AMD Wheel house halves for 70RR...... what's the trick?

[Coronet 14]

Any monkey can build a Ford or Chevy. But it takes a craftsman or lady to build a Mopar. Meds starting to kicking in.

 

[pturner]

i will probably be bashed for what i am fixing to say, BUT i have never had any trouble with the three people at AMD i deal with. the price of a wheelhouse does not qualify for a large spender account. i sent AMD about $6000 last year and almost halfway there already this year.
i am just appreciative that there is some form of a replacement body part available to make my job easier. there is no way i could be restoring my 68 Roadrunner 10 years ago.
Metalwork is using your hands, tools, and skills to make the part fit as perfect as possible. if it fit perfectly from the manufacturer, then you would just change parts and glue and screw, and the finished product would not be worth much-would it? why do you think us old timers have stiff, mangled hands and fingers? We have used them for many years to do a better and more perfect car. Metalwork on MY roadrunner will take me about 7 months.
Slow down and make it fit. my wheel houses looked exactly the same as your pics and i trimmed and reshaped the radius and used an end mill to reshape the hole slightly. you will never see the outer flat flange anyway.
Please either enjoy the restoring of the car, or bring it to someone else that enjoys metalwork to complete.
it is easier to cry-cry-cry than to just do it and be proud when you are finished. that is the very reason there are people like us that make it right, and others that just pay someone to make it right.
if i have you upset now, please forgive me. this was not meant to insult or upset anyone, but to try to breed a little craftsmanship (which is an almost deceased art). thanks for your taking time to read this. Hope i have made you think just a little bit.
PT in Tennessee
68 Roadrunner, Numbers correct, One Owner
going to Carlisle in July, see you there

 

[flypaper]

i guess you are too dense to get it..

i had a problem with the fit of a part
i called AMD and asked if there were any known problems with said part
and if there were, i wanted to return them.
AMD lied and
told me they had no issuses and would not accept my parts for return.

fast foward,i made do with what i had...
then i discovered that AMD
was yanking my chain all along.

how you can come here and point at me
shows you are another AMD knob polisher!
making lame excuses for them!
go blow smoke up someone else's ***
AMD customer sucks
plain and simple
they will lie to avoid a return..
that is all i wanted...
calling it crying is lame...

 

[Hemirunner]

I bought all of this second hand and ended up with 2K in a 70RR including all the AMD sheet metal to do the whole car. Being that they are second hand parts, it's not AMD's responsibility to do anything about anything. I will make these parts work just fine. If I can't do that, I should probably go find another hobby or hire it done. It's that simple. I'm not building a concours restoration, I'm building a drag radial car for the strip. I fixed the flanges of the wheel halves and I've screwed it together until I can get it spot welded. Then I still have to cut it apart and weld in a 3" strip to widen the tub. Lot's of work to do on this car, but it'll keep me busy for quite some time. It's a matching numbers B5 blue car with a full fender tag, not so sure I should be cutting it up, but oh well.....

 

[BarrsRestoration]

I could write a book about the problems I've encountered with AMD parts. Now I'm about finished building a '68 Charger with the following parts:
Front valance
Fenders
Doors
Left rocker panel
Complete passenger area floor pan
Complete trunk pan
Trunk floor side extensions
Both quarters
Outer wheel housings
Tail light panel
Rear valance
Rear valance corners
Dutchman panel
Roof skin
Roof support beam rear
and various small pieces.
Nearly every piece has required major cutting and re-welding or excessive reshaping to get an acceptable fit.
And I've photographed every bit of it.

 

[Donny]

...Metalwork is using your hands, tools, and skills to make the part fit as perfect as possible. if it fit perfectly from the manufacturer, then you would just change parts and glue and screw, and the finished product would not be worth much-would it? why do you think us old timers have stiff, mangled hands and fingers? ... Slow down and make it fit...Please either enjoy the restoring of the car, or bring it to someone else that enjoys metalwork to complete...it is easier to cry-cry-cry than to just do it and be proud when you are finished. that is the very reason there are people like us that make it right, and others that just pay someone to make it right.

I just can't fathom people bitching about AMD stuff! I make Taiwan made stuff fit all the time, it's never perfect, but, it's always sound and solid when I'm done. Today, on the 66 Mustang, the lip on the qtr panel where the weatherstipping attaches to was shorter and less than the original deck lid panel (piece between rear window and deck lid) weatherstripping pinch weld type area. To fix this, I too some sheet metal, folded it in half pounded it down tightly to replicate the same area that is too short to attach weatherstripping onto. Then, I sanded down the old lip, separating the pieces (the fold) discarded the inner piece, took my new panel piece, mocked it up and created a sloping and gradually decreasing lip whereas the weatherstripping can attach to with no issues.

Granted, this would have caused gripes and ******* about it not fitting too well and junk like that. So, my aim is to keep fbbo on the upswing, professional, and a cadre of 'can-do'ers' versus can't do-ers. I say this not meaning to insult anyone, or any methods, just that I like this site, and, there's a deep well of talent here, and guys that make it happen, and are very proud of making it happen. This work is highly skilled, and is not going to be mastered in a few months of watching TV shows. The owner of the Mustang decided to hire me after fooking it up, and it was fooked up for sure! But...I'm almost done!

 

[BarrsRestoration]

The problem I have is explaining to the car owners that the parts they paid dearly for fit like crap. "But for $120 labor, I can make that $75 bracket look perfect."
Who wants to hear that?

