Cracks near hood hinge!

[mtgibby]

All,

The paint shop noticed some cracks on the hood near the hinge attachment points.

No idea when the occurred. They may have been there when I bought the car or happened when I trailered it back from Ohio. Or the body (boat shop may have done it when reinstalling the hood. No way to know for sure.

Is this a common failure area?

Any experience fixing such a failure?

Thanks!

Mike

[silverstude]

What comes to mind here is having an open hood, caught suddenly by a high wind, causing the attachment point to flex. No experience in this area here, but those rivets suggest a steel frame under the bolt-to plate. Seems to be strong enough!

[Avanti83]

Possibly someone used filler there and it cracked. IIWM, because it's in primer, I'd grind away that area to see what's what. Then I use glass mat or Kevlar body filler to repair said area. It will help to undercut where the repair will be.

Bob

[mtgibby]

I thought that maybe in addition to adding glass mat to the area, possibly drilling two holes on each side and injecting expanding foam behind the hinge plate until it comes out the second (vent) hole. Just to add some foundational firmness behind the plate? No? Crazy idea?

Mike

[Silverplate]

I believe this does happen from wind moving the hood when up and also causing stress when the hood is just left open with the support being on only one side. I always use a hood prop at cars shows on the rear or open end of hood on the opposite side of the support. This firms it real nice even in wind. At home in garage with hood open I use the hood prop in the center of hood and then down to area of wiper motor, eliminating any stress potentional. You notice most the time when the hood is open, the opposite side of where the support is the hood flexes lower causing stress. All just my opinion of course and what I do.

[ron@crall.com]

Same thing with my 63 many years ago. I did a standard glass repair of opening up the crack and grinding down the surrounding surface and repairing with glass cloth and resin. The repair lasted very well and looked like the original.

[fred88]

A standard glass repair of the cracks will suffice if they bother you. The plate under the fiberglass is attached to the metal frame surrounding the hood and won't affect the hood use. Most likely from over extension of hinge, flexing the glass overlay of the metal framework-purely cosmetic.