Seam welding

[Testament]

anyone done this to a race car? (UJ? vvega?) Need to do some on the 131 and looking for a few tips of the key places, Im guessing all around the front strut towers and where the guards join the firewall, and around the rear suspension mounting points. and also to fully weld or just intermittent e.g. 25mm weld 50mm gap 25mm weld etc. or whatever

for reference

[eskynut]

Basically weld in small bits and do every seam you can find.

[Spencer]

yea take it easy most hard out race cars Ive seen are on a jig so they don't warp

[Guest vvega]

not hard to turn a car into scrap if you do it wrong

you only seam were you can gain the most benefit --- add gussets and spot/rossete weld them on rather than seam ..... i.e make triangles of key stress points

in theory you can seam a whole car but you need to remember every bit of steel you melt will shrink as it cools

so in essence a the right amount or welding is good....the wrong amount/places leads to stress fractures premature fatigue

edit:

just noticed in yoru pic were teh firewall meets the front chassi rail a gusset has all ready been welded in there

i woudl have done them a bit bigger... but i dont know the free space you have ethier

oh and drill holes in your gussets.......makes them lighter and you can keep a eye out for rust etc coat them in some rust retardent

or buy a spot welder and trebble teh spot welds......

[Testament]

yeah those triangles aren't there as strengtheners - they were hiding more rust/holes

not hard to turn a car into scrap if you do it wrong

you only seam were you can gain the most benefit --- add gussets and spot/rossete weld them on rather than seam ..... i.e make triangles of key stress points

ok so dont go too crazy, I hears you, but also specifically what are usually the key areas?

join between the firewall and the inner guards/floorpan? strut towers to inner guards etc.

[Guest vvega]

yeah shame you haven't really got a decent firewall be good to hook a strut brase into that too

chassis rail to strut /firewall

weld all ya suspention mount points and transitions.... dont forget the back end

your cage will stuffen up the middle

......thoug i would have made bigger base plates for it

again all this is opinion and what i have done ... everyone has there own idea's