Seam Welding Cortina