Hi all, new here. Question; does anyone know if there is any advamtage to welding up the seams & spotwelds to stiffen up car. I have my car torn down to the "frame" & ready to start stripping & painting, but if it is advantageous to weld all these areas for rigidity, might as well do it now while it is torn apart. I have alreadt welded in Spohn sub frame connecters, looking for some advice from someone who may have already done this or someone with some more knowlege than i have on this body style. Thanks for the help in advance

 

It doesn't hurt, but you're not going to get a lot of difference out of it

 

If the car is in "like new" condition, not much difference.

If it's more like most of these cars, that have lots of miles and some of those hard, you might be amazed at how messed up the spot welds are.

Since you don't say how "torn apart" it is, it's hard for me to guess how much of it is exposed... you'd need the interior out, and it wouldn't hurt to have the fuel tank off, the motor & trans out, etc. Given that, most of those welds are accessible. Most likely the worst ones are going to be the floor pan seams, the seams around the rear wheel wells, and the ones at the sides of the back seats where there's gussets of a sort that brace the floor to the sides between the doors and the axle tunnel.

 

I removed everything but the doors, hatch & diff so far, if it had a bolt on it, it's Off, blasted & primed. I'm down to just spotwelded framework. I appreciate you pointing out what problematic seams to check. There's no rust or rot to contend with. Just don't want to waste time & wire doing something that won't be beneficial. Thanks

 

The questions I would ask are what do you plan to do with the car?


If your plan is to add the most structural rigidity...like your title says, than seam welding is a must.

If you plan is just to build a street cruiser than you will not notice a really BIG difference but the car will definitely be stiffer.

If you are building a track/autocross car you will notice the difference and I recommend welding the seams.

 

Install another set of SFC
I have both inners and outer SFC and my 92 RS is stiff as hell.
​​​​​Other than that, a full roll cage is the next step.

​​​​​​Stiffer is always better if you Autocross or track your car.