seam welding frame

speedyrb29 · Post by **speedyrb29** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 7:22 pm

Dont know if any 1 has ever ventured into this before.
but while im doing my swap i figured id give it a shot.
i already removed my front radiator shroud because i have a new 1 im welding in with some of the old 1 left in for extra reinforcment.
but i think im also going to seam weld all the panels that make up the engine bay.and do the strut towers and anything else that catches my eye since i already have to fully weld in the rad support. now besides sanding all the paint off to get down to bare metal dose any 1 have any tips on doing this? or any ideas on how to reinfore the frunt of the car to make it more rigid?

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 10:20 pm

Clean the paint and just start welding. Biggest problem will be access to everything. Not as easy to get a gun in and make a quality weld as most people thing. Even with the rad support out you can only reach so much, to do a proper full seam weld job like that you need to gut the engine bay.

Make sure you have a solid ground, disconnect the battery for safe meaure.

May want to splurge for a high quality wire as well. Nowadays, there are some pretty strong alloys used in some frame components. May want to use at least an ER80S wire as opposed to your regular ER70S just to ensure that your joint is stronger than the parent, but that's nit picking at best.

Be sure that's what you want though, sometimes it's better to have a bit of flex than to have a super rigid joint. If it's too stiff you'll get cracking behind the weld at key joints and can just cause you continuous headaches.

speedyrb29 · Post by **speedyrb29** » Thu Aug 02, 2007 11:09 pm

reaching all the spots wont be the problem the engine bay is completly gutted just have a fuel line and a brake line in the way lol i can walk right in to the bay lol.

as far as cracking of the joints im not to concerd... i dont plan on doing any auto cross or track racing netime soon. and ill just hope my strut bar keeps it all tight lol. but if it dose crack wouldnt it just be like going back to stock? i dont think the stock welds would give if the new ones would...?

danman132x · Post by **danman132x** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:40 pm

Wouldn't welding all the points actually do more harm in a wreck? I have read in a few places that doing so can make your "crumple zones" too stiff and allow to much cabin penetration during a wreck.

speedyrb29 · Post by **speedyrb29** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 9:52 pm

the key to that is not wreking lol knock on wood.

infil · Post by **infil** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 10:28 pm

regular driving causes chassis flex. Once you eliminate that by seam welding the chassis you are going to get cracking. Its a fact of life. If you are going to drive this car on the street i would strongly recomend against seam welding the frame as that will definately cause chassis problems. Other thing i'd strongly reccomend if you are dead set on diong this, is tigging it instead of migging. Tig will get alot better heat distribution, better penetration and a stronger weld.

fixitmattman · Post by **fixitmattman** » Fri Aug 03, 2007 11:03 pm

TIG is nice, but it's not needed. A MIG will make an equally strong and nice looking weld in carbon steel when done correctly. Little easier to get the gun in sometimes than a torch and filler.

Keep in mind too the more weld you add, the more weight you're adding as well

speedyrb29 · Post by **speedyrb29** » Sat Aug 04, 2007 1:07 am

ic what you are talking about with the cracking...was reading an article on how if you have the welds to close the heat will weaken the surrounding metal...i really wanted to do this....but dont what to screw up my frame...what to do hmmmmm