Gen one stress cracks

[dtvtech]

Hello Everyone! I recently went on a canyon run about a half a day of hard turns lots of bumps and jolts nothing really out of the ordinary. When I got home going through my regular routine dusting and covering my car I saw THIS! I know every last nick and tiny scratch on my car and this has just showed up. If you look close at the photos it looks like the crack is going to continue right down to the body seam by the gas cap door! Has anyone else had this problem?
Thanks Rex

 

[VYPR BYT 94]

...lots of bumps and jolts nothing really out of the ordinary...

Nothing out of the ordinary... Can't imagine for the life of me how driving could exert any forces up there.
I wonder if somebody was push/pulling on that when you were not around??
Are there smudges/handprints inside the sportbar area?

 

[Junkman2008]

That looks exactly like cheap body shop work. Like the bondo is cracking. Are you the 1st owner or did you buy it used?

 

[mbccenter]

I have never seen anything like that before. The hoods on a gen 1 tend to crack but have never seen one do it there.

 

[dtvtech]

No I am actually the third owner of this car. It's never been wrecked and no one has touched it or done any pushing on it. I realized a couple of days after I got back the left motor mount is broken I don't know if that could be a contributing factor or not. The broken motor mount is getting replaced this week. Hopefully the crack wont grow any more before I can get it fixed.

 

[mbccenter]

No I am actually the third owner of this car. It's never been wrecked and no one has touched it or done any pushing on it. I realized a couple of days after I got back the left motor mount is broken I don't know if that could be a contributing factor or not. The broken motor mount is getting replaced this week. Hopefully the crack wont grow any more before I can get it fixed.

Sorry to say but if you are the third owner you don't know 100% about if it has been wrecked or not. A motor mount will not cause that issue. Looks like poor body work but who knows. Maybe it was a parade car with people sitting up there all the time ? Maybe it was a heavy track car?

 

[klamathpro]

Unless it was hit before, it's more likely that someone sat on the sport bar. Just imagine it was a really hot 18 year old going to prom and it will make you feel a little better.

But stress cracks show up everywhere on this car over time, especially the GEN1's.

 

[dtvtech]

Copy that on the hot 18 year old

 

[Junkman2008]

Sorry to say but if you are the third owner you don't know 100% about if it has been wrecked or not.

I agree, and a cracked motor mount could also be a sign of the car being in a nasty wreck. I fixed my wrecked car in a buddy's garage and if you pull the Carfax on it, you won't see any documentation about the $6000 dollars worth of damage that I fixed.

 

[dtvtech]

Hummm that's something I did do before I bought the car was get a car fax on it. It showed nothing. Well it's going to the local experts to the get the motor mount fixed today....makes me wonder after I bought the car (about 4 months ago) I started to notice lots of little things. The passenger door didn't shut right the hood wasn't adjusted right and I see pink paint on the trunk lid hinges like they use to adjust with, and lastly lots of the body lines don't line up like they should.......mystery solved I think you guys are right my car could have been hit on that side. Crap

 

[CEJ]

Engine mounts will need to be replace over time, especially with an engine like ours. My wife's minivan ate up a couple sets of engine mounts (especially the pass-side mount) and that 3.5 V6 had less than half the torque your Viper has, so imagine how much stress our engine mounts take. Combine that with age, and replacing mounts is just something that needs to be done now and again.

 

[Junkman2008]

Engine mounts will need to be replace over time, especially with an engine like ours. My wife's minivan ate up a couple sets of engine mounts (especially the pass-side mount) and that 3.5 V6 had less than half the torque your Viper has, so imagine how much stress our engine mounts take. Combine that with age, and replacing mounts is just something that needs to be done now and again.

I'm not buying that at all. I have a 500Hp, 450Fpt 383 stroker with 11:1 compression in my daily driver. I drive the living hell out of that car and my motor mounts are fine going on 4 years. I've torn up my fair share of other things but definitely not the motor mounts.

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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2wGw_uIX0I

 

[dtvtech]

I got my mounts replaced today....it's a totally different car. I used the Snake Oyl high performance ones and replaced the tranny mount as well. My 19 year old rubber mounts looked like this. The car has 37 thousand miles on it they should been replaced ages ago. The drivers side was totally broken allowing the engine to lift about 1/2 inch on that side in turn the power steering pump lid hit the hinges on the hood causing stress cracks in that area. The shifter even feels much better. My point is my gen one's mounts from heat or age or wear and tear looked like this after 37,000 miles.

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[CEJ]

I'm not buying that at all. I have a 500Hp, 450Fpt 383 stroker with 11:1 compression in my daily driver. I drive the living hell out of that car and my motor mounts are fine going on 4 years. I've torn up my fair share of other things but definitely not the motor mounts.

Let us know how your mounts look in another 8 years. Refer to post #13...time and heat take their toll. Thanks.

 

[redtanrt10]

Rex, I've never seen or heard of that happening before. My thought was that, like others have said, perhaps somebody sat on the top of the sport bar or repaired body work is now deteriorating? I'm not an expert but I've been on these boards a long time and never saw that happen so I waited to see others commment.

My '94 developed a hairline crack on the hood (above the passenger side vent) 6 months after I bought it in '96. somewhat common problem on the '94's. Got it replaced under warranty as couple of dealers, particulary Eddie Martin (the great viper Tech at Bill Luke dodge in Phoenix) told me if you try and fix it it will eventually crack again due to the composites used in the hood. Seems like the sport cap is the same material. I worked at chrysler financial at the time and the zone service director really didn't want to pay the $14K warranty claim but he knew that was the only way to fix it correctly so he authorized it.

The motor mounts eventually fail on all vipers, don't think that had anything to do with your stress cracks. Used sports caps can be found, you might need to replace yours vs. fix it? good luck, Mike

 

[Junkman2008]

Let us know how your mounts look in another 8 years. Refer to post #13...time and heat take their toll. Thanks.

I agree. Time and heat will eventually take their toll but the OP's motor mounts look like they've been through more than just wear, tear and heat. Something else went on there, considering the miles on his Viper.

 

[dtvtech]

Sorry I didn't mean the motor mounts caused the stress cracks in the sport bar area....that kind of got off track. But I do have cracks in my hood and marks on the lid of my billet power steering pump where it hit the hood hinge. Those cracks back there by the sport bar are most likely bad body work after looking closely it's easy to see it's been repainted. Interestingly enough I noticed there are stress cracks that run perpendicular on the top of the sport bar just like some hot 18 year old prom queen was sitting on it......so simple enough I think that's it. Tomorrow I'll take some pics so everyone can see.

 

[Junkman2008]

... I noticed there are stress cracks that run perpendicular on the top of the sport bar just like some hot 18 year old prom queen was sitting on it..

She might not have been the prom queen. She might have been the prom queen's fat friend.