Seam Welding.......

[3T-Rona]

One of the things on "The List" for the Corolla is a good ol' seam welding session, does any one have any tips?
Perhaps someone that has done a KE25 before and knows which seams need welding and which dont matter?
Maybe even someone that may know of any "Bits" that can be removed after said seam welding has been done (by "bits" i mean reinforcment or such that would no longer be needed because of the new seam strength)

Or i can just dive in and buzz all of it

Cheers for any all and any help
Joseph

[TRD Man]

On our old KE20's in the 70's & early 80's we really went to town on the seam welding. It really wasn't necessary to go to the extent that we did.

If fact, on the odd occasion when we would have to reshell quickly and use a shell that we hadn't seam welded there was not noticeable increase in bodyflex or resultant handling differences.

Rollcages today are much more complex than in those days with more pickup points, more bars and much more rigidity.

I'd stick to welding the suspension turrets and pickups, around the crossmember mountings and perhaps the centre crossbrace in the cabin.
Perhaps a small gusset between the front rails and the bulkhead might be an idea too.

[3T-Rona]

cheers TRD Man

[d1 mule]

i think there is a order in which it needs to be done so as to not warp the chassis with the heating/cooling

[3T-Rona]

yeh i kinda assumed that I'd kinda strip (the paint off ) two opposing seams i.e the front side of the left and right strut tower seams and go back and forth between the two so the heat dissapates......
sound like an idea?

[postfach]

And never ever use water or any other liquid to try to cool it down quicker. A block of aluminium or copper would be ok though. Definitely take your time with it, better to take ages to do it than rush it and bend everything.

[3T-Rona]

would pressing a block of cold copper/aluminum on the opposing surface while welding be good for dissapating heat?
Also, say i weld down the seam between the front strut tower and the front inner gaurd should i be welding the same seam on the opoosing side of the panel (actually under the gaurd)
sorry if that sounds confusing

[TRD Man]

should i be welding the same seam on the opoosing side of the panel (actually under the gaurd)

No, there is only one join and that is on the inside.

Don't get too hung up on the 'warping' thing. I'm sure a lot of that is old wive's tale.
I've certainly never heard of there being "an order" to weld in.

I presume you'll be using mig? I'd work in one area at a time. Apply a weld, say 25mm long, leave a gap (40mm), another weld, another gap, and so on.
That's all you'll need. Let it cool down by itself.

[3T-Rona]

cool cheers TRD_MAN big help, yep mig indeed if i had ttig experience id do it justto be a fancy prick but i dnt

[postfach]

cool cheers TRD_MAN big help, yep mig indeed if i had ttig experience id do it justto be a fancy prick but i dnt

And it would be like running a marathon on your knees! Seam welding a car using a TIG would take aaaages

[3T-Rona]

hmm yeh but it would look oh so sweet