Stress Cracks

Kid_Again · 12-16-06, 08:38 PM

Not surprisingly, stress cracks are appearing around the gills. Any advice on the best way to repair these?

Thanks

IH2LOSE · 12-16-06, 10:55 PM

I was told by some one that drilling the end of the crack does nothing.

What I know about fiberglass

Is grind it in a "V"

lay some resin on the repair

Soak some mat in resins then place on the repair then roll the resin back out of the matt

Each layer of matt gets a little wider then the previous one.

And the less resen left in the repair the stornger the repair will be

I had allot of fun repairing cracks,smoothing the firewall and building the hood on my 62

If you take you time you can pretty much make the repair out of mat and resin and bairley need any plastic work.

If they are not too bad I would let them bee

jjmish · 12-17-06, 10:48 AM

gills on the 65/66?

Any major work previously performed in that area?
If not, grind a trough along the crack with a dremel or die grinder if your real good. Just go deep enough to eliminate the crack as tested with lacquer thinner. Broaden the trough about an inch maximum, and taper in to crack.

Get west systems epoxy with the slow hardener, add some thickener which West system also sells and cut up some fiberglass matt with scissors. Fold the matt over itself before cutting and you want to end up with shreds of fiberglass. Mix the resin/hardener, thickener and shredded matt, apply into trough. Work well with a putty knife or popcicle stick to get all the air out.

Ecklers always talked about layering fiberglass matt on a repair, which is correct in general, especially over a bonding strip, but panels are only so thick and you will find one layer goes a long way to fill up any grounded out repair trough. Auto body shops always wanted to drill holes in corvettes to stop cracks but was more feel good theory than useful.

New GM fiberglass always had these type of cracks at the corners and along some edges requiring this type of repair. Seems more in the resin than anything structural. Sad to see cracks after spending all those $$ on paint, many can live with it as they do with wrinkled skin or aktinic keratosis.

joe,
Neshanic

West systems epoxy saturates deeper than polyester resin and the cans have pumps so you can't screw up the mixture. Nothing wrong with typical fiberglass polyestrer resin if you decide to use that. Caution is the right mix of hardener to resin as you can end up with a brittle repair.

Kid_Again · 12-17-06, 11:45 AM

Bunch of useful information, thanks!

To my knowledge, there have been no repairs in the area of the gills.

4WDVETTE · 12-18-06, 05:46 PM

Joe - also agree with the grind the 'V' method. I had several similar cracks to deal with and resin and mat are the way to go. I have had no significant issues since the paint job with the cracks. Maybe the tire ripping part of the fender but, no problems with the cracks.

Steve

Viet Nam Vett · 12-18-06, 07:54 PM

I think what's needed here is a Night out on the town. A few drinks...a few Kuba Kuba's..(Cigars) .. and maybe a trip to the strip bar where a few well placed dollar bills will get the fiber glass cracks a hot LAP DANCE.

This will do wonders for the stress ..

Kid_Again · 12-20-06, 03:50 PM

OH YEAH!!! forgot to mention that the stress cracks around the gills were MINE, not the car's....buncha' useful information anyway!

thanks

maxphunn · 12-20-06, 05:09 PM

After a repair, won't the same area crack again?

Is it possible to find why it is starting to crack and then shim the body to lessen the stress in that area?

Kid_Again · 12-21-06, 01:25 PM

probably correct...just fixing the symptoms may not cure the disease...really depends on how energetic i become and right now i'm pulling the trans because i don't like the way it's shifting 3/4...it will be a LONG winter

jjmish · 12-21-06, 01:49 PM

Realize the center grill bars are essentially flapping in the breeze. do that enough and you get cracks.

I'm trying to get up the energy to pull my trans to put in the dated original. Justified, because it's a hobby and that's what you do with a hobby.

Corvette season ends with the start of bowseason, picks up again after spring fishing.

bossvette · 12-21-06, 04:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjmish

.

Corvette season ends with the start of bowseason, picks up again after spring fishing.

thats the only thing I miss about NJ the abundance of Bambi to hunt and the spring Trout fishing on the south branch

Viet Nam Vett · 12-21-06, 05:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bossvette

thats the only thing I miss about NJ the abundance of Bambi to hunt and the spring Trout fishing on the south branch

Can't believe there are no Bambi's runnen around your Big Sky Spread..
Plus.....you got that big fishen hole right out side your door.

Just stock it up with some trout...

Heh.. How far is Akron from you..??

bossvette · 12-21-06, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viet Nam Vett

Can't believe there are no Bambi's runnen around your Big Sky Spread..
Plus.....you got that big fishen hole right out side your door.

Just stock it up with some trout...

Heh.. How far is Akron from you..??

trout need cold clean water not much of that in this part of Ohio, just a lot of silt

Akron is on the other side of Ohio south of Cleveland roughly 200 miles give or take a few

Bambi has been avoiding me quite well this year

last day of gun I had my gun up and ready to shoot when he came around the big tree, instead of continuing the way he was headed he poked his head around spotted me and took off like a BOOH

Viet Nam Vett · 12-21-06, 06:22 PM

Quote:

Akron is on the other side of Ohio south of Cleveland roughly 200 miles give or take a few

The reason being ..if all chips fall in place in the next few hours and or days ..I might be flying into AKRON area..(Beachwood OH) to pick up my Hummer.

Just sitting back waiting for a call now...

bossvette · 12-21-06, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Viet Nam Vett

The reason being ..if all chips fall in place in the next few hours and or days ..I might be flying into AKRON area..(Beachwood OH) to pick up my Hummer.

Just sitting back waiting for a call now...

Cool, you will probably fly into Cleveland unless you are going by Piper Cub or Crop Duster. I thought you may be going to Summit Racing, I have always wanted to stop in there.
I can usually be in Cleveland in 2.5 hours if smoky isn't too heavy on the TPK
The ground is still bare around here, but I don't know about further East along the lake. Well if you are in Ohio and have time to kill let us know Santa is being good to you this year I take it.