The '67 I'm considering has a crack at the left front wheel opening above the tire to the body line. Is this an easy repair and can it be done so as not to show from inside the wheel well? Is this the type of damage that typically reoccurs from body flexing etc? Thanks, Mark
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Re: '67 Fender repair
There is no typical cracking from body flex, unless that is, it has been hit. Then it is un-typical cracking from body flex. -
Re: '67 Fender repair
Wayne, sorry, I wasn't clear. It appears that the car was "rubbed" along the body line because the paint is touched up there and I think the pressure from whatever rubbed along it was just enough to crack the fiberglass. My concern is once it is repaired, will it be prone to cracking at this point again from body flex etc. I see lots of Corvettes with damage in this spot and often the rest of the paint on the car looks super, so I am assuming that repairs in this area can reoccur. All of my previous Corvettes have been original paint with no hits, so I am not familiar with body repair issues. Thanks, MarkComment
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Re: '67 Fender repair
It is an area that is subject to stresses, but there is no reason that it couldnt be done so that it will hold. I have no way of telling from here how much of a problem it would be though.Comment
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Re: '67 Fender repair
The wheel openings are a common repair on Corettes. People often install tires that are too big or flare the openings. The repair can be done correctly by someone who knows how to work with fiberglass. You will be able to tell from inside the wheel opening that work has been done there. The only way to hide it is to spray the area with undercoating.Comment
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Re: '67 Fender repair
Mark, not having done this repair, I can't comment on how easy it will be.
In general, fiberglass repairs can be hidden if you are willing to invest the time and effort to grind/sand the repair surface smooth on the inside. Commercial body shops, however, will pay no attention to the inside surface unless you specifically request that they finish the inside surface just like the outside...expect it to cost more and results may be marginal. (Their thinking is who on earth looks at the inside of a fender.)
Both the inside and the outside surfaces will have to be taper ground, with resin and mat laminated on both sides to effect a strong repair. Much has been written here on fiberglass repairs; if you need additional info, do a search of the archives.Comment
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Re: '67 Fender repair
Thanks Chuck and others. I spoke with the owner this morning and he told me that the cracked area was previously repaired as there is evidence of some sort of supporting material about 1/2 inch wide behind the crack. The original owner swears he never had anything repaired on the car, so our thinking is that it was repaired at the dealer prior to delivery. The paint on the repair is nearly identical and is obviously very, very old. MarkComment
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Re: '67 Fender repair
Okay heres my 2 cents. The area you are talking about should have an original seam where the parking lamp panel meets the louver side panel directly above the front wheel. There will be a bonding strip that joins the upper hood surround to the lower panels I just mentioned. Now going back to my body work days I was one of the few out there that paid attention to detail on repairs that would be visible from under the wheel well or any other similar area. If it was a crack I would drill the ends to stop the crack. Then would grind from the top only to taper the edges down to the "fault" line This is where I would then build in the first layers of mat that would be laminated. The inside where the resin would ooze through would be wiped. Cure time,proper resin mix and saturation of the glass mat were more important to a lasting repair than making a sandwich out of the crack repair. I was also on flat rate so if my repairs went sour and needed to be done again...It was on me. I never had one come back with a crack in the same spot but I did have a lot of customers that came back. when their cars needed repairs.Comment
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Re: '67 Fender repair, DRILLING HOLES
This is an age old urban myth that holes need to be drilled in the ends of cracks. It is not necessary and definitely not the thing to do. This is not plate glass, it is fiberglass and a crack has no tendency to run, but filling a round hole thats all the way through the panel is a difficult repair. How many times have you stood and looked at a car that was held together in the repair process with pop rivets or screws and those holes were then glassed over. You can see every one of them.Comment
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Re: '67 Fender repair, DRILLING HOLES
The round hole will relieve the direction of stress. The reason pop rivits leave tell tail marks is because they grind off the tops and do not remove them or they fail to champher the hole so there is no "sharp" edges to show up. The mechanical action of the metal part and or the edge of the hole that remains is the reason it can show through. I'm not saying to drill a 1/4" hole to relieve the crack. A 1/8 hole will be fine and like I said before I never had any comebacks... for a failed repair or a "fingerprint " pattern of my repair showing through with age.Comment
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