chassis prep for track days

[dandubgti]

just wondering if you guys can shed some light on chassis prep to a mk 2 golf, im about to start my bare shell track car build and and tips pointers off of you chassis gurus would come greatly received .

Im going to be using a fettled abf lump so ill be stitch welding the bay up etc , ordered my 6 point cage more than likely going to extend it through to the bulk head to make it 8 point .

toying with the idea of stripping all the underseal off of the bottom of the car and spot welding all seams to eliminate as much flex as possible . anyone done this ? usually done on a chassis spit .

if theres anything ive missed , any tips pointers any chassis strengthening tips that might help let me know .

like i say the build thread will be starting soon so keep eyes peeled

cheers people , hope to see you on track in the near future .

[Diamond Hell]

If you're serious, weld a Corrado tunnel in.

It's much higher and will give the car more chassis rigidity out of the box.

Go look at VeeWgti16v's build thread - he's been busying himself stiffening his shell up with seam welding and removing excess weight.  Should give you a good pictorial guide, even if he is a c*cksucker.

[dandubgti]

im not that serious lol , thanks for the heads up tho . will check his thread out .

[VeeDubGTI16v]

charming!

its definately worthwhile stitching the shell. just go easy grinding back to bare metal, its very easy to thin the metal causing you to blow holes when it comes to welding

i havent done underneath yet as my welder refuses to weld upside down! (dont blame him tbh) so am interested in what you come up with to turn the car over. i was thinking a couple of matresses to tip the shell onto and prop it up with a scaffold pole or something

buy yourself a spot weld drill, they are awesome!

[VeeDubGTI16v]

also, remove ALL the seam sealer from the seams, even use a screwdriver to open them up, remove sealer and hammer them closed again. it will affect the quality of the welds

[Diamond Hell]

its definately worthwhile stitching the shell. just go easy grinding back to bare metal, its very easy to thin the metal causing you to blow holes when it comes to welding

Yeah go easy on that grinding - it can cause holes in hands. 

Danny was talking about fabbing up a 'car spit' to turn his Golf over to do the underside of it.  Might be worth having a chat with him to see how far he's got.

My new workshop/barn has a lot of steel lying about, so it Danny's not ordered the steel to make his it might be easier for me to fab something up from 'scap' steel that we can all use to do the same thing.

[JC]

its definately worthwhile stitching the shell. just go easy grinding back to bare metal, its very easy to thin the metal causing you to blow holes when it comes to welding

Yeah go easy on that grinding - it can cause holes in hands. 

Danny was talking about fabbing up a 'car spit' to turn his Golf over to do the underside of it.  Might be worth having a chat with him to see how far he's got.

My new workshop/barn has a lot of steel lying about, so it ( should be if perhaps ? )  Danny's not ordered the steel to make his it might be easier for me to fab something up from 'scap' ( new word maybe ? or do you mean scrap ) steel that we can all use to do the same thing.

2/10 - see teacher after lesson 

[Diamond Hell]

I should stop trying to hold down a job as well as this forum thing - it would give me more time to correct my typos 

[dandubgti]

also, remove ALL the seam sealer from the seams, even use a screwdriver to open them up, remove sealer and hammer them closed again. it will affect the quality of the welds

i dont quite get what u mean ?? get rid of the seaam sealer and open up the metal seams using a screw driver ?

[VeeDubGTI16v]

where two panels meet the metal overlaps and is spot welded, right? theres gonna be seam sealant between the two layers of metal as well as over the top. You can open up the two layers in between the spot welds and dig out more seam sealant, then hammer closed the gap and weld it.

for some reason you get sh!t welds if there is sealer in between two bits of metal

its a long boring job mate, the welding doesnt take long compared to the prep! i suppose its a bit like painting.