Crack in Front Fenders
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Jul 2000
Posts: 244
Likes: 0
From: Valley City Ohio
Crack in Front Fenders
I have a crack on both sides of my front fenders. I believe it is the seams, but I am not sure. I talked to someone who claims they know vets, but I would like to know what you guys think. :bs Mr. Know it All says that I will have to remove the nose. That way he can grind the seam all the way around the front clip and apply a bonding strip and then fill the gap with dura-glass. Does this sound right to you. Sometimes I wish Vettes were really made of steel like some people think. :rolleyes:
Race Director
Joined: Jun 2001
Posts: 16,483
Likes: 1
From: The Only Corvette in Gila Bend, Az.
St. Jude Donor '09
Re: Crack in Front Fenders (dewayne4)
If the crack is just above the tires on the outside of the fenders, then yes its the bonding strips...
Removing the whole front end sounds a little extreme though, but I could be wrong!
Removing the whole front end sounds a little extreme though, but I could be wrong!
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 3,407
Likes: 2
From: Carmichael CA
Re: Crack in Front Fenders (dewayne4)
I highly recommend that Evercoat vette body filler be used to repair the crack. I don't know how duraglass will do, but bondo fiberglass jelly didn't bond well to fiberglass. Evercoat also has an epoxy compound to glue two pieces of fiberglass together if the seam is too weak to support the body filler. Removing just the nose won't do much good due to the reinforcement behind the nose. In order to clear the area to get behind the fender better you will need to remove the bumper reinforcement as well, and lock the headlights into the up position. Before doing all that you may want to open the hood and see if that area is accessible from the engine compartment. If you still have the original nose which is made of rubber and will have deteriorated then removing it may damage it, and thus should only be removed if absolutely necessary. I just removed my nose and it cracked up into about 10 pieces without much effort...it had a crack in the middle of it and I was replacing it anyway.
Burning Brakes
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 803
Likes: 0
From: South San Francisco CA
Re: Crack in Front Fenders (dewayne4)
These are known as "stress cracks" and they are common on C3s, especially over the front tires. I had them on my '69 and they aren't a big deal to fix. Once you are sure they are stable (not moving or expanding) you merely stop drill the crack. By that I mean you drill a small hole exactly where the crack ends....two holes to be exact. One at each end!! This stops the crack from getting longer. You then grind out the crack carefully and actually make it wider like a V channel. When this done, you can fiberglass the area using fiberglass gel with some glass strands mixed in. Let it harden, sand and refinish. I did this to my car about 20 years ago and they haven't returned ....yet. But, with a Corvette.....nothing is forever. Obviously there are more ways to get the job done, but this one worked for me.
Safety Car
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 4,077
Likes: 27
From: Northeast South Dakota
Re: Crack in Front Fenders (fontking1a)
I agree that someone is trying to take you to the cleaners on this repair. I don't really understand why someone would want to remove the entire front end when it doesn't need to be done, because it isn't really fun. The crack just needs to be stop drilled, ground out to a beveled edge, then laid back up with multiple layers of fiberglass mat and resin which are rolled to press them together. I've been through a LOT of this to fix cracks on my 81' before I painted it and it really isn't as big of a deal as Mr. Know It All says. It is my opinion that a crack absolutely has to be repaired using fiberglass mat and resin, then the lightweight body filler is used strictly as a very thin layer to smooth the surface. Body fillers won't repair cracks without them coming back.
