Seam Welding

[stouty]

Can your car still be registered if you seam weld the chassis, the strut towers and firewall?? Ive done the seam welding on strut towers and firewall and thought oh shit i wonder http://www.ae86drivingclub.com.au/dcimages/7/5/4/536981.jpg

[rthy]

well the question is would they ever know?

[stouty]

Well when i get it engineered and they look under and see all these little welds they will be like ahhh u cant do that???

[steroidchickens]

you brush on seam sealer over the welds so it looks factory

[stouty]

ahh good trick ive been using sikaflex is this good or not??. So you cant do it if you want to get the car regitered but there are ways to hide it??

[DRFT - 86]

just make sure its not an acid based silicon.. otherwise you might find the beginings of rust down the track...

[steroidchickens]

i wouldnt use sikaflex. it is to rubbery.
brush on seam sealer dries really hard and is very hard to get off.
the last thing you want is the sealent to peal away and your car to start rusting in the seams.

i cannot imagine it being illegal. but i dont know. with the propper seam sealer if you do it neat enough you wont be able to tell.

[stouty]

Want be using sikaflex anymore than thanks. Does anyone know for sure???

[Hen is a total nutcase]

Ring an engineer/road worthy place to get a useful opinion.

But whatever the rules actually are, I'm sure you can get it engineered. A friend had a car engineered with cut and shut lower control arms, also think of all the club rally cars. Most of them have full rego and are stuffed with cages, Webbers and all sorts of other gear.

But to find out the rules, ring the person who'll be signing off on it.

Hen

[stouty]

Good idea mate thanks.

[PuGZoR]

Why would it be illegal? It increases structural rigity but not to a level where it's unsafe if you hit something else. Doesn't compromise crumple zones of any kind. Doesn't increase emission levels of the car. Doesn't present any increased risk of injury. IMHO, it's not illegal, but then again I don't have an engineers cert or a badge.

[Hen is a total nutcase]

Why would it be illegal? It increases structural rigity but not to a level where it's unsafe if you hit something else. Doesn't compromise crumple zones of any kind.[/b]
Do you have evidence to back any of this up? It could easily affect crumple zones (if AE86s have any that is). Also what if you do a dodgy job of it and start blowing holes in your chassis rails? And how do you prove that you haven't done a dodgy job and blown holes in your chassis rails?

It like big brake uprades, yes they probably make the care safer, but there is a posibility that you have screwed it up and made your car dangerous. Therefore they need to be inspected and engineered.

Just save yourself time and grief and talk directly to the relevant authorities.

Hen

[PuGZoR]

Oh yeah, don't get me wrong, definatly talk about it to someone knowledgable, but I just can't see why it would make it illegal myself. AE86's weren't designed with crumple zones (don't think any car was prior to ~1989), as far as I know, but yeah of course dodgy work is going to make the car illegal. I think the OP was talking that in theory, if the seem welds were done with say a TIG welder, and were done satisfactorily, would they affect the legality of the car. Simple as that.

[stouty]

Ive got a professional welder doing it so it will be done non bodgy. Will be talking to an engineer soon so i will let you guys know. Thanks

[PuGZoR]

Thanks stouty, I'd definatly like to know. If it is something you need to have engineered and mod plated, think you could squeeze a reason out of whoever you talk to? I'd like to know why if that's the case, lol.

[mc68]

sometimes they arent that clever at the pits...and could think its had a rushed cut and shut job...