My'64 had pretty expansive spider cracks ...like many...around the headlamp louvers + one multiple long with branches reaching over the driver fender. The car also had a deep chip & other scrape imperfections on the passenger fender. All these were there when I bought the car years ago. Finally, I decided to correct these issues. I brought the car to the guy who did my 383 Tremec 600 conversion. He's a very reputable custom paint guy who builds & paints ground up hot rods. His specialty is ground up mid 6 digit restos including many C1 / C2 restos some with high HP LS motors & tube chassis. This is a guy who folks wait weeks for as other muscle car resto shops bring body work to him. So I waited ! Over the years, I had 3 Cobra kitcars one of which did develop slight cracks so I'm familiar with potential for fiberglass flex. But unlike my C2 .....those Cobras were raced every weekend.
When he looked my car over he warn me old spider cracks very often come back. But given the extent of those cracks + all the other fender paint issues I took the chance. Both fenders & the front nose were repaired and repainted. Cost was around $3400. That was a month ago. Boom....today I wiping down and I see a 1/2" long crack on passenger louver edge as well as a 1" long crack on the driver louver edge. I'm contacting the painter during the week. The car's been driven about 60 miles since the repair.
SOoooo....the question is was I p-ssing against the wind thinking these spider crack repairs would last longer than a month?? Of course, I'm acting naive on purpose (or perhaps not!)... but just seeking some feedback from you guys....some experiential sage advice. I'm thinking he should take the car back and repair them...again.
1st pic is the 1" crack - driver side taken from near front wheel.
2nd pic is 1/2" crack - passenger side taken from front of car .
THNX!

 

Are all the braces intact and not askew in the front end?

 

That is a good place to check. But beyond that if it isn't stripped to glass and the cracks permanently and correctly repaired, then primed and painted, the cracks return. Some cracks are a fact of life with a C2. Never seen one used as intended with some miles on it that did not have cracks somewhere, mine included.

Dan

 

I am in no way a body repair expert but one trick I have read is follow the crack to its very farthest point, and drill a small hole right through the fiberglass. This supposedly relieves the stress and prevents it from extending farther later on. Naturally the hole gets filled when the crack is repaired.

If this is bad advice, I'll defer to those with more experience but thought it was worth putting out there.

 

Only real repair is grind out cracks and reglass. If he gave you warnings that they come back, he doesn’t owe you. Maybe he’s charitable?

 

I addressed all of my spider cracks by driving the car more and adding enough rock chips that nobody notices the spider cracks

Sorry, not helpful I know. I tend to agree with Dan, when you're dealing with 50+ year old fiberglass and paint, you're not going to permanently fix the use without taking the car down to bare glass.

 

I ground mine out and re-glassed them. To be truthful some of them I may not have ground out deep enough and wide enough. I’ve had several reappear but it wasn’t until several years later - and my car has lacquer which is brittle. That yours showed up so quickly and with what I assume was urethane paint which has some flexibility, I would think he might have cut some corners. But C2 bodies, with all their stress points, bonding joints and relatively thin panels are never going to be a marvel of structural stability. A few stress cracks are just the nature of the beast.

 

I would politely ask that he lick this calf over. Yeah they might crack again in the future but before the paint is cured for $3,400 I would not be a happy camper.

 

You should have some recourse.

 

I had very similar cracks repaired on my 65 in 2014 by a well know shop in the Cleveland Ohio area, Excalibur. They have not come back.
I agree with Nowhere man that all the braces should present and installed correctly. Especially the center rod. The nose will have a tendency to sag slightly putting stress on that area.
I have seen many cars that are missing that rod or the rod is bent.

 

or the rod is bent with about a half inch of washers or shims to make it fit. Or a combination of both. All due to improper accident repair

 

I would like to know what you’re talking about. Does anyone have a pic of this brace and/or rod?

 

it wont let me up load pictures but here : https://www.licorvette.com/support%20rods_corvette.htm

 

Thanks guys....he is very reputable and easy to approach. I will call him Monday and stop by his shop. I'm upset because I hoped these repairs might last at least a few years. I'll ask if HE did all the work or did he rely upon one of his body guys. Being he';s built some high dollar C1/C2 restos I'll certainly ask how they held up! I know he told me they could return but never expected that to happen within 4 weeks and approx 70 miles. I will ask about the depth of the glass repair, how it was primed/prepared the braces and other info you guys provided.
I''ll ask if it's feasible for him to redo just those areas and feather the paint as best he can. I never meant for the car to be perfect. My body was already a mess at 57 years old LOL.
I didn't mention for $3400 price being he had to blend / feather into the aftermarket L88 hood and also repainted the black hood riser. Damn ...It looked so awesome that day LOL!
Thanks Fellas

 

I went to a car show a long time ago and saw an immaculate black 63 that had won best paint. It also had a For Sale sign on it. I admired it and asked how he kept from having stress cracks. He laughed and said ‘I paint it every three years and fix em then’. And that is why it’s for sale. Fibreglass and concrete are alike in that there is concrete that is cracked, and concrete that is gonna crack.

 

I dont see how they came back so fast IF the crack was ground out and reglassed correctly. If it wasn't ground all the way through and simply skimmed over, then yes its coming back.

 

If he's very reputable he will say "yeah I need to fix those".

 

My car painted in 1993 and skim coated with Duroglass. Not one single hair line crack or stress fracture...........very fortunate or prepped correctly!

 

Thats a little soon for all that to happen imo see if hes willing to do something.
Glass or paint cracking? More flex agent? Who am I go second guess an expert but still. Too soon

 

OK...brought the car to the custom hot rod shop today. The owner was almost as upset and disappointed as me. I did repeat some of the things I learned on this thread. He said what I was planning on saying....that although he warned me about C2 cracks returning after he repaired he was thinking at least 4 yrs....not 4 weeks. He's backed up now ( one project is a C2 resto another a C1 in his showroom ) but asked that I please enjoy the car for the summer and bring it back to him. He'd rather see if it gets worse so he can really dig into it. The nose is braced already. He thinks it's sagging from the corners towards the middle but promised he will get down past & beyond the cracks with mesh layers of fiberglass and supports...... or whatever is needed. The guy asked i wait until summer's end so he has more time and said unless he'd dead he absolutely promises he will fix this & will re-clear and/or repaint the entire front end if needed. I hate that this happened but I'm happy he was equally upset as he also owned it . Thanks Fellas...........