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?
1931 Deluxe Coupe 1949 Club Coupe 1951 F-1 1971 Torino GT Convertible 1988 Thunderbird Turbocoupe--SC-50 turbo, 3" Motion Dynamics exhaust
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
(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--SC-50 turbo, 3" Motion Dynamics exhaust
(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.
