For those familiar with the process, how is it done?Do all of the body panel seams need to be welded or just strategic ones?Do they need to have a continuos weld bead or just evenly spaced as in a "stitch"?Also is it done on the inside and/or the outside off the body?Thanks, any info would be appreciated...

 

Seam welding is a pretty involved process. First thing you need is an absolutely clean shell. Then you start stitch welding. If you try use continuous seams you'll warp the shell. As far as how much you do, it really depends on the application.

 

Only the parts of the car that are going to recieve a bead of weld get stripped of paint?Correct...?Are there any reasons that this process would be unsafe on the street?I am trying to make my 6th gen. civic chasis stiffer than a Type R DC chasis...

 

You pretty much weld every panel seam on the car, inside and out. Usually you run a 1 inch bead of weld, every 3 or 4 inchs along every seam. Some things to consider when doing this:

1. You have to remove the entire drive line from the car. 8 hours labor, each way
2. You have to remove the entire interior of the car. 8 hours labor each way.
3. The fuel tank and goes too.
4. You have to clean each seam with a wire wheel. 8 hours labor.
5. You really need to get the car on a spit so it can be rotated in the air.
6. You will probably have 24 hours of welding labor involved, or more.

If you were to have someone do this, I would estimate the labor would be at least 64 hours total. Multiply that by $75/hr for a qualified person to do the work.

Bottom line, its a great thing to do if you are either rich or and do it all yourself.

 

If you can get the car seam welded, it'd be fine on the street. However, like it was stated above, it's a long and complex process. Basically, you're looking at stripping the car of everything, seam welding the car, and then rebuilding the car from the ground up. Not a very practical thing for someone to do to a street car.

If you're just looking for some more chassis stiffness, a roll bar or cage would be much cheaper and quicker.

 

This has come up recently in more than one place - was there a magazine article or something that got everyone thinking about it? Having participated in this process on a couple of rally car shells (for which it is standard practice), I think I can safely say that it would be completely nutters to do this to a street car. Having said that, so would be installing a cage.

I might just be in a crappy mood this evening but NO street car has any business doing anything that requires the chassis to be stiffer than the manufacturer made it. My ignorant little thought process goes something like this...

1. People who want to race need to do it on the track
2. People who want to be on the track need to do so in a racing car
3. Racing cars can then be modified as suits the rules, safety requirements, driver's goals, and budget

Cranky Kirk

 

Yeah, in an article in SCC that featured JAS engineering in Europe. They seam welded everything on the car for stiffness. Probably why so much inquiry about it lately. Maybe he's building a race car, he never said if it was a street car or not.

s


[Modified by stevel, 1:07 AM 8/27/2002]

 

it's best just to get a clean shell from honda. it's extremely hard to get all the seam sealant out, and it's nextto impossible to weld if any gets in the way.

if i ever build a race car from scratch, i can garuntee you that im seam welding the entire chassis. after my swaybar tore up the rear crossmember in my car, i seamwelded the better part of it. the car felt totally much stiffer, so i can definately say it makes a difference.

 

Too true - sorry.

Kirk

Who is less cranky today, perhaps...

 

So I gather from the replies that seam welding ANY of the chasis will do nothing but help in terms of regidity...

 

yep

 

It can't hurt but the primary benefit will be a placebo effect - the driver will know that it has been done and will swear that it makes the car stiffer and, sure as hell, it feels faster. He/she will be a happy camper but the car will all but certainly not show any repeatable improvement in lap time. (He says, assuming this time that we ARE talking about a race car!).

Kirk