Forum:
I went to look at a fourtrak today (p reg) and noticed that although he chassis looked okay the outer sills rear of the doors had rotted out on both sides. Is this bit structural and need welding or could it be bodged, after all there is a chassis? I was a bit surprised to see rust on these sills as the only other froutrak I have looked at was much older and had a sound body but the chassis cross members were rotted out. Was there a change in daihatsu policy on which bits to paint with what?
I was thinking of putting an offer in on the fourtrak it had done 110k but need to know how much welding it might need when its 6 month MOT runs out. Otherwise it ran and seemed okay except for quite a bit of oil below what appeared to be one of the boost hoses to the turbo, presumably the oil plain bearing in the turbo was leaking oil down the hose.
any thoughts
cheers
fleecetrader
Fourtrak rust
Right if the sills are rotten it will fail its MOT. If it was me I would walk away and not buy it unless you are a welder and it is dirt cheap. I have had a few older fourtraks and they have all suffered with rot, just think if the sills are rotten then the rest might not be far behind. They are good strong reliable trucks just the tin worn lets them down. Try and find find one that has just had an MOT or get the seller to put one on before you part with any cash!
Rusty 4track
Hi
What you see on the outside is often doubly worseand more further in. As a restorer I have seen rust that looked repairable only to find a huge spread beneath a small bubble. I have scrapped bodies on Minis that should never have been on the road and lost good money although on the surface they looked repairable.
Walk away is good advice, I wish I had many times.
There are plenty about to choose from and you will face a huge bill unless you get it cheap and can fabricate and weld. Replacement panels are rare or non existant or these and unless the tin worm is caught early it spreads rapidly.
OLDMINIMAN
M J Young