exponentially more expensive as you add panels.

 

[harrisonm]

I am sorry to hear that. I used the AMD rear panel on my 69 Barracuda, and it fit like a glove.

 

[JeremyAB95]

Yessir. Measure the chassis, check it vs the specs, and then start the process of lining everything up. I honestly wouldn't be totally surprised if the major chassis components measure out ok, or close to it. Even when they do a lot of fitting is sometimes needed to get everything lined up.

The door fit is going to be the big test. But even there, you have to make sure the door is right too, you don't want to be fitting the rocker to a door that's sagging on worn out hinges. That's why replacing the rockers, quarters and floors is such a big deal. It's not that hard to drill out the spot welds, and really it's not even that hard to weld everything back together. It's getting everything to line up. The more parts that get replaced, the less reference points you have. With your car needing rockers, floors, and quarters you pretty much lose most of your reference points for the body. That's a ton of moving parts. The rocker is a big deal, the rocker placement will effect the locations of the quarter and the fender. And the door has to line up with all three. And then the floor still has to fit to the rocker too. Never mind that the fender placement also effects the hood gap, and the quarter placement effects the trunk lid fit, bumper gaps, heck even the rear window.

Basically, to do a rocker, floor and quarter you have to juggle every single body gap on that entire side of the car. And that's why it costs so much to do panel replacements, and why it gets exponentially more expensive as you add panels.

Thanks for all the info! Hopefully the wallet won't be hurt too much. I'll give the specs to the frame shop and try and see if we can determine the best way to remedy the fitment problems from there.

 

[famous bob]

AMD has been stamping their parts in Taiwan for a long time. Not sure if they were always stamped there, but, that's how its been for years. They're still the best replacement panels for fit, and they bought up a bunch of the original factory tooling.



AMD has been known to make adjustments to their tooling, they have fixed things based on reports of fit as later runs of parts were done. Not sure what generation of stampings those rockers are, but "first run" parts usually require more work than later stamping runs.

But here's the thing, you say the floors, rockers, and quarters are "chewed up", and you removed the rocker. Those parts by themselves make up the majority of chassis strength through the middle of the car. If you didn't brace and cross brace the chassis before you removed the rockers, things could easily have moved.

The other thing is, the body tolerances on these cars have been known to vary by well over a 1/4" depending on the part/area being measured. No replacement panel will ever be a perfect fit for every car, especially almost 50 years later. If the factory parts and construction gave variation of more than a 1/4", you can't really expect replacement panels to do any better. Most cars aren't out by that much, but some are, and with as much damage as you describe there's no guarantee your car is still straight, even if it left the factory that way. Removing and replacing major structural parts is a high level fabrication skill, and the process required to fit replacement parts while keeping everything square is why paying a shop to do that type of work is typically very expensive. It's not a slap it on and tack it up operation, and in some cases a lot of modifications may be necessary to get everything lined up. It can be a lengthy process, and one that can be quite different from one car to another.

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This is the case ! Your car wasn`t designed by a computer like they are now. And it`s definitely moved around over the yrs., nothing rusted out that bad could stay perfect. I would think about making the parts fit, or give up on it if I were you.