Just noticed stress cracks in hood

[Roland L-Ocala FL]

Here is a picture of one of them. There are two now, one on either side of the hood. They are right at the hood reinforcement areas. I wanted to clean the car up for a show this weekend, and what a surprise, haven't ever noticed them before, they just now popped up. Can this be fixed, are the front latches too low? I think they took the hood off to remove the engine, and then they put it back on after the engine went back in, and it may have been adjusted too tight! What do you think?

 

[Roland L-Ocala FL]

Com'on guys, hasn't anybody had this happen to them? This looks like it could be costly, I need some help here. Is this a crack right though the hood down to the support underneath? What is the fix? I don't even want to close the hood anymore for fear of just making it worse! I have never adjusted the hood at all, so I know I did not cause this to happen. Any help would be appreciated. I think I'm going to be sick, the single most expensive body piece on the car, and it's cracked in two places.

 

[SERPENT INDIANA]

Roland...remember the hoods on T/A Challengers...how they warped ??? Well, this is the Vipers answer to that....many of them have stress marks on the hood, usually in the same place.....not sure right off hand what year your Viper is, but this was very common on 94 vintage Vipers.....could be "factory" or it could be another cause...best I remember, the crax were caused by the air box being just a little to tall...some filed off the corner of the box, but once the crack is there, nothing to do but wear it or fix it....very common problem...never fixed either of my 94 models that did this and really didn't pay much attention....JS29ROB Larry

 

[ACELLR8]

Roland,
My 95 has the same cracks on both sides of the hood, about 3 inches long each.
It was a problem on a lot of the Gen I Vipers to my understanding. The previous owner of my car had the hood cracks repaired once before I bought it and repainted. It was fixed by Dodge for him for free (written off as warranty), but he was the original owner. The cracks came back about a 6 or seven months after they were initially fixed.
I tried to get Dodge to fix it again, but said they would not do anything and sad as it is being the second owner I do not have as much clout as the original owner.
I have also been told it is very very difficult to fix the cracks so they do not come back once you get them. Hence why a lot of people get a new hood instead. I have heard of a couple instances where people have gotten a new hood and it did not fit worth a darn and looked worse than the cracks.
What I was told to do is find a good fiberglass specialist to fix the crack and by this i mean not just sand the paint and repaint, but to actually get down into the hood composite in these stress cracks and patch / reinforce.

Good luck and let me know how you make out. Want to get mine fixed properly one of these days.

Ed