Guest Anonymous Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 While I have my rear control arms out (new poly bushings, coilover, rear discs) and sandblasted, should I go ahead and weld up the seams where the 'cross plate' (for lack of a better term) is attached the the actual control arm? I assume that they are just spot welded on there now. Will this provide any real benifit, strength wise? Thanks, Henry PS. the strut pin removal tool from Dan B. kicks major ass. I have no idea how I'd remove those pins without it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 Welding in a lot of situations is not a good choice for strengh since the area around the welding bead may become brittle and break. No I would not do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 I'm not sure what part of the part you are talking about. It's been awhile since I examined a rear arm. Are you talking about the sway bar mount area? Personally, I didn't notice anything wrong with those arms structure/integrity-wise. However, If you know whatcher doing, I certainly see nothing wrong with welding up parts of the car or frame that are currently only spot welded (which is pretty much 99% of the chassis). In my experience, a good weld will be stronger than the rest of the piece. Spot welds, on the other hand, are, well, spotty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 If the part you are talking about is not boxed, it may help if you do that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 16, 2002 Share Posted May 16, 2002 I'm taling about the formed piece of metal that has the swaybar attachment hole in it. It is spot welded to the actual control arm. The spot welds seem to be holding fine, but if I'm going to weld the seams, now would be the time to do it (before slapping on the POR-15). I seriously doubt that the control arms are heat treated or spring steel, like the mustache bar. They are welded from the factory, with some pretty ugly welds. Henry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 Henry , That is some fairly thin sheet metal requiring some fine welding beads. i think those enginers may have known what they were doing if the welders did not. Don't fix it unless it is broken! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeromio Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 Boy, if ever there was like, an anti-motto for this site, "don't fix it unless it's broken" - that'd hafta be it. No way would I blindly trust the engineering team that came up with, for just one example, that idiotic diff mount scheme. On balance, I wouldn't worry about the strength of the arms as is. But if you're goin for a Pete Paraska, leave nothing to chance, make it all as good as it can be kind of a project, then go for it. The control arms - that metal's really not that thin. It's at least 12ga, prolly thicker. The rest of the car, yeah, that stuff is crazy thin. Maybe 22ga (or the metric equiv.). I'm currently welding a new 14ga floor support on my car - burn thru madness. I agree the welds on these cars are sloppy. Days before the use of fancy robotics. I thought about welding the front arms. But, I decided not to. I was gonna do it for cosmetical reasons, but I envisioned a death vortex of labor and snapped out of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest zthang43 Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 What you might try is to braze that part rather than weld it. I don't know how well it would work since you can't clean between the two parts that are spot welded together (unless you drill the spot welds), but brazing will not be likely to mess up any heat treating that the part may have. Also, if you are really going for strength, on a joint like that brazing is the way to go. With that type of joint (lap joint, not a butt joint) brazing is stronger then a weld, and will probably be stronger than the part itself. I know that may be hard to believe, but I have first hand experience with this. In my Welding Technology class in college (and several times since then) I brazed a lap joint between two pieces of sheet metal, then pulled them apart with the tensile tester. The sheet metal always gave way before the joint showed signs of failure; but with a welded joint, the weld always gives way first. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 17, 2002 Share Posted May 17, 2002 Well, I think you all have convinced me (just barely) not to weld them. I'm sure I could weld them just fine - I've welded thinner with my TIG setup. However, it appears that I really wouldn't be gaining much - I'm not going to be anywhere near pparaska (sp?) territory. Thanks for the input, Henry Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted May 18, 2002 Share Posted May 18, 2002 IMHO you have the right idea ie thinking about possible improvements to parts you are working on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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