In my quest to actually make a decent driver's car out of my Z, was thinking of seam welding it.

Anyone done it to their Z, and did it make much difference?

I think as standard the major structural seems are all seem welded John. This was done to reduce chassis flex. From what I know, the Z32 uses the same floor pan as the Z31 but seem welded on top of the usual.... Not absolutely 100% on that though...

Seam welding is done with two opposing rollers that roll along the panels to be joined, pinch them together and weld them together in a continuous process.

 

Think of it as a spot welder with rollers...

 

Not sure the Z has this done as standard Andy, as it takes more time than robot spot welders and we all know time=money :(

 

I think rally cars use this process to stiffen up their chassis as the basic step of prepping one for competition use.

 

http://www.baycity.newcor.com/autobodyshop.htm

 

 

have a look at the 4 copper wheels. That is the welder.

 

 

HTH

 

Robert.

I'll dig the book out when I get home :) Am sure I read it somewhere..... although I'm sure about a lot of things that never really happened/ever existed :D:D:D

My grey one didn't look it when I pulled it apart.

I did my 205 by just welding 1" then missing 1" along all the joins. Did seem to stiffen it up a bit.

Just thinking with the Z being such a wobbly old thing it might help.

pmsl @ Andy :D

 

John I guess weld 1", miss 1" would be much better than the spot welds.

 

Was it mig or arc?

 

These seam welders don't use a filler rod, they just fuse the two sheets together.

 

lol.......... just remember with zeds though, you can't weld rust :D :D

If you can't weld it then thats one less job :D:D:D

Used Mig. Apparently doing continuous welds is bad for this job for some reason. Guess you maybe stress everything too much and end up with a warped shell ?!

Maybe I won't need it with my new lightweight engine :D

Yes, continuous welds with a mig on sheet steel will banana and warp it.

 

It is quite a viloent proccess (compared to the localised heating of spot/seam welders) and puts a fair bit of heat into the job.

 

But i guess you could get around it by mig weldind 1", moving say 12" away, welding another patch, moving 12" away, welding another patch, go back to first weld point (all the heat should have soaked away now) welding right next to your first 1" section.

 

Repeat until you have a fully welded shell.

 

But one disadvantage of mig over seam welding is you are actually making the car heavier with the mig wire lol. seam welding as in the pic above has no effect on cars weight.

quote from 300zx companion "Roof, floor, bulkheads and side panels are welded automatically on single jig, but seam welding to add strength in key areas is carried out by hand"

quote from 300zx companion "Roof, floor, bulkheads and side panels are welded automatically on single jig, but seam welding to add strength in key areas is carried out by hand"

 

 

Exactly what I remembered... :D;)