[moore_rb]

Veneer doesn't do work. The work is done by the steel frame beneath the veneer.

Same way your car's fiberglass & resin body adds only an insignificant fraction of your car's overall structural rigidity, the aluminum skin panels under hood are equivalently insignificant... It's there for show, and to deflect water and road debris... That's it.

Yes, time (and engine heat) will probably harden the aluminum sheet, and make it more brittle.

No, it will not matter one damn bit... at least, not any more than it matters that your fiberglass also gets more brittle with age...

Peace kids... I'm out...