front guard cut

[four play]

hey guys
im looking at cutting my front guards of my gq ute about an inch has anyone done this? how do you get the lip inside back, what do you do with your inner guard and has anyone made new door skins mine are stuffed the wood inside is gone and most the clips are missing or is it easier just to get new ones made?

thanks

[mick.]

First of all cut your old lips off. Then get a pair of vice grips with the wide flat mouth if you can like the ones in the link below which make this sort of work easy. Every so often you will have to put a cut in the fold to get around the corners but with a pair of these vice grips it will look neater and require less cuts.

http://www.irwin.com/tools/locking-tools/the-original-locking-sheet-metal-tools

With the door skins I'd probably look at getting another set from the wreckers or seeing a trimmer. It's amazing what trimmers can do these days and there pretty cheap too.

Cheers Mick.

[MudRunnerTD]

What Mick said. Look on eBay for a cheap pair of those vise grips. Cheap Chinese ones will do and will be $15 delivered.

Don't bother cutting off the old tab though, no point really.

With a grey lead or crayon mark the guard where you want the final line to be, that is your "Fold" line. Then mark a new line 25mm or so down from your "fold" line and that is your "Cut" line.

Take the front wheel off and get it out of your way. Cut along "Cut" line and fold in on the "Fold" line to make the new tab.

Really simple stuff. It will look factory. As Mick said, you might need to cut a couple of slots to allow you to fold around the arch.

[mick.]

The problem with not cutting the old lip off is rust. It's going to catch dirt and mud if you leave it there.

Cheers Mick.

[four play]

thanks guys what do you do with the inner plastic guard to get it to fit again tho?

[mick.]

I'd just cut it back to the length you need and drill holes in it where you need to attach it.

Cheers Mick.

[MudRunnerTD]

The problem with not cutting the old lip off is rust. It's going to catch dirt and mud if you leave it there.

Cheers Mick.

hmmm? i think you stopped reading my post Mick? read the rest. The old lip is irrelevant cause it will be cut off when you cut the guard in the right spot. By just cutting the old lip off then you are just double cutting??

If your original suggestion was to "just" cut the lip off then bend the rest up as the new tab that would be fine but you would end up with a Massive Tab and that would also trap a heap of mud above it??

Really depends how much you want to open up the guards? When i did mine i only took it out of the back of the wheel arches and took a total of maybe 50mm out of the face of the guard! 30mm of guard plus the bent tab that came off with it and then bent the other 20mm up to make the new tab.


*** To the OP

Mate your inner guard will screw straight back it, no problem at all. Tek screws are your friend ;)

[AB]

Has anyone got any close up pics at all of their cuts and what line to follow?

This has been on my to do list for way too long....lol

[mick.]

I used to have a buildup many years ago with pics But I'm stuffed if I can find them on my computer (i'll keep looking) and my build up pics disappeared when Net space deleted everyone's picture galleries.

Cheers Mick.

[AB]

Cheers Mick, see how you go mate. I just want to make sure I don't cut the bajesus out of the panel...lol

[Ade]

Here are some piccies when I did mine (L).. GQ fender's metal sheet are quite easy to work with, quite thick and stretchable. The new lips easily shaped and will not torn with bumping/panel beating hammer..require not cutting on the corner edge of the lips.

Pro panel beater will do it much better.

I used 6mm thick converyer belt to replace the factory plastic inner guard and they are tough..self tapping screwed and painted with epoxy primer.

[mick.]

hmmm? i think you stopped reading my post Mick? read the rest. The old lip is irrelevant cause it will be cut off when you cut the guard in the right spot. By just cutting the old lip off then you are just double cutting??

If your original suggestion was to "just" cut the lip off then bend the rest up as the new tab that would be fine but you would end up with a Massive Tab and that would also trap a heap of mud above it??

Really depends how much you want to open up the guards? When i did mine i only took it out of the back of the wheel arches and took a total of maybe 50mm out of the face of the guard! 30mm of guard plus the bent tab that came off with it and then bent the other 20mm up to make the new tab.


*** To the OP

Mate your inner guard will screw straight back it, no problem at all. Tek screws are your friend ;)I did misread your post a touch as I thought you weren't cutting anything just folding it. I wouldn't cut twice though but you cut your old lips off with however much of the guard you want to remove which is only about 5mm. That's only cutting once it's just worded wrong. You have to take into account that you also loose 3 to 5 mm in the fold. Even our folder at work looses a couple of mm in a fold so doing it this way you will loose about 4mm. So in actual fact if you did only cut the lip off and fold it your lip will only be 20mm which is a pretty common size on a lot of cars anyway.

Cheers Mick.

[MudRunnerTD]

Yeah no probs Mick,

Ghee Ade you took a heap off mate!

When i did mine all my damage was to the back of the arch, the 35s would hit there on full flex and when turning into big bumps, wombat holes and what not.

I have never had a tyre hit the top of the wheel arch or the front for that matter so only did the trim off the back side.

By cutting off the back only your less likely to affect the lines of the guard profile and there is plenty at the back where the mudflap used to be. I took 50mm out of the face at this spot and drew the line tapering back into the factory guard lines by about 11 o'clock in the arch lines. My chop looks like it came like that from the factory.

Just had another look at Ade's pics. If you look at the top pic where the tape is at the back of the arch is basically the line i took then tapered it back to the tangent near the 1 o'clock spot on the left side guard.

[Ade]

Yeah no probs Mick,

Ghee Ade you took a heap off mate!

When i did mine all my damage was to the back of the arch, the 35s would hit there on full flex and when turning into big bumps, wombat holes and what not.

I have never had a tyre hit the top of the wheel arch or the front for that matter so only did the trim off the back side.

By cutting off the back only your less likely to affect the lines of the guard profile and there is plenty at the back where the mudflap used to be. I took 50mm out of the face at this spot and drew the line tapering back into the factory guard lines by about 11 o'clock in the arch lines. My chop looks like it came like that from the factory.

Just had another look at Ade's pics. If you look at the top pic where the tape is at the back of the arch is basically the line i took then tapered it back to the tangent near the 1 o'clock spot on the left side guard.

Yup..thats a heap off boss. Love the look and how they did on the comp trol..so at least i have some of the the comp spec and tech adapted to my safari..hahahahahahaha

[Spar]

hmmm? i think you stopped reading my post Mick? read the rest. The old lip is irrelevant cause it will be cut off when you cut the guard in the right spot. By just cutting the old lip off then you are just double cutting??

If your original suggestion was to "just" cut the lip off then bend the rest up as the new tab that would be fine but you would end up with a Massive Tab and that would also trap a heap of mud above it??

Really depends how much you want to open up the guards? When i did mine i only took it out of the back of the wheel arches and took a total of maybe 50mm out of the face of the guard! 30mm of guard plus the bent tab that came off with it and then bent the other 20mm up to make the new tab.


*** To the OP

Mate your inner guard will screw straight back it, no problem at all. Tek screws are your friend ;)

So you're experianced mudrunner? :) i'm a bit nervous about cutting mine, if it isn't a big job would you do mine for me for a slab or two?