North American Turbocoupe Organization



Front Cowl Crack Repair
88chickentc Offline
Member
#1
Mine has a crack on the front cowl just ahead of where the hood latch is.  I know when I was shopping for my car in the 90's, I found several with this problem.  Has anyone on here repaired a crack like this?

If so, how did you do it, and what did you use?

Is the cowl fiberglass or some other material?


Attached Files Image(s)
       
1931 Deluxe Coupe
1949 Club Coupe
1951 F-1
1971 Torino GT Convertible
1988 Thunderbird Turbocoupe
Reply

Kuch Offline
Senior Member
#2
88,
I thought that the front panel was simply fiberglass, so any fiberglass repair should work on it. I wonder if these cracks are caused by overzealous hood closers.
1988 Turbo Coupe, Black/Black, 5 Speed, Moonroof,  T3/T4, ported E6, 255LPH, Kirban, Stinger Exhaust, MGW shifter, K&N, Gillis valve, BP1.5, PIMPx, Koni's
1964 Ford Galaxie 500XL, 390 6V, Big Solid cam, Headers,3.89's, 4 Speed, Vast and fast
1960 Ford Starliner, 292 Y Block, 312 4bbl intake, headers, 3 Speed, slow and low
Reply

88chickentc Offline
Member
#3
(05-13-2021, 10:29 AM)Kuch Wrote: 88,
I thought that the front panel was simply fiberglass, so any fiberglass repair should work on it. I wonder if these cracks are caused by overzealous hood closers.T

Thanks for the vote for fiberglass.  I think the crack comes from folks resting their hands on the cowl edge and leaning into the engine bay.  

Next question: has anyone tried vacuum bagging the resin to draw it further into the crack?  I used to work around aircraft maintenance, and they would repair composites by rigging a vacuum pump with a suction cup to the crack.  First they'd draw the moisture out, and then I think they'd pull the resin in.  I should have paid more attention.  I've talked to a couple of the higher end shops in KC, and they've never done it.
1931 Deluxe Coupe
1949 Club Coupe
1951 F-1
1971 Torino GT Convertible
1988 Thunderbird Turbocoupe
Reply

fred k Offline
Senior Member
#4
(05-14-2021, 02:44 AM)88chickentc Wrote:
(05-13-2021, 10:29 AM)Kuch Wrote: 88,
I thought that the front panel was simply fiberglass, so any fiberglass repair should work on it. I wonder if these cracks are caused by overzealous hood closers.T

Thanks for the vote for fiberglass.  I think the crack comes from folks resting their hands on the cowl edge and leaning into the engine bay.  

Next question: has anyone tried vacuum bagging the resin to draw it further into the crack?  I used to work around aircraft maintenance, and they would repair composites by rigging a vacuum pump with a suction cup to the crack.  First they'd draw the moisture out, and then I think they'd pull the resin in.  I should have paid more attention.  I've talked to a couple of the higher end shops in KC, and they've never done it.

Many, many years ago (1st TC) I thought putting my knee on the cowling, well I didn't think and cracked it about like yours. I took toothpicks to separate the crack and squeezed JB Weld into it.  Then I pulled the toothpicks out and pressed it back together.  After it set, I sanded it and got touch-up paint and came out hardly noticeable.

Just a thought,  Fred
fred l kennedy
88chickentc likes this post
Reply





Users browsing this thread:
1 Guest(s)



Theme © iAndrew 2018 - Software MyBB