Cracked C8 corrector ughhhhh

Hi all:

I bought an older model C8 for $700 as it was my B-Day Aug.16 but
pretty much everything was all moldy
even the mirror,corrector,eyepieces,and tripod & wedge. Anyway , I
removed the screws holding the ring
that holds the corrector,they were really tight! I had to use a
screwdriver to pop the ring off. So that being done
I was so careful on cleaning the corrector then after the cleaning I put
it back on and began to tighten the ring. I
turned the screw near were the number is etched in and the small piece
of cork is there to keep the corrector
from touching the metal, as I tightened that screw I heard the awful
CRACK!!! I got sick to say the least.....so now
as you can see from the image I have a crack from the edge to the
secondary. What a way to loose $700!

Anyway, I had all the screws in and tightened,so that night I looked at
a few stars and Jupiter and the
nights we had clear even looking at the Moon,Mars,and Venus at 4am one
morning. Well, this is the unusual
part ALL the images were sharp and crystal clear.Jupiter showed colorful
belts and a festoon,the moon's
showed DISKS!!. Mars was gibbous and a dark marking and bright area was
seen,Venus was bland as Gibbous.
The Moon was awesome! the craters and other details were mind
blowing,double stars were split and they showed
the airy disk!

I contacted Celestron and at first they said I could buy a corrector
for $395 US then in their next email they said the scope would have to
go back and a tech would need to determine
if it could be fixed then if I declined because of high cost I still
would have to pay shipping back!

The main thing is as so observers told me is to use it like it was not
broken until it does crash...when..who knows...but to see that
detail...well enjoy it.

My main concern is I am just wondering what *might* happen when I let
the scope cool down etc..the expansion/contraction may strain it more?
plus taking it out in a car to a site..wonder if
any damage would occur.? I note that even with the full aperture solar
filter that came with it there is some warmth when the filter is
taken off so I just wonder if that could do something later on. Most say
that the crack cannot go anywhere as it is at a bigger hole (secondary)
basically the old way to prevent further cracking was to drill a small
hole near the end of the crack and that somehow prevents it from going
anywhere.

After 49 years of astronomy I forget to just finger tight screws!

Mike