I am planning on stripping my car and sending it to get this done at a shop. How many should I add? What are the most important places to get? How many should i do, one each between factory welds? That's what i've heard but i'm not sure.

 

Depends really on how you will then use your car after you put it back together, if you're going through all the trouble of pulling it apart, why not just have them stitch the entire thing up where they used little more than a putty like substance?

 

HPDEs are in the cars future as well as regular auto-x. I'm just trying to figure out what I need since it costs by the hour.

 

I just did it to my strut towers. front and back , but nuthing inside the car.

 

If it's just HPDE's and autocross don't bother. The chassis is pretty stiff as it is, and it really only makes sense if you can do it yourself, so that the cost/benefit ratio is more favorable.

 

It's $60 an hour for the welding so it's not that bad really, i'd like to be able to make it stuffer without adding a cage though. Plus i'd like to eventually be competitive with the car in club racing, eventually.

 

You still have to go to all the effort to completely stip down the car and re-paint everywhere they welded. IMHO it's probably not worth it for you at this point.

Also, are you sure that it's class legal for autocross? It'd suck to get put into a prep or mod class because of that one little thing.

 

Wouldn't seam welding defeat the function of crush zones?

 

I'm not worried about being in a competitive class for autocross. Autocross is just independant fun for me mostly.

I'm already planning on sanding down the entire car anyway, even the bottom and repainting and adding rubberized coating. That's why i'd like to do this now, since it's the most convenient time to. I've got a couple of rust spots on the bottom and i need to replace rear wheel arches too and some sheet metal on one of the wheel wells.

 

Seam/stitch welding isn't usually done past the front strut towers, which is where that is.

 

How are you supposed to weld a chasis?? I know some kind of body jig is ideal but if Im just doing it in my garage what do you guys recommend??

 

we were looking in the NASA PT rules, and its legal there with no points, which is cool

 

cages are more effective then stitch welding >_>

 

Well if you're going to be making a race car out of it, might as well do the cage while you have the whole thing taken apart.