hey guys,

i have a 89 wagon that i'm rebuilding, and i'm thinking about stitch weld some of the door/engine bay/rear strut towers, i'm not talking about welding the cr@p out of it. just 3" of tig seam every 6" or so,

i had the chance to drive the car for a few minutes before i stripped it, and it felt a little sloppy.

what go you guys think?

thanks

 

I seam weld rally cars before i put the roll cage in. My general rule is 1" weld/2" gap/1"weld/2" gap/etc. Almost anything is going to be better than stock.

 

true that lol

 

i would not use tig for doin this i would use mig but its your choice tig will put alot of heat in the metal and warp it and if you go to slow you will pull contamination through the metal inless you clean both sides well good luck post pics

 

Its a street car... Im an engineer at Honda, and you realize that they weld cars in certain spots for crash reliability and crumple zones right? If you get in an accident with it all welded up like that, your probably going to get hurt much worse than if the car collapsed as it should.

Rally car.... Thats a whole other world, and seam welding that makes much more sense. Throw in a strut tower brace and sub frame connectors, and that will make a world of difference without hurting crash reliability.

 

I also agree with this statement. Make sure you take this point into consideration, OP.

 

It felt sloppy, and you think it's the seam welding?

Have you replaced every suspension component and bushing already? What tire profile are you driving on?
What condition are your tie rods in?
Any movement in your ball joints?
Wheel bearings?
Engine/drivetrain mounts?

There are so many other variables that would have 100x more of an effect on making the car feel sloppy.

 

I have to agree with SP33. Build the rest and then see if its sloppy. Mine isnt and it has NO stitch welding at all.