Paint Cracking below Hood Latches - Looking for Advice

[talibraza101]

Hey ya’ll, I’ve been noticing some paint cracking between where the hood latches grasp from the hood of my FJ40 to the body, as well as some light surface rust on the latches themselves.

While this might seem insignificant to a lot of you, I wanna make sure I address this before it really gets ugly. I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how to mitigate this? Or is it just one of those things I’ll have to live with?

Thank you!!

 

[JohnnyC]

¨before it really gets ugly¨ it most likely WAS already ugly and lipsticked from columbia

most likely cracked ... and rust under

Option 1: Grind it out weld in new steel and repaint
2: sand away and see how bad it is... it may just be cracked and bondo is seperating above it

ive seen alot of cruiser crack there and could just be that (mine is)... however a restoration you would think they would have fixed it first.... but....



for the hood latch .... they rust ... sand .... rust converter .... paint stainless steel epoxy color

it will come back.... you could put a rubber tube over to lessen the steel to steel contact as they vibrate

 

[Living in the Past]

Not sure it's rusted or just a stress crack. Straight line is more than just paint cracked. Like rust left along will grow. May stop once it reaches the lower screw hole.

 

[peesalot]

what does the inside of hood look like at those spots ?

 

[talibraza101]

what does the inside of hood look like at those spots ?

Pretty clean for the most part, just smooth paint.

Are there any other ways to secure the hood without these hood latches? While they look beautiful, maybe it’s smarter to secure the hood somehow internally?

 

[rlong]

What JohnnyC said, small stress cracks are common, I think I have one there or in a similar location (and a freind too) it probably was a tiny fracture when painted.. any minute fracture needs to be welded, ground etc before paint (and we didn’t when we were younger and got what you got). Sorry, ignore it untill something comes up, it won’t grow that fast and/or cut, grind weld, grind repeat..

 

[peesalot]

I have never seen an interior method. I will say that I can watch the hood misalign quite a bit with articulation so the spring clips are probably a good deal as a fixed latch would not last long or function IMO. I put the hood rubbers that sit on top of fender/apron to help position & control the hood. They are heavy hoods. The rubbers were not oem on my 70' but I put em on anyway, I also replaced the rubber strips at bib which helped the hood alignment & motion, it slides on those more than you think. Curious if you remove latch does the edge of bolt hole show any rust ? I agree that those cracks are because whatever is underneath,

 

[talibraza101]

Thank you all for your responses! Looks like this is more common than I thought. But yeah, I think its just best I leave it be unless something really critical arises. It seems the paint on this cruiser is already thin as it is, so an eventual stripping and repainting will inevitably have to happen somewhere down the line anyway. I’m gonna stick to these hood latches but wrap the pointy bits with some rubber fuel line hose to soften the contact point a bit.

Appreciate you all!

 

[Paul_A]

You may be seeing too much down force over the hood length. Do you have all the rubber bump stops that the hood sits on? 4 on the bib, one on each fender apron. Maybe add one on each apron under the hold down point to reduce down force and stress.

 

[Coastline]

Is the paint single stage urethane or two stage base coat with clear coat?

 

[talibraza101]

Is the paint single stage urethane or two stage base coat with clear coat?

Single stage urethane i believe, paint peels off in what appears to be a single uniform layer

 

[talibraza101]

You may be seeing too much down force over the hood length. Do you have all the rubber bump stops that the hood sits on? 4 on the bib, one on each fender apron. Maybe add one on each apron under the hold down point to reduce down force and stress.

Great idea! Thanks

 

[3_puppies]

have you put a magnet on the areas?
it looks like a skim coat of "bondo"
the white showing in the crack of the first pic, if it was paint it would be blue

 

[Coastline]

Single stage urethane i believe, paint peels off in what appears to be a single uniform layer

Probably not prepped properly in at least that spot or could be that between coats the paint was not given enough time to "flash", or set-up. You might look closely all around the body and see if there are other fine lines starting to appear. 3_puppies might be on to something - if the filler was not given enough time to gas-off before priming that could be a problem. I like to let fillers set for a couple days before priming.

I am currently repainting parts of my 40, fenders and sides - places that meetup with brush on the road. Prep is 90% of a good paint job.

 

[talibraza101]

Single stage urethane i believe, paint peels off in what appears to be a single uniform layer

@3_puppies
The white you see was actually initially orange colored rust underneath . I hit it with a tiny amount of rust converter to get it to clean up a bit (I know, probably a bad idea). Im definitely gonna try putting a magnet to it!

Thank you

 

[jim land]

Take a a close picture of the crack from inside the hood

 

[Living in the Past]

You seen rust and didn't sand it first before doing anything? Might have been a stress crack there already and the rust you seen was water weeping out of crack. Rust converter may have sealed the crack but it didn't repair it. Magnet will probably still stick unless there is a thick layer of Bondo in an area. Sand the area to bear metal and probably see the crack.

 

[brian]

It's a south American cruiser....anything is possible.

 

[bhsdriller]

Yep south american special

 

[talibraza101]

Thank you all!