Aluminum panels

[BRONCOKID88]

I don't know if anyone remembers this, but there used to be a guy on here who made custom aluminum door and quarter panels. Does anyone know who this was or if he still sells this stuff? or anywhere else I can find them? Any help is appreciated

Thanks

Mitch

 

[Broncobill78]

Yup, I know exactly what you're talking about. Last word we had was thru Miesk5 who got it thru another forum that he's not making them anymore. they were kinda one-off deals to begin with and he hasn't been doing it for quite some time. I've seen what he was making and it wasn't that big of a deal as long as you have access to a bandsaw & bead roller. To be honest you could buy the necessary tooling and make your own for not much more than what he was asking. I've done work like this before when I had my shop and it's not difficult & the tooling isn't exceptionally expensive but it IS time consuming and I'm certain that it just got to be a drag on him, if you charge people for the actual time it takes to make a set of door & rear panels it gets out of hand real fast. Again, it's not difficult but it takes a lot of your time. You don't mind making a set for yourself and a friend or two but once 5, 6, 12 or 20 guys starts asking you suddenly realize that you've got 7 or 8 months of work ahead of you, especially when you're holding down a regular job and dealing with family obligations. I'm honestly surprised he made them for as long as he did. I wouldn't have made more than a few before calling it quits. Sorry I can't give you better news.

 

[BRONCOKID88]

Thats actually why I wanted to find him...I wish I could get ahold of his designs to keep me from having to draw it all up myself...But if I have no luck I guess I'll be measuring it all up myself. I'm good in CAD and a buddy has a metal shop with a plasma cutter...so if no luck it looks like I'll be designing my own...I've been needing a good project lately anyway. So if no one can find him I'm off to the drawing board. I just think those aluminum panels looked pretty sweet. And my 88 could use some new looks. It's time to break away from stock...who knows maybe I'll do a custom dash eventually too.

thanks,

Mitch

 

[Broncobill78]

Well, dunno if it'll be of any use to you since he hasn't responded to anyone for quite awhile now but here are the threads that he originally started:

http://broncozone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1610

http://broncozone.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1608

Best of luck with it and all that.

If *you* wind up making some let me know, I want bonus points for helping out /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> I'm building a stroked 545 and buying a boat so I just don't have the extra cash to be buying a bead roller right now.

 

[Yardape]

if you look around in the auto wreckers you should be able to find a rear panel made from a heavy cardboard type stuff. My 89 has it. I figure it would make an excellent pattern

 

[shift1313]

i just pitched a set of cardboard rears(bad shape, moisture and mold), but i bet one of the companies makes them for cheap, shipping would be the killer. Im not sure what youd get out of making a cad drawing of these unless you planned on having them cnc plasma cut, laser cut or waterjetted. They are too large for most fab shops(rear panels) unless you did them in multiple pieces. I would try to find a decent cardboard one(should be a mirror image for both sides), same with door panels. Just get a large piece of paper and make a tracing of the dents in the door and the holes for a template and go to town with nibbler. You can get a bead roller with dies for $35-$60 from eastwood for a vice mounted one with an 18" throat or so. Ive used one for making floor pans for a gocart thing i built at work and it did pretty well as long as you use a thinner gauge sheet.

 

[miesk5]

A few folks have made their own alum diamond plate panels such as Chris

Others use ply and then upholster em http://www.supermotors.net/registry/16969/61975

and as yardape wrote; look for a set at a local yard.