Issues of body fatigue?

[NRP_MN]

Quick intro, for the last 12 years I've been doing installation and service work in the cobra replica market. I have always been a fan of the GTM and I am now considering buying an orphaned kit for myself. Considering these car have been on the road for awhile, are there any chronic issues with body fatigue on either the Gen 1 or Gen 2 and are there any remedies that can resolved during the build process. The expense of body work is one of my concerns and would like constructive feedback as this is not meant to be a negative thread. For the record , I have nominated myself to be the president of Shane's fan club, great work, I appreciate people who think outside the box. I fabricate for a living found this forum to be full of very talented and creative builders. Thanks for your time. Mike B.

[flotowngtm]

"The expense of body work is one of my concerns"

So are you saying your going to pay someone to do the body work????

[NRP_MN]

Probably not, but after hundreds of hours of labor in body prep and and paint cost, I would like to do it once and only once. I do place value my own time and would consider it against farming out the work. I have always figured that if I can't do it as good as a pro, I shouldn't half-#@ss attempt to do it. I really am drawn to the car and the only negative is "the amount body work". Gene's (fasthings) youtube video's make a great case for the time commitment to do it right. I am sure I can handle the body prep but will farm out the painting. Also, I just have not figured out where the 400 hours needed to do the body work will come from. I would like to see the completion of this project before I am horizontal and six feet under! The build will not be a form of therapy for me, I build race cars all day long. However I continue to be attracted to this project.
What prompted this question is a builder blog I read that he had a recurring crack in a fender. Further, I heard of the body cracking on the outside edge of the hatch recess on top. There is a fix in place for that. My question remains, are there any other areas that cause fatigue and if so what has been to remedy them.
Mike Beamish

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[flotowngtm]

The only spot I have ever heard of on a GTM to crack is the front fender. More so if you install the added vents to keep a high pressure area from building up in the front fender wells without doing it the right way. And really thats only happened on a few cars that I remember. Not many issues with anything cracking on a GTM.
400 hours is a minimum I would say to get a nice production like finish. Cracking is not much of an issue but fitment is!!! The frame around the A pillar on some Gen 2's sometimes rub the body and have to be cut and moved. My car was victim of this issue. More so a issue with the frame but I count this as body work. Then there is the issue with the rear of the body appearing offset of the wheels. Getting the hood to line up at just about any angle from what many have experienced is a pita. Getting the rear hatch installed with the glass..... yea that might take a minute. The GTM body is made really good considering its hand layed fiberglass. Problem is there not all exactly the same.
I dont know of any cracks at the top of the hatch recess but it could have happened on one.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

For the record , I have nominated myself to be the president of Shane's fan club, great work, I appreciate people who think outside the box. Mike B.

Thanks!!

As for cracks, a lot of that has to do with how well you pay attention when prepping the body. Fiberglass hates square corners. Anywhere on the body where there is a sharp corner is a great place for a crack to start. There are a lot of places on the body where sometimes FFR will leave a saw-blade cut into the fg......the bottom front of the door opening on the main body is usually a good place for this....where the front of the door goes behind the body. If you just leave that blade cut in the FG, it will most likely eventually crack there. The hatch corners I have heard of a few cars cracking there. On every car we build here, we reinforce that corner by bonding some flat steel L-shaped pieces right to the body. I have not heard of any issues on the cars I've built. I've had a few cars come into the shop that have been on the road for a while (cars that others have built) and on the majority of them, the doors are cracked at the base of the B-Pillar......which is a square corner where the B-pillar ends and the window opening begins.....and usually has a saw-blade cut there from FFR.

As for the hoods cracking at the wheel opening, I would suspect that is a result of not trimming down the aluminum panels that the hood rests on when closed. So....basically, when you're closing and latching the hood, what you're really doing is bending the hood over the aluminum panels....so the entire time the hood is closed, it is stressed.

[VRaptor SpeedWorks, LLC]

A perfect example of a crack waiting to start. A nice, deep saw blade cut right at what is already a square corner on a part that flexes every time you open and close the door:

http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j88/vacextar/IMG_20140203_102920672.jpg (http://s78.photobucket.com/user/vacextar/media/IMG_20140203_102920672.jpg.html)