I agree with Wraith, It would help. Especially with anyone who has “hardened” their suspension. (higher spring rate, ES bushings, more engine torque than stock)
If your suspension does not flex, the only thing left is the body. I am going to be tearing the interior out of the car in the process of redoing said interior. This won’t happen for at least a year though. When I do this, I am going to look into doing exactly what Wraith is explaining.
Just looking at the “frame”, I would say that stitch welding will take care of at least 50% of the flexing, some however would be adding frame connectors.
I also am not an engineer or fabricator, anyone who has done this, I would love their advise. Tools are not a problem, I have a tig/mig welder, and access to just about any metal stock I would need (sheet, tube, box, etc).
If you have access to the tools and the time to do it I say go for it. You won’t regret it. Just make sure you get the frame in a “neutral” position. I do remember that you shouldn’t do it while the car is sitting on it’s suspension. If you already had some sag, all you would be doing is “locking” that sag into position. You may also have to re-weld, or reinforce brackets (or pieces of the sub-frame) that the suspension mounts to that are not part of the “shell”. This will just give it that much more strength to eliminate flex. I would do as much research and talk to as many experts as I could before I did it. Also make sure you do a “how-to” article with pics for the rest of the G2IC’ers.
As for your 50% estimate, I think it is significantly higher than that. I don’t remember where I saw or read it, but there was an overview of the process to stitch weld a car like ours with an integrated frame that I watched. During the process they said you would think doing a complete seam weld would be stronger, but in fact the stitch welding increased the cars strength by “x” amount that I don’t remember. I want to say it was more than 2x stronger than when it was new. I was very impressed with how much stronger a “simple” modification could make the car. I then promptly filed it in the back of my mental “future to-do list”.
I agree completely, also the 50% was a rough guess, just eyeing what I could see. I am sure its higher. I have not put much thought into stiffening the frame though, just few of those “deep thought” moments, while changing the oil.
If I end up doing this, it will be at least a year from now. I have so many other projects right now, its just pitiful. I had to delay one because my power booster leaked. Man those 4 nuts are a pain in the ass.
