I have a buddy that works at a frame shop. Well we got to talking the other day and I mentioned seam welding my frame. He had never heard of this in the few months he worked there; but I swear I heard something about it on here. Is there some advantage to seam welding the frame? I would imagine it would make it stiffer (which is what I want). I am trying to make my vert as rigid as possible without using a full cage. I am also going to due that foam stuff. But the welding I could have done for $20 an hour plus materials. Does this make sense to anyone?

 

it does for race track only cars or cars that don't have any interior parts. welding some of the visible seams will do almost nothing. you need to remove every part from the car, remove all undercoating and insulation, and stitch weld all seams. I have spent more than 20 hours removing the interior and insulation/undercoating on two race cars. after all this work you will still find the windshield A pillar area will still flex. not realy worth the time and money.

 

Yeah, what he said. It's very common on rally cars, because they take such a beating compared to most track cars.

 

O.K. you guys scared me away from this idea. Thanks for the warning. My interior is in MINT condition and I don't remove panels unless I absolutely have to. I guess I'll just go with the foam stuff, and let you guys know how it works out.

 

I thought about it but decided it was to much work involved for very little gain. Just use the foam stuff.

http://www.itwfoamseal.com/auto_aftermarket.htm

 

Everything must come out. It is done like the link and a 2 part foam is not going to render the same result.

http://www.braits.com/wm/streetcar.html


-billy

 

I realize that the foam is not going to equal the strength of seam welding. But I do not want to tear my whole car apart to do this. I thought you could seam weld the visual areas and get a desirable effect. My car is a strreet driven car and that procedure is more than I'm willing to tackle right now. Thanks for the info; that was exactly what I was looking for.

 

WTF? hhhhm foam is going to stiffen the body????? never heared of that one.

 

Its called structural foam. Many high end cars use it to quiten them down and keep them from creaking and making unwanted noises.

 

Not entirely true. Seam welding very common on track cars too, because the cornering loads (much higher for a track car than a rally car) cause a stock chassis to flex and twist, which eventually causes the factory spot welds to pop, weakening the structure even further. So this is just as necessary and effective on a track car as a rally car, just for slightly different reasons. But it's really overkill for a road car.

 

http://www.geocities.com/dorifto/urethane.html
cut and paste bs...

Make sure once its in there you set the car on the ground to let the stuff cure. You don't want to have it cure with no load on the suspension (bad!)
Also, make sure it doesn't destroy access to your wiring.
There was a thread on this a while back...
Sean Cathcart

 

Um, yeah. And remember, to seam weld, you've gotta get all that dum dum **** out of the seams! That ususally means acid dipping the body to get rid of the crud, which means stripping the car to a shell, and hauling it someplace to have the dip done. Not a task to be undertaken lightly.

PaulC