chassis and welding procedures safety concerns

[bugbitten]

Hello all, I have been a certified bodyman for 26 yrs. I have read almost all the post on here. I have been studying building a manx clone for countless hours, I have noticed some things I thought I might point out to help.

1) Weld thru primer is essential between the panels before you weld, it really has no help on top of welded areas after the fact.

2) I noticed a lot of people just using a 1/4 hole for the plug welds on the floor pans. The pans are so much thinner than the tunnel, you can not really get the tunnel hot enough for good penetration before that 1/4 inch hole is filled in. In the industry we use 5/16 plug welds and there is a technique in which you lay it for best penetration.

3) I reall would not suggest for structural welding to use flux cored wire either. If you are going to buy a mig make sure it has the capability of adding gas to it. You will see it burns so much cleaner.

4) I also can't emphasize enough that the prep work before the weld is so important as in everything. Get it clean, clean, clean. Just a thin coat of weld thru primer and then clamp work really tight together before you weld.

I guarantee if you do these things you will see significant improvement in your welds.

5) unibody. this is composed of lots of different pieces welded together to make a strong light unified structure. When you pull the body off the bug and put a glass body on unenforced floor pans you have removed a ton of significant strength to the car. I would suggest if using new floor pans to build a square tube frame or something in order to help with structural integrity of the vehicle. Then a good roll cage system tied into that.

6) I am looking at the concerns of a side impact and even if you have a tube frame around your body it is not strong enough. Cars today have what is called intrusion beams inside of the doors. They are made from uhsla ultra high strength low alloy steel. They are very strong. I myself am planning on getting some damaged doors from a salvage yard to get the intrusion beams out of and weld them in my buggy underneath pods so they are not seen.

7) another concern that I see is non collapsible steering columns. The old column is just a steel rod waiting to be driven thru your chest in a front end collision. I have researched and there are aftermarket collapsible lower column parts for racing that you can buy or in the salvage yard lots of vehicles use them at the bottom of column to gear box.

I am not trying to be a know it all, I try to learn everyday and believe that when I think I know it all it is time for me to leave this earth.

I very respectfully submit this to all of you for your safety. If you all have any question or comments I would love to hear them. Brian

[johber41]

I appreciate the lesson Brian....its always nice to learn a few things. I do not think getting hit in any of these machines could end up well, but I do agree that the features you speak of could offer some extra safety.

Your project sounds like its started out great and I am anxious to watch your progress.

John