ever had this happen

mine does(v8 car). and i NEVER drove it without the top braces. the only mod is a dimple made with a pry bar of some kind to put in the 90degree zerx. i will post a pic of my crack tonight

 

here is the pic, not so great with my new camera...the crack looks offset in the pic but both sides are butted even. i would have to put dimples to weld them together. i plan to just put a quick bead then a plate welded across both sides...

 

I wonder if the stress could be from Jacking the car up and putting it on jackstands. When the cars in the air ...... the upper control arm comes down and

"BOTTOMS OUT" right in that area that would cause stress from the spring tension and from the suspension weight in general.

 

Junk it!! Time for a new one.

 

i actually just sent someone a check for a new shock tower so this is just a patch so i dont have to park it... hehe

mavtricks may be on to something, i know i love jacking it an putting it on stands. wrenching is a hobby..

 

OK since i had more time i started yanking it all apart and am going to just try and be ready for the towers arrival and put it back together. im doing it with engine in so far.....
anyway the reason im bringing this up at this moment is i smell a fish.... after looking at a couple of pictures people have posted, i found the later model V-8 cars with the added metal on the shock towers spoken of earlier this thread. It looks like the afore mentioned metal is just above where my crack is forming\spreading.also on my trip to LA i lost one of my wheel center caps on the wonderful CALI highways. it seems the later model ones were modified to improve a possible weak point, and\or californias high dollar highways assisted in the initial damage at some level if not on my trip (i did drive through their bomb craters daily up until 2001). this is the only thing i can come up with so far since my car is now actually lighter in the front end due to aluminum heads and manifold, also steering pump removal.

 

The added metal had nothing to do with weather the car was V8 or not. I have three cars with the reinforced towers and they are all factory I6 cars. Also, for the most part, it was only 73's that got those reinforcements. I'm not really sure what Ford's thinking was behind them, but the only place they really reinforce is where the upper control arm bolts to the shock tower.

 

which is just below where my crack is starting ,not sure why they would do it then stop though