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We all know that the ears break off on these covers.
It seems to be generally accepted on this forum that these ears break off because spring, etc. repair proceedures were not followed correctly.
I disagree in my experience. I've had my 73 new right off the train. There has never been any repair work to the rear --ever. Yet, they are broken. This car has had a very easy life. Never raced. But I did drive off(down) a small curb once during a dark rainy night in a parking lot at about 30 mph. That's the only time that the ears could have been subjected to "abnormal" stress.
I didn't check at that time, but I did check about 1986 or so and noticed the broken ears. The car was stored from about 1983 or so until today.
So....here is two questions:
1)It seems that this cover was a design flaw. Since this is a safety item, why was there never a recall by GM to replace with a stronger cover.
2) Since I'm doing a restoration, why would I fix/replace this cover with a dated original. Isn't this a safety thing? It only seems logical to replace with a "sanctioned NCRS" cover plate that was stronger and NOT lose points (but maybe even add points since the restorer is aware of this problem). Wouldn't this be the same argument for replacing the flexable brake line hoses?
Steve L
73 coupe since new
It seems to be generally accepted on this forum that these ears break off because spring, etc. repair proceedures were not followed correctly.
I disagree in my experience. I've had my 73 new right off the train. There has never been any repair work to the rear --ever. Yet, they are broken. This car has had a very easy life. Never raced. But I did drive off(down) a small curb once during a dark rainy night in a parking lot at about 30 mph. That's the only time that the ears could have been subjected to "abnormal" stress.
I didn't check at that time, but I did check about 1986 or so and noticed the broken ears. The car was stored from about 1983 or so until today.
So....here is two questions:
1)It seems that this cover was a design flaw. Since this is a safety item, why was there never a recall by GM to replace with a stronger cover.
2) Since I'm doing a restoration, why would I fix/replace this cover with a dated original. Isn't this a safety thing? It only seems logical to replace with a "sanctioned NCRS" cover plate that was stronger and NOT lose points (but maybe even add points since the restorer is aware of this problem). Wouldn't this be the same argument for replacing the flexable brake line hoses?
Steve L
73 coupe since new
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