seam welding Chassis

[stevesnj]

Originally Posted by JoeC

I read it that he could see seam welding working on a track car but as unproven snake oil on a DD.

The reason i said Snake is is because this car wasn't designed as a rigid body. You start messing with the structure like that and it will be less safe and advertise the shops that did the work then it's all just a gimmick to me. I just think this is a bad idea and unsafe and unnecessary and moronic on a DD car.

[JoeC]

Originally Posted by mav1178

If one were ONLY stiffening the chassis and not doing anything else with it, i.e. drive it on a public road, then yes, I would agree with your statement. But since OP is asking about a DD, then your statement is wrong for all the reasons already listed.

If one gets in a wreck with a seam welded chassis, the impact would easily overwhelm your stock seatbelt + airbag's ability to protect you. You would need to reengineer the entire safety system to compensate for much higher G-forces in an impact. Even a 15MPH impact can kill you.

Plus, the "unproven snake oil" part mostly revolves around the change in crash characteristics of the car. Plus, once you stiffen the car you change the natural harmonic frequency of the car, thus introducing the "unproven" part of the problem.

-alex

I still don't understand what I've said that's wrong, hahha. no worries. I'll just keep reading like a normally do.

[JoeC]

Originally Posted by stevesnj

The reason i said Snake is is because this car wasn't designed as a rigid body. You start messing with the structure like that and it will be less safe and advertise the shops that did the work then it's all just a gimmick to me. I just think this is a bad idea and unsafe and unnecessary and moronic on a DD car.

yeah, I see what you mean.

[mav1178]

Originally Posted by JoeC

I still don't understand what I've said that's wrong, hahha. no worries. I'll just keep reading like a normally do.

Basically what Steve said. It's a gimmick because it only stiffens the chassis without any of the other benefits that a normal roll cage would provide (passenger protection, etc.), and is even more dangerous on regular roads.

[wparsons]

Repeating for emphasis

Originally Posted by wparsons

There's also a lot of other points of deflection before the chassis is the weak link, so unless you've replaced ALL the rubber bushings with bearings there's still something MUCH easier to do to improve feel and suspension precision.

I don't think the chassis is weak enough that there's significant deflection in street use. This isn't a flimsy 80's unibody

[Racecomp Engineering]

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ulEisLcFEl4"]MGS2- Snake Game Over - YouTube[/ame]

[mrk1]

Seam welding can go along with roll cage builds, car is stripped down and needs paint anyway.

Does it work, yes. Is it at all in anyway practical for a full interior street car, no.