 

[Donny]

Car building and restoring is never a good investment. A person never gets back in dollar value what they spend to get there. Its always a labor of love. I just tell people that it's going to be expensive, and it is what it is. If I 'debate' or argue with customers over price and costs and labor, then I won't be in this too long. I wonder if telling the customer the piece fits like crap makes the piece or the worker look bad? I own everything; the good and the bad. I see it all too often guys owning it only if it comes out good, and or the customer is happy. When they complain about the tools, or parts then I raise my eyebrow. Its all about securing solutions, not excuses.

 

[BarrsRestoration]

If that shared wisdom is intended for my benefit, please don't bother.

 

[Donny]

I don't know you BarrsRestoration, and I have no track-record to go on respective of your words and work, so I have no reason to try to help you, or even disparage you and or your work. I mean you, and everyone no disrespect, but, what I say is truthful, AND cogent in this application as this is a site where we come to share our work, our situations, and bounce ideas off one another. For many years, this site was (to me) considered a sort of 'Peer Review' site. When a Scientist or Doctor writes or postulates a theory or something 'new', they often have it 'Peer Reviewed' for clarity, truthfulness, and even libel. My words are only to keep this site in that realm; worthy and capable of continuing to be called a sort of Peer Review site. If AMD has such problems with their products there would not be SO many high-end cars out there that are completed and finished, and look so good.

To conclude this (at least from my viewpoint) I will wish you all luck in your ill-fitting AMD panels. Metalworking is an art. There's lots of folks better than I out there, but, it's all a learning curve. Post pics of your solutions, and your projects.

 

[pturner]

a little water for the fire

Donny, I agree completely. I just like getting on forums to learn from others experience. if I have had a bad experience with any vendor, and they do not try to make it right----I have a choice-go elsewhere. I was not a design engineer for Chrysler, so I do not have all the info to do everything just perfect. if I didn't enjoy the metalwork I would pay someone to do it for me. that is why I do not do the body work ( I don't enjoy sanding)
my intent (as I stated in an earlier posting) was to spur thinking to continue restoring machines, and certainly not to po anyone.
Donny, we need to hook-up someday as I think we are one of a kind and could enjoy sharing some experiences.
hope to meet some forum participants in Carlisle this week. I really enjoy looking at other folks cars to admire and learn from them.
thanks all for your constructive feedback, it has really made me think and study.
PT in Tennessee

 

[flypaper]

When they complain about the tools, or parts then I raise my eyebrow. Its all about securing solutions, not excuses.

why is that?
i did not want any splicing in my wheelwells.
i spent alot of extra time and money to make the car right and
i felt the car deserved better then that bad fitting AMD crap.
if i wanted splicing, i could of very easily patch up what was there.

my only mistake was ASSUMING that AMD made a part that actually fits properly
and listening to all the praises online that AMD gets from people like you..
silly me..
i'm not asking for very much.

btw
i have nos metal and side by side the AMD is close but not a exact match.
it looks good at a glance but when you really examine it you can see its off some.
i feel the more AMD you use,the worse it becomes with fit.
use only one part like a quarter and the little bit it is off is not as noticable.

here is one of the many projects me and my brother have going on
feel free to pick it apart and please make me up a reason why
it is my fault and not AMD's for selling parts that do not fit and flat out
lieing to the customer about it...



http://a12mopar.com/yabb/YaBB.pl?num=1239246311/0#0

 

[Donny]

Flypaper, I just read your thread on a12. Where you mentioned the outer wheelhouse didn't fit right when the qtr was installed, like an air gap was there, my question is did you screw qtr on first, let outer wheelhouse 'float' inside, adjust the wheelhouse TO the qtr to establish a good fit, then clamp/screw the outer wheelhouse in place, remove qtr panel, and weld outer wheelhouse on, with little consideration of 'alignment' of the AMD stamping holes/alignment holes, and 100% perfect flushness of Inner/Outer wheelhouses? If not, try it, you'll find things go together nicely this way, and far easier. After all, Outer needs to mate to Inner, Outer needs to sit flush on wheelhouse lip on qtr panel. Good luck.

 

[flypaper]

no matter which way it was installed
from the outside in or the inside out,no way,no how.
the gaps were too large either way.
trust me
i spent/wasted many,many,many hours trying every which way possible.
the closest you could get it had it bending towards the point of distortion...
thats when i stopped and looked for other solutions
one thing i know is
you shouldn't have to force anything together that much.

my solution was
i ended up splicing 1 inch of material around the whole outer radius
to make it acceptable to me.
now at least the gaps look like my other bee does.
btw
i could of easily spliced in what was there in the first place.
thats what pizzed me off...
those AMD panels were a waste of alot of my time and money.
add on AMD jerking me around when contacted
and you can understand where i'm coming from.

i wasn't afraid to send them
back and pay for orig donar metal.
i think the more AMD you use the worse off you are.
one or 2 panels you are ok.
more then that and you have a fight on your hands to get it all together.
that car should be in primer soon
its 98% is done
just have a few small patches to finish up in the rear window gutter
and a few panels to blast

 

[Hemirunner]

Flypaper, the work you did looks excellent and you should be proud of it. I understand your position on the AMD panels. Compared to the rot on most of these midwest cars, I'll take a new panel that needs some reworking over a rusted, pitted, piece original piece any day. I'm not restoring a muscle car, I'm building a drag car. I'm splitting the tubs and mini-tubbing it anyway. This car had rotten trunk and quarters and with the original stuff so hard to find in useable form, the AMD stuff is a great alternative even if it needs tweaking. I'm not the original buyer of the AMD metal I have and do not have much $$ invested in it so I'm very pleased with what I have to work with. Hopefully, I'll do the same quality work to mine that you did on yours.