EMS headlight mounting panel

[Zapato]

Meteorman, yes you made sense. Most patch panels have excess material. Its there so they can be trimmed to fit just as you described.

The guys at EMS are approachable and really do want to provide us with a great product.  Few months back I spent half hour or more talking with Alexander trying to find a source so he could make his current product better, Doesn't do any of us any good to sit here and badmouth his product. If there are issues that need addressing he's more than willing to do so. In fact he's a member here. Checks in once in awhile. He's good people and knows if his product is garbage he goes broke.  He can only make his product better if we let him know. Really we're darn lucky someone is making these parts.

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[RICH MUISE]

Harold is exactly correct. The pics I showed for the right side had a headlight panel too far gone to use the method Harold suggested, but the drivers side fender (from another car) I had was in much better shape, actually had no rust..only colision damage right on the crown of the "corner" of the fender, so I just cut out the damaged area rather than the whole headlight surround, and cut a patch from the new surround. Much easier and quicker.
I wanted to emphasize the fact that the headlight surrounds I used were NOT ems. I've seen ems, and though still a problem, they looked much better than what I had. As been said by others before...what's available to us is far from perfect but I'm grateful for the fact that they're at least available. Other than ems...who is making panels for our 57's...it's a real short list.

[Wirenut]

There is a differance between bad mouthing and inquiring and or informing. I have used a lot of the EMS parts and am also grateful for a parts source, however most of us working on a project such as a 40 or 50 year old car realize the challenges with fabricating and having to tweak or adjust a piece of metal for a proper fit. These panels are not the panel to replace but repair only. They are marketed as a (all of the correct shapes). The photo of the headlight mounting panel shows all of the edges turned but what you get does not have all of the edges turned. Therefore making this part fit as a replacement part requires alot of work and does not have the proper fabricating to align the factory edges.   

[gasman826]

There is a differance between bad mouthing and inquiring and or informing. I have used a lot of the EMS parts and am also grateful for a parts source, however most of us working on a project such as a 40 or 50 year old car realize the challenges with fabricating and having to tweak or adjust a piece of metal for a proper fit. These panels are not the panel to replace but repair only. They are marketed as a (all of the correct shapes). The photo of the headlight mounting panel shows all of the edges turned but what you get does not have all of the edges turned. Therefore making this part fit as a replacement part requires alot of work and does not have the proper fabricating to align the factory edges.   

If EMS is interested in improving their headlight panel, I would loan (LOAN...I want it back) them one of my NOS panels to model after.

[Zapato]

Gasman, this is exactly what he asked for a couple months back when looking to improve his front fender lower patch panels. I'm sure if he was made aware of the current issues so far addressed here he would be interested in your offer.

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