Challenger Cowl-best fitting?

[moparcar]

My project has been sort of on hold for the last five years since I had my daughter.  Now I'm starting to get at it again! I have most of the metal work done but the cowl has been nagging at me for a while. Although it looked OK from the outside I could see the normal pitting and rust holes through to the inside near the column and under the dash. I tackled the inevitable and drilled all the spot welds and removed the upper to get to the lower. Although I could probably patch it, most of the damage is in compound curve areas and I may be better to replace the lower and maybe even the upper.

Who has the best fitting cowl pieces these days? AMD, Goodmark, Dynacorn or Classic Industries? There's about a $100 swing between brands top and bottom. I'll pay for the best if one is worth the money.

With my other sheetmetal replacement, AMD has been hit or miss. Same with Goodmark.

Anyone have experience with the different brands?

Thanks in advance-Wes

[jimynick]

I used AMD when we replaced the cowl and firewall and it all seemed to go together pretty well. We bonded and spot welded the two pieces together and installed them as an assembly. It fit pretty well but we did have to put a 4X4 on a floor jack up into the tunnel to suck the lower edge up to meet the also-replaced front floor seam. That and some creative use of numerous vice-grips did the trick. I can't speak to the other makes and hope this helps for what it's worth. I think you're making a good decision as having done it, I no longer worry about those pits and pinholes. 

[moparcar]

Thanks @jimynick. Great info. I had panel bonded my roof skin but hadn't really thought about it for this application but that sounds like a great idea. Did you just leave a gap on the bond where you where going to spot weld?

Wes

[jimynick]

No, we just welded them while the bonding compound was fresh and wet. It does spark and spit a wee bit, so you could leave a spot bare and then do it. DON'T try to weld them if the bond agent is dry! It tends to blow! FYI! Theoretically you don't need to weld, but I'm a braces and belt kinda guy and wouldn't've been comfortable doing it that way. Obviously, make sure your panel alignment is on the money before you do either.