what's involved and how much does it cost? i wanna keep the external seams coz i reckon they're dead sexy...but i wanna strengthen the body of the car...and have heard that seam welding is a good option...

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

Just weld up your subframes, esp. at the tops of the towers.

Welding the body would be a waste of money IMHO

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Too many cars, and too little time.

hmmm...i am gonna be getting new subframes...dry ones...might get them reinforced when i have them cleaned up...dont really wanna do it myself dont trust my welding ability that much

why is welding the body a waste of money? surely it increases chassis rigidity...and therefore car longevity and performance?

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Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE

the body is already spot welded along the seams, so you would be adding weld in between the spots effectively.

I think AWDmoke is trying to say that the rigidity you need to make the suspension work is found in the subframes, so welding them up will help in that area.

what seam welding tries to achieve is a rigid mass that is suspended by the springs. This makes it more like the mathematical modelling that is used to determine suspension settings (spring rates, damping rates, roll settings etc) so the suspension becomes more tunable and behaves as predicted by the models. Is it worth it on a road car - nup. A race car - yup

but for a race car yu would gain far more rigidity by constructing and attaching a properly designed roll cage - think like a V8 supercar - some of the mini miglia racers in the UK go to this extent with fully triangulated roll cages that are attached to the body at key places to make it all stiff as hell

sorry about the ramble - had a couple of wines at lunch

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the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page
66 Mini Minor sponsored by http://www.lifeonthehedge.com.au/ The Dog Harness Specialists
It was a pleasure ausmini. I'll miss all you misfits and reprobates

wot he said ^
You won't find much improvement as you are already fitting a good cage.

For a small cost, welding your new subframes up will make a difference both on road & track, especially if you are going to fit all those flash suspension components & give it a hammering

Motorkahna competitors beef up the top of the towers & the corners of the subframes to prevent cracking

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Too many cars, and too little time.

that makes sense...thanks for the advice guys...spose i'll just do the cage and see how it goes from there

_________________
Bling me up Scotty!
"wait till it grows into a plant...then bunny rabbit THE PLANT!"

1966 Morris Mini DeLuxe FOR SALE