I have a hood with a few(a lot) spidercracks in the surface. I was hoping I could sand and shoot a good primer, but I am sure there has to be a harder, more time consuming way(read that "correct") to do it. Any experiences? For anybody looking for painting info, give paintucation.com a try. Thanks Dave

If it's cracked, it needs to be stripped. Primers and sealers will not repair old paint. A good rule of thumb; if you can see a flaw before painting, you'll see it after you paint.

I believe the cracks are in the glass, but to be honest, I haven't taken the old paint off. I guess that needs to be my project for tommorrow so I know what I am dealing with. Thanks for pointing out what should have been obvious to me. Dave

It's doubtful the glass is cracked, unless it's been abused or modified. Paint cracks usually go all the way through.
Take your time, a 68 big block is worth doing right.

The spider cracks I had on my hood went right through the gelcoat and is not uncommon. As mentioned above, cracks need to be taken out before paint. I stripped my hood to find the gelcoat cracks. I used a DA sander to sand the gelcoat down until the cracks were gone. You know they are gone by applying lacquer thinner to the cracked area. The crack will stay dark as the thinner does not evaporate as fast as on the surface. When you no longer see the crack using this process, you have removed it. Now you will need to build the area up and level it before prime and paint. Icing works pretty good and is fast.

Thanks for your replys. Red, I built boats at Sea Ray for a year (many, many moons ago) and never heard about the thinner trick! I did this post on a couple other sites and got a suggestion to DA it and shoot poly. Alot quicker than grinding each one! The immeadiate project, as I said before, will be to get it stripped. Daveb12, while it isn't the "holy grail" of matching #s, it is a correct motor and the tri-power is all complete. It was reframed to a 4sp at some point. It is a droptop with air tho and I am trying to keep it original appearing with a few detail changes to set it apart. It will also be a daily driver, not a trailer gueen or Sun. only. Thanks again. Dave

The poly surfacer is a great product! It gives a good high-build seal that provides a good base for blocking.
Be careful with the DA, you can gouge the glass, I recommend as much hand blocking as possible. It's hard work, but well worth the effort!

Well well....That's two voices for poly. I will spend some time at a couple of great paint sites and try to learn why. I have been after it with the hand longboard getting the car flat and getting the gaps right and filling in the exhaust holes(hooker pipes). The is next. After taking a closer look, it may only be the old paint, there appears to be a lot. Oh well, that what sandpaper is for thanks again for the input. Dave

In my mind, the best reason for the poly surfacer, is it's basically the same material our cars are made of. Polyester. Just give it time to cure before going to the next step.
BTW, I worked at Hatteras Yacht a long time ago. Boat building is a big help when working on our plastic cars!

sloboat, sorry I misunderstood your first question. It sounded like you wanted to spray primer over the cracked area and wondered if that was sufficient. Maybe, when you are done you will post an outline of what steps you took, products used and the results. I still need to do paint on mine and eager to pick up any tips I can. Thanks guys