Seam welding shell

[Steve C]

Hi

Has anyone ever seam welded a bug shell? Any tips, dos or don'ts etc.

Steve

[judgie]

well mate have done this on my 03,would not bother on any thing orther than a 02/03.
weld the window holes [with the glass out]
door holes and any seams you can find,weld about 25mm and leave about 25mm then weld 25mm etc etc.
if you weld it soild it will shake it's self to bits and crack all over the place.this will take you a long time and is only realy worth it if you tie it all into a roll cage as well [still have to do this on mine]
much easyer to do if the car is striped out.
what is the reason you are doing this?raceing?
keep us all informed.
cheers rob

[Steve C]

Hi

Thnaks for your help. My last car a 1302 started to crack up after many years of abuse. Im buiding a 1303 with a 2 litre STI motor from the ground up, body off pan etc, I want to do it once properly.

Steve

[jimby]

wow

steve carter?

you probably dont remember me. i came along to a few club vwub sydney meets in 1998 whilst i was living over there. i remember looking at your wasserboxer bug in the car park opposite the club meet one evening.

[Steve C]

Hi Jimby

I remember the user name from somewhere, welcome along. I hope you enjoyed yourself when you were down here.

Steve

[jimby]

Originally Posted by Steve C

Hi Jimby

I remember the user name from somewhere, welcome along. I hope you enjoyed yourself when you were down here.

Steve

i used to be on the aus email type bulletin board thing that preceeded the online forums ages ago (1998)

[Che Castro]

just out of curiousity what do u mean the spot welds pulled in the shell? whereabouts did it happen?

p.s I loved your yellow WBX car too

[Steve C]

Hi

It started to split at the top & bottom of the B pillar, it also split on the body above the flipper windows. It would really creak & goan over driveways etc

Thanks for you appreciation of my yellow bug, Im going to miss my old bug but the new one will be better car in the end and contain a lot of parts from the yellow one.

Back to seam welding, I spent a few days down in Kangaroo Valley (not Earls Courts London) before the new year with a guy who used to rally bugs in the 60s & 70s. He told me should only seam weld for 3 inches then leave 2 inches untouched.

Steve

[judgie]

Originally Posted by Steve C

Hi

Back to seam welding, I spent a few days down in Kangaroo Valley (not Earls Courts London) before the new year with a guy who used to rally bugs in the 60s & 70s. He told me should only seam weld for 3 inches then leave 2 inches untouched.

Steve

every one has thare own ideas on this but any sort of seam welding is going to be a benerfit.good luck with it and keep us all informed on your progress.
cheers rob

[Steve C]

Hi

Not seam welding but but a body stiffening idea.

I had a friend make these pieces up to weld into the A&B pillars to give the body some extra strength, they are bit like what is used on factory cabrios in the same area. The ones that are painted blue are the same units on a friends car.

Steve