Monday, August 4, 2008

More front end stiffening

Spent the weekend finishing off the seam welding. I also added a couple of strengthening gussets between the firewall and the shock towers(see pics) using some metal I had lying around(this is "HalfArsed" Racing remember!). These should help with some strengthening of the front end as my cage does not extend forward to the shock towers.

A couple of things I've found whilst doing this job:
1. trying to weld a join with seam se
aler or paint in it sucks! I cleaned as much of the seam sealer out that I could using a fine screw driver tip to scrape it out, and also going over them with a wire wheel attachment to my 100mm angle grinder. It was virtually impossible to get it all.
2. My little 150amp hobby MIG is probably not the best unit for the job. Dont get me wrong its capable of doing a decent job -
just fiddly to get the settings right using the 3 rocker switches, and the little disposable canister of sheilding gas does not last very long at all. I went through 3 canisters @ ~$30 a pop! I perservered and managed an acceptable job of it I think - but I dont think I'll win any beauty contests with my welding!

Next I have to hit all the exposed bare metal surfaces in the engine bay and interior(ie. cage) with etch primer and then sand back the painted surfaces in prep for getting the interior and engine bay painted.

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