The front area of the hood on my "76 914 was professionally spot resprayed five or six years ago due to cracks in the paint. That painter retired and is no longer in business to return to. Cracks in the paint have again slowly and continually opened up, and the cracks seem to be in a line parallel to the front edge of the hood. Could the hood be flexing while driving and causing this? The underside of the hood nor the front of the car show any sign of previous accident damage. I am going to sand this area down soon and have it resprayed by another paint shop. Should I make sure that the next shop does something different during the paint process that might prevent this from happening again? Has anyone else had cracking like this in their hood? Any advice appreciated.
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Its most likely cracked body filler. Sand it down to metal and respray it. Take a weak magnet and see if it sticks. They probably put body filler on it when they shouldnt have. I can take a look at it if you want sometime.

how much body filler is under the paint? Once the crack is there, it must be sanded completely down past the crack depth and start over . . personally' I'd take it to metal if needed and see what is going on.

How hard is it to shut ??. . shouldn't take much pressure to compress the hood seal for the latch to engage. .that is all that should touch. . Have you got the rubber hood stops set too High?

Curtis,

I agree with Andrew & Dave above. You can use a fridge magnet (which you must have as a parent), but put a thin cloth between it & the paint. It seems awfully fast for bondo to fail if your last guy did it, but maybe it was with the PO's shop.

It begs the question of how there was a dent/damage needing the bondo, & you may be able to see it from the underside, since it's only one layer of steel. If it's barely visible as a wave, then the body guy was either too lazy or unskilled in heat shrinking it back to correct shape. If it's bad/noticeable, then it may indicate more front end damage was done.

So while you're at it, sweep the magnet over the entire body to check for more filler.

If you find more bondo &/or other evidence of damage on other areas of the body, then you may want to have it put on a Cellette Bench (old school or laser) by a shop that knows 914 specs to see if it's out of whack. I think Marty Yeoman's shop in the Bay Area has one, & they'd do a better job than most local Valley body shops which are more used to Muscle Cars & Hot Rods, &/or newer accident repairs.

If more areas turn up, then you may want to address them all at the same time, & have the uni-body put straight at the same time.

If the hood/F-lid dent can't be put back in shape by your body shop, then you may want to source a good rust free straight replacement one.

For others reading here, that magnet on a thin cloth trick should be done on any used car you want to buy, but it wont work on any aluminum components - so you'll have to have a good ear & do the light tapping test to hear thickness changes from bondo on aluminum.


Tom
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As usual, you nailed it Andy (and Tom and ToolGuy, thanks). A weak magnet sticks everywhere but where the cracked area is, must be bondo'd. I now noticed that the hood badge was originally in a lower location, (see pic below) and was moved to its current spot and the old holes were filled with bondo by the PO. That's the source of the repair, not an accident. I read somewhere that holes that are bondo'd like that will eventually crack through the paint, so maybe I should have them welded closed on the next repair? Andy, I would be honored to bring the car to you when you have a little time just to give it a brief once over with your expert eye and experience. I am retired and pretty flexible time wise, so it's up to you what might work best with your schedule. You have my email if you would like to reach me, bjic, oakdalecurtis@aol.com,
Thanks again, cwl
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Lets talk tonight.

sounds good, you have my number yes?

With all the bubbles underneath, I'd be inclined to say that hood is toast. Would be easier (especially in Cali) to find one in better shape and have it resprayed.

Really? in my neck of the woods that hood looks pretty nice.
Except for the cracked paint and body filler over the old emblem holes...

No offense Painted, I'm with Peden. A little sanding and rehab, good as new. Hate to replace original if don't have too.
thanks, cwl

Well you know opinions .......


I'm with George on this. Just get a new hood. Should be easy and relatively cheap where you are.

Get a better hood to start with. .
what about all the rust you can't see with all those rust bubbles showing underneath. . chances are if you don't weld the old badge holes up, it will eventually crack again in the same places

with the above. Your hood has rust.

It all depends on how far you want to go. In the early days I tried to fix a hole in a hood for an mg. not saying I couldn't have made it work. Maybe now I could? But I oil canned it with every weld. Really depends on what is wrong.

I checked around the web, and unless I don't know how to search (always possible ), 914 hoods weren't growing on trees, and the few I did find were in much worse shape than mine, or on the other side of the country with no shipping requiring pickup only, or both....... just sayin.......