cracking inner guard

[tufferoza]

ages ago i read an article in a 4wd mag (one of them buyers guides) they mentioned in it that the feroza had a problem with the inner front guards cracking/splitting in the engine bay.

now i noticed a little tear on my pass side a while back, just under where the fender bolts to the inner part and it has now spread down the inner guard a little more. no probs i can weld it up. but it has also now i have noticed (yesterday while working on it) split the actual fender from that point right up to the top edge, and if left alone be would probably split the whole fender down to the wheel arch.

has anyone else noticed this on their feroza's?? seeing it was mentioned in the 4wd magazine it must be a slightly common problem.

i'll take a pic later and post it up. there must be movement somehow between the front half of the body to the rear?

[r0ck_m0nkey]

I had it do it on my old Feroza, causes a bad squeek when it does it aswell. Wasn't to much of a hassle to fix it up. My dad used to own a Rocky years ago and it did exactly the same thing, although that particular vehicle was an Ex Team Daihatsu Vehicle used in the 1985 Wynns Safari, so it had had a pretty hard life. Won it's class aswell by the way and used to feature in Rocky ads of the time sporting ROCKY1 Number plates

[tufferoza]

all my chassis to body mounts look good, it's as if there is movement between the nose section and the main body. welding up the inner guard is easy, but i'm a bit pissed the fender is torn.

[BundyRumandCoke]

The biggest drama I have with body shell cracking is the windscreen pillar. This is the second body I have had crack across the pillar, near the bottom of the screen. And I fairly cane it as well, so probably too much flexing.

[r0ck_m0nkey]

all my chassis to body mounts look good, it's as if there is movement between the nose section and the main body. welding up the inner guard is easy, but i'm a bit pissed the fender is torn.

Thats the exact same spot that mine and my dads did it, although we both got to it before it went to the extent of cracking the outer guards.

[murcod]

Is that the front LHS guard just in front of the firewall? I got told they can crack around the battery holder area once.

Looks like more than just cracking too- isn't the top inner bit under the outer guard all bent down and distorted?

[tufferoza]

Is that the front LHS guard just in front of the firewall? I got told they can crack around the battery holder area once.

Looks like more than just cracking too- isn't the top inner bit under the outer guard all bent down and distorted?

yes man, on the LHS side about ~3" away from the firewall. i dont know why the metal is shaped like that, as if it was pushing against itself in that spot or something.
i beleive from the write-up i read that it can happen both sides. i've had a good look at my drivers side and there is signs of it happening there too. grr

Thats the exact same spot that mine and my dads did it, although we both got to it before it went to the extent of cracking the outer guards.

yeah, bit pissed about the fender itself cracking, much harder to weld up 'neatly' as the inner guard will be.


only thing i can think of is flex in the body between the most front chassis to body mounts and the next ones back. ??
hrmm.. time for some sort of strut brace or something.