I have a small crack on the rear deck right above the corner of the trunk. I assume it failed because body filler was used. I've read everything from braising, welding and using lead to fill in the seam. What seems to work? I plan to do both seams as the other one although not cracked as of now, will probably crack after this current crack is fixed and strengthen.

 

I have been brazing small holes but a crack sounds like body filler. You would need to strip and see what's really under it . Possible it could be a dent or a rust hole filled with bondo.

Lead is good but you have to have the right temp or it fails and you need to scrap and start all over. A friend and I played with it a bit, but went with brazing

Also, if it's the trunk lid they have seam sealer for that once cleaned the area. They have a wax that you spray in the body holes to help from rusting inside out

 

They originally used lead in those panel joints. That's your best bet for not cracking though almost all that I've seen crack there eventually

 

Actually the place I bought my 442 had an all original 1972 442 convertible. It had never been repainted and had small hairline cracks. I'm wondering if I'm better off just ignoring it as any fix may eventual crack.

 

Can you post a pic curiosity is killing the cat u guess I can't picture where your talking about

 

OK before some dies, here's a pic.

 

I get it now if you fix that you would need a good painter to blend or repair the car. Mine is a bit older and they left the seam there. I am currently filling pits and plan to run a bead of seam sealer in that very spot. I think brazing would work

 

From what I can tell there is not a visible seam.

 

Hardtops have the seam, convertibles are smoothed with lead. Brazing or welding will not stop it from cracking there

 

Here is a pic of mine I not sure, but I would imagine its the same
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What causes it to crack ? The body twisting ?

 

Yes

 

Will using lead prevent it from cracking?

 

I have cracks on both sides. Hope to fix with the quarters and trunk when the time comes. Will keep watching to get ideas.

Larry

 

I don't really think anything will stop it. The lead is flexible but the paint really isn't. Hard tops have that seam, I assume, because the trunk lid comes to more of a point and the stresses are concentrated at that point. The convertible trunk lid is a radius there so it would be inherently less likely to crack. The point controls the crack and allows it to happen at the seam. I was pissed at my painter because he stripped the lead out of mine and Bondo'd it. It cracked in a month or two. My drivers side is a lot worse than the passenger side.

 

yep same thing with mine. Body guy bondo'd over the lead and now there is a hairline crack on one side. Honestly I see the cracks on most convertibles though whether or not they have been repainted, repaired or not.

 

So maybe a crack then can be consider concours correct

 

I think I will abandon my plans to fix the crack and save my money. If fix that crack I would need to fix the other side even though that hasn't cracked yet as the weakest point will fail. I could potentially end up with two cracks where I have only one now.

 

Looks like the body to deck lid line is quite irregular. Blob of filler?

 

I've decided to give it one try and have the cracks fixed. I'm still looking to get advice on the best way to fix it. From what I can gather if the metal is in good shape, the fix is to weld the seam and then use something like metal-2-metal or all-metal. Lead is a possibility but most felt modern materials would work better. I called Thorton and ordered some parts from them. I asked for advice on this fix and was disappointed as the phone person gave me the runaround and told me their body shop wouldn't provide advice despite what their website says about helping others.

Any further thoughts? Any rsepected 442/muscle restoration shops I could contact?

 

I had the two cracks fixed and the irregular deck line fixed. They only had bondo over the seams. So the dug out the old crap, welded the seams and then did a skim coat of bondo to finish it off. Nice to have a body shop that also does custom cars.

 

Did you ask by chance if brazing with brass would have been better ? I would think so because the brass is a bit softer metal and I would think would give alittle bit better during the tweaking of the panels in my opinion

 

From my research it seemed that welding was the fix of choice. I let them choose the repair method. I trust their experience with building customs and hot rods they would have the experience to fix it. What is a little unsettling is there didn't seem to be any one foolproof method recommended by anyone.

 

The convertible seam is different than the seam shown by Oldstata. The method used for the seam for Oldstata is to apply a flexible seam sealer in that joint, just like is done down where a quarter meets the rocker panel in front of the rear wheel. The seam will be visible and is not intended to be covered over to make it invisible. The way to make it look nice is to primer it first, apply masking tape along the edges, apply the sealer, smooth it and then remove the tape. Don't go crazy with the sealer or too much will be present.

A conv seam is like the roof to quarter seam on a HT car so it is much wider. As a result, it is filled so it is not visible. Most people use lead or All Metal filler. The All Metal is stronger than bondo but no guarantees that it still may not crack at some point.

Brian