Seam Welding

[Ichi-Go]

That is a great idea to use another layer of metal to reinforce the area. I would think if you welded a trangle of steel bar around the spare tire well it would help stiffen the rear of the car.

[GRiDRaceTech]

Well, most touring cars have the strut towers tied into the roll cage as an additional means of stiffening the car. One could always triangulate the strut towers in the trunk and stiffen the bottom mounting point with thicker sheetmetal welded on. I enjoy designing structural stiffening even though I have little to no practical experience.

[tokyo]

are ya building a race car or a friggin tank. The stuff that Ichigo posted was exactly what they do in Japan. Im sure they have more experiance at setting up drift cars than anyone over in the states.

[CrazyHawaiian]

Well somehow we started talking about which stiffens the car more, cage or seam welding. I think we all agree that a combination of both is the best way to go (as shown by the Japan guys) since weight is very important for drifting. Just a matter of who has the means to do it and who dosn't. Maybe I'll try that on my next car but I'm still a noob so I'm only doing cage.

[Ichi-Go]

I think a cage for safety and a spot/stitch weld job for rigidity. I would want a roll bar like a four point with a harness bar. Then the spot welds for rigidity. I think that CH and I agree but we dont know it.

[JunpoweR]

SPOT\SEAM WELDING

Soon on my TURBO II I will be spot and seam welding certian spots on the uni-body.I believe some should be done but Not every seam you will add too much weight with the welds.you don;t wanna stiffen up the frame too much because the ride will be harsh and you will affect the handling dynamics mabey for the worse but I wouldnt know since I never tried it..But in my opinion too much is not a good thing..I say stiffening up the chassis about 20% more will do..Most of the welding will be done along the front of the frame then down the sides.A cars handling greatly depends on the chassis to flex.so don't overdo it..
I'm about 2 months I will have some pictures on my post(project 010.1)

Some people even use rivits!!!!>@#$#@!
I might use a few lol..But I reccomend something that's secure with no questions = WELDS!!

[mranlet]

Originally posted by tokyo
Im sure they have more experiance at setting up drift cars than anyone over in the states.

Alex has quite a bit of experience...

Originally posted by AlexPfeiffer
In WRC, a chassy is only used for 1 main event and a couple practice runs because of the amount of ridgitity change.

WRC cars are also flying through the air on a regular basis and cover a lot of miles of what some people would call "road" and others would call "minefield".

Making a chassis stiffer doesn't always mean harsher ride. Ride harshness is most directly controlled by the suspension setup. What a stiff frame DOES do is give the driver consistent feedback and acurate location of all the suspension components so that there isn't significant flex (or difference) between where, for example, the rear outside control arms are and the front outside control arms are.

That being said, a stiff frame built with stiff suspension in mind must be made durable enough for the application. WRC teams could most liekly build a single tub and cage to last them the entire year, but why bother when the money is at their disposal to build the lightest platform that will last for the given event?

-MR

[AREITU]

One of my friends thinks that chassis flex helps keep the wheels on the road. Also, aside from better feedback to the driver, a stiff frame allows suspension components to do their work. STiff springs on a wiggly chassis will cause the suspension mounting points to move around. On something like a truck, it's no big deal, but when every bit of suspension geometry matters, like on any race car or WRC car, a stiff frame is basically a requirement.

[PRC]

On a race car, a stiff chassis is a must.
On a street car, I would go as far as stitch welding it (unless you have the time/funds) because you have to tear the whole car apart.
Trucks must have a flexible chassis in order to be able to handle the weight they are carrying on the bed.

[AREITU]

Originally posted by PRC
On a race car, a stiff chassis is a must.
On a street car, I would go as far as stitch welding it (unless you have the time/funds) because you have to tear the whole car apart.
Trucks must have a flexible chassis in order to be able to handle the weight they are carrying on the bed.

And since the body is perched on the frame, the flex also helps it offroad to keep the tires on the trail and take a beating without creating stress cracks as it would in a unibody.

[S13/R32]

im with a cage but theres state laws and they can cause some really bad blind spots but for the road seam welding and some strut braces do pretty good as well. if you wanna do it ur self get some good practise with a Stick welder then get skills with a MIG (don't use a gas-less mig) and if u can get a TIG welder

[mranlet]

Originally posted by AREITU
One of my friends thinks that chassis flex helps keep the wheels on the road.

This is sort of true - If the only absorbtion you have is in the frame (no suspension or stiff suspension) then this is true. If suspension is present to help the tires stay in contact with the road then it's not quite the case.

Any frame/chassis must absorb torsinoal forces that are introduced during cornering and even during level driving on a less than glassy-smooth road. A frame can absorb these forces either by deflecting and twisting, like frame rails, or the members of the structure themselves can absorb the forces. The latter of thesem two methods makes for much more acurate location of the suspension, whereas the former allows the suspeision points (ideally set points in space) to move around.

Trucks intended to bear heavy loads are designed with little handling capability in mind. Leaf springs provide little to no lateral support, but are very durable under vertical load. The opposite is true of most car suspensions - good under lateral load but poor under vertical load.

"Chassis Engineering" is probably one of the best books you'll find explaining forces in race cars and what is needed for optimal handling and why - I would highly reccomend it.

-MR

[JunpoweR]

YOURE ALL RIGHT!! lol

I am gonna go with rollcage some tack\spot welds
and good suspention..

everything just depends on what the owner wants..
Stiffen everythiong as much as u like..

again my target is about a 20-30% stiffer chassis..