i've heard that spot welding at certain points in the chassis helps stiffen the car.
does anyone have info on the proper procedure for this? i tried searching the net but can't find any.
btw, i'm putting together a 74 te27 corolla so the original body is really old. that's why i'm looking for ways to stiffen the chassis. without resorting to the installation of a roll cage.
Seam weld all the joins. This is what we've done to all 3 of our rally cars, its pretty comon for motorsport cars (thats in addition to a roll cage)
They way we did it was to strip off all the paint then we welded all around the doors, and all around the strut tops. You weld for 2 inches then leave a 2 inch gap. (on the doors you will need to cut the lip off one side so you can weld them together.
That should improve the strength a whole lot.
Just take care that the rubbers will still seal and thats its legal in your country. (it needs an engineers cert over here)
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Why weld the doors, they arent a supporting structure.
Welding double spots will increase chassis stiffness as will welding seams as punter said. We've done few cars up welding the seams, but for a street car, I'd say go with double spots, less chance for rust to set in and it allows some body flex.
Doing spot welds is easy, you set the mig welder relatively high and then press the trigger and hold the gun so that you get complete penetration then release and then move on.
Those ought to explaing it pretty good.
One word of caution.
If you add/remove welds on a chassis, you are changing the crumple zones.
Which could be bad thing.
It doesnt' matter as much in a race car, and probably not so much on a 74 either, but I just wanted to point it out.
Why weld the doors, they arent a supporting structure.
Welding double spots will increase chassis stiffness as will welding seams as punter said. We've done few cars up welding the seams, but for a street car, I'd say go with double spots, less chance for rust to set in and it allows some body flex.
Doing spot welds is easy, you set the mig welder relatively high and then press the trigger and hold the gun so that you get complete penetration then release and then move on.
What wouldnt be legal in the philippines
You don't want to warp the body in the process lol, pretty much what you do is freshen up the old welds and weld in some extra places to make it stiffer welding the doors to the chassis would help you lose weight, i guess it might stiffin up the structure i dont see why not anyways.
You wont warp the body welding them, you can warp sheetmetal that doesnt have bends if you weld it, because its a straight panel that has allowance to move, but body panels have structural shapes, that make them strong, plus they're welded in. If you warp the body by welding on it, you have some serious issues with the body. You can warp the outer "skin", but ever notice that the panels are straight, but you wont bend them if you weld them attaching the panels in the correct places.
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pretty much what you do is freshen up the old welds and weld in some extra places to make it stiffer welding the doors to the chassis would help you lose weight
Wrong, you want to add welds so that theres less bodyflex, the stock spot welds flex, plus theres few. "and weld in some extra places" rofl, yeah... like all the body seams, thats alot of "some extra places" I dont see how welding the doors to the chassis would help in weight loss, as you're adding material and making it a shitty time to get out and in the car, unless you like to duke the hazzard it every time.
Yea you wont lose weight if if you leave the hinges on but i dont think it will make much of a difference at all on a corolla and im not really sure how you'd go about it either?
yea i know it stiffens the cars structure i also said that....... i just tried to sum it up quickly theres a lot more work to it than "welding some extra places" i know that well enough, but yea thanks for correcting me about the warpage.
I don't know how to do seam welding anyways i've just seen a few shows on stuff like that.
Last edited by canadianae92; 07-01-2006 at 06:34 PM.
Indeed they are, but when you do strenghtening welds, you wont be able to do it with resitance spotting, well you can, but its generally not how its done.
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rofl, yeah... like all the body seams, thats alot of "some extra places" I dont see how welding the doors to the chassis would help in weight loss, as you're adding material and making it a shitty time to get out and in the car, unless you like to duke the hazzard it every time. 
but i dont think it will make much of a difference at all on a corolla and im not really sure how you'd go about it either?
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