Chassis strengthening

[sivic]

he said besides those in the first post.
spetz - if you do actually take your car apart down to the chassis you'll see the rectangular tubing which makes up the chassis tubing. thats what you fill in.

[Limbo]

yeah seen this done in prep.

Spetz be careful when rewelding the chassis.
If you don't know what your doing you can weaken the chassis, as when you weld the heat affects the welded areas and can weaken you chassis.

Might be a good idea to speak to a good welded first.

[Limbo]

p.s have a look at this site, they rewelded the chassis of a toyota and alot of work was done on this car. Cost $100k

http://www.club4ag.com/faq%20and%20t...%20project.htm

[ewendc2r]

Is it easy to DIY at home??

If you can competently weld and drill then sure. But you want a bare shell and obviously some areas are more important that others (so do some research :P)

It is just time intensive really.

[spetz]

When you guys mean strip the car... how exactly do you mean?

All my suspension will be out (including all arms, bolts etc) and all my interior will be out too (carpet, seats, trim etc)
So basically can see the metal from any point



I have never welded before though...
The reason I want to do this, is because the car will get to this stage for other things, and I thought I can maybe do it myself?

[ewendc2r]

You want to be a good welder so you don't over heat parts of the shell.. Do your research and practice welding A LOT first to get it right.. As said above, easy to do, but you can still easily **** it if not done right

[Jomsy]

the basic idea is to add a 1inch weld then a 2inch gap then another 1inch weld (and so on) along all the joins that are spotwelded, also you add triangle gussets to key load points

unless your going rallying or serious motorsport don't waste your time

i have done it on a few rally cars and i can tell you its not easy

[ewendc2r]

hahah .. yeh its takes a LOT of time .. You will get a significant benefit from simple plug welding and also filling with foam.

Going the next step is kinda hardcore - and will definitely make your car non road worthy

[spetz]

I mean realistically I just want to do what I can do myself.

I am good with my hands but have never welded or done any of this before



The reason I am doing it is because I will be taking out all the suspension to change bushes, seats carpet etc cuz changing carpet
Boot is all out already

[sivic]

yeah, in that case you prob cant do too much. to do any welding or filling on the chassis you'll really want to remove all your panels, engine, lines etc. basically so its down to nothing but the chassis

[ewendc2r]

Not TOO much more work to remove the rest, but just get a few pieces of steel and practice some plug welding.. it isn't THAT hard.. :P

But if in doubt, don't do it lol

[iamhappy46]

the basic idea is to add a 1inch weld then a 2inch gap then another 1inch weld (and so on) along all the joins that are spotwelded, also you add triangle gussets to key load points

unless your going rallying or serious motorsport don't waste your time

i have done it on a few rally cars and i can tell you its not easy

I did this to my N14 Pulsar, took freakin ages(about 40 hours?) but going up steep angled driveways it lifts the 2 unloaded wheels! Placing the wheel jack at one 'corner' point will also raise 3 wheels and leave diag opp wheel on the ground.