few questions for those who welded there chasis

[poshatch]

1. im planing on tach welding all the seams on the chasis to make it a bit more ridged, i already dont have interior in there and my question is can i go ahead and start removing that glue from the seams and still be safe to drive around and what not before i get the welder to weld them?? if not i will go ahead and hold off until i got the welder and do it all at once

2. is it ok to actually be inside the car and weld, since it would be mig arc weding i planned on taking out the battery and the ecu just in case but welding wont have any adverse affects on the electrical system/myself if im in the car welding? (the arch isnt going to kill me? haha)

3. anybody experiment with welding any items besides the inside chasis and bay and under the fenders? suggestions or any reminders of places i might miss when im tach welding everything?

4.tach welds roughly every inch is what im planing or a solid weld across the whole seam? and im going to experiment with power and speed but i think ill be having .030 2 lb spool, good gauge and will it be enough to get the job done?

5.misc. suggestions

thanks everybody!

[motoman399]

1. yes you can remove the seam sealer. its there just to keep moister out/rust.

2. no the welding isnt going to kill you. just make sure you put the ground clamp on the car and not your foot. lol

3. you can weld everything that is a seam. so like where all the panels meet.

4. its actually called stitch welding. and i think you should practice a lot before you start. and start on the inside so when you get to the visible stuff it looks good. and dont do a continuous bead. you can either do tacks every 3/4-1" or you can do small beads 1/2"-1" every 2-3". i would do the tacks though.

5. practice practice PRACTICE!

[poshatch]

1. yes you can remove the seam sealer. its there just to keep moister out/rust.

2. no the welding isnt going to kill you. just make sure you put the ground clamp on the car and not your foot. lol

3. you can weld everything that is a seam. so like where all the panels meet.

4. its actually called stitch welding. and i think you should practice a lot before you start. and start on the inside so when you get to the visible stuff it looks good. and dont do a continuous bead. you can either do tacks every 3/4-1" or you can do small beads 1/2"-1" every 2-3". i would do the tacks though.

5. practice practice PRACTICE!

1. sick im going to be removing that junk tommorrow then along with the rest of the sound deadening
2.haha ill be very careful to get the ground close to the area im welding and not my foot.
3.ill be hunting for every possible thing i can weld haha the chasis is all creaky and nasty sounding so id like it to just be solid
4.stitch welding yeah that sounds more right than tach welding haha. and i figured my car would be the practice since its already ugly as hell and i just want it functional. ill probably go with very small beads every inch

p.s. im assuming the .030 2 lb will be enough of a spool to do the whole thing (comes with the welder and id like to use that before i spring for the 10 lbs haha)

p.p.s. suggestions on how to get the remaining crappy sound deadening residue off of the metal?? its annoying cause the dry ice got off the majority but there is still residual crap around like the wheel wells and stuff...how do i get that crap off!!

thx

[Frankenfourty]

Be careful to manage your heat. Sheetmetal warps easy. If you warp all of your body panels, you have essentially totaled your car. And they way you are planning on welding it will warp it. Instead of skipping an inch, and continuing welding, you need to weld in a more back and fourth method. Weld a one inch bead at one end, then move to the opposite end of the seem and weld an inch, then move back to the other end and keep doing that until you meet in the middle. And once youre welds get closer together allow some cool down time in between welds. Or you can start a bead in the middle of the seem, then work your way to the edges alternating sides. Both of those methods you want to keep about a 1-1/2" space and just keep going until you have it all welded up.

[poshatch]

ok thanks very much thats why i asked here first before i attempted it cause i know people would have some great advice, ill try to keep the heat low and i will do the alternating as you suggested

but no i didnt want to weld a 1 inch bead, i was going to weld a very very small bead roughly 5-7mm and spaced 25-30mm apart

i will however allow that cool down period maybe like start one dead center and weld diffeerent directions from that point and weld spaced twice appart and come back and weld a bead in between what i already did, that would give it time to cool

[omgshawn]

Removing all the seam sealer is a b**** lol. I used lots of wire wheels, harbor freight has the big cup wheels for like $3 and I used them on my dewalt grinder, made it a lot easier

Everyone pretty much covered everything else. Make sure your car doesn't have any rust starting before stitching it all together, it will suck to have to grind down all those welds to get to a panel.

I currently have my interior in primer and fixing the rust then I'll be stitch welding all of it, you can check my build thread for pics

[poshatch]

sick alright cool ill go check it out, yeah i figured id start with the back today and move foreward until its all cleared out and cleaned roughly and weld it then clean it real good and then primer and what not haha but im not too concerned if its ugly for awhile

ive been using a freaking chizzel for that crap it sucks!!

[Frankenfourty]

You will be fine if you weld a 1" bead. I was just talking about the space between. 5-7mm weld is way underkill.

[poshatch]

so i did alot of practicing and i did only a few actual welds on the car so far no holes yet so woot

im getting the hang of the welding thing even though im not the greatest welder

how im probably going to lay down beads that are about 7mm or so and space them about 35mm apart from eachother probably going to use a sharpie and mark where i want to put them that way i know where i want them and i can move back and forth from side to side and not warp the metal as suggested to me here

after the inside of the chasis i need to move to whats really important which is the front area

this is going to be tricky with the engine in so i dont know what im going to really do about that just yet i dont really want to take the engine out but i would think thats the proper way to go about it

my next quesion i guess would be how should i go about doing the under side or is it even needed? i mean i would feel like the job would only be half done if i just did the inside pannels and the engine bay area and not the underside

or would the inside be all i need for a good amount of strength? i suppose anything over the seam sealer would be an improvement just wondering thanks

[omgshawn]

You can do the underside, just a lot more work. From seeing people do it they usually don't do the underside, atleast what I've seen. The main thing on the underside would be the rails, and where they connect to eachother and to the floor pan. If you want to get all the undercoating off and do that then go for it, it can only help...otherwise I don't think it will hurt you if you don't. Just make sure to do the rails where they meet the firewall, and I would do in the wheel well where the strut tower meets the rail and firewall.

Pulling the engine will help, if it's possible I would do it.

[poshatch]

ok cool yeah i saw somebody do it when i was going a search but i mean this is my daily driver and this guy had the bare chasis and it was up on a stand and could rotate it and stuff it was nuts

anways yeah im going to do all the seams i can do without removing anything first, then maybe get in the wheel well and remove the coilover and stuff just to get it out of the way and get in there and then i will just go from there i guess

thanks for the input i really need to get something thats protective for when i do the strut areas since there is gas lines and what not all in there and i dont want hot metal going into my harness or anything ya know lol

[liquid_cool]

there is allways a debate on seam welding and stitch welding...i prefer the whole seam to be welded...the arguement is that after your in an accident..you could pop the stitch welds off to fix everything...but lets face it..the car would never be the same anyways...and if your in that bad an accident..then your probly gona tow it to your local junk yard anyways..if your planning on making this a track car..then go the long route and seam weld everything...get the full benifit of what your trying to achiveve..and add a roll cage..thats my humble opinion..good luck with your project man.

[poshatch]

there is allways a debate on seam welding and stitch welding...i prefer the whole seam to be welded...the arguement is that after your in an accident..you could pop the stitch welds off to fix everything...but lets face it..the car would never be the same anyways...and if your in that bad an accident..then your probly gona tow it to your local junk yard anyways..if your planning on making this a track car..then go the long route and seam weld everything...get the full benifit of what your trying to achiveve..and add a roll cage..thats my humble opinion..good luck with your project man.

roll cage comming in later, going to go with the minimum bolt in 4 point wtih side bars for the local pro am so that i can comp and DD it cause it is my DD haha

i read that welding the whole seam dosnt really add that much more reinforcing so i might as well just stich it lol and no this chasis is f*** up

im sure im welding it tweekd right now cause it went off a 15 foot drop into its face then towed out susepended in the air and droped on the ground hahaha i just need it stornger

[liquid_cool]

i have a seam welded s13 hatch man with a 10 point cage...i hit a island going 45 ish....the only damage is sustained was a broken (yamato garage) tention rod..and a slightly twisted lca...why?...couse im seam welded and reinforced for this specific reason...the cage will really help too man..but i would at least weld in bottom plating..even if your going to go bolt in..and i allso suggest DOM metal over cromoly as its softr metal and has the ability to give a little before it break's under extreem loads..

[poshatch]

yeah i know the cage would add crazy strength and yea welding in the anchor plates seems like a good idea

i would much rather have a nice certified weled in cage but since its my daily driver (and i aknowledge that having a cage in without a helmet is unsafe) i would be taking it out when i drive and put it in when i compete

[liquid_cool]

sounds sensable...but you should at least weld in the mounting points...there have been many an accident where the bolt in cage punched a hole throu its resting place and flattend the driver..i believe there is a video of uber mustang fail w/bolt in somewhere on youtube...choose wisely grasshopper!..reaserch reaserch..then reaserch somemore..good luck

[poshatch]

haha well since the only purpose i have for a cage would be to compete in the pro am here in nor cal i would ask the coordinators what the requirements are and the driver what they did to there car since they always go to skid pad events and stuff it would be easy to go to there fab shop or use whatever bolt in cage they use that is allowed by the pro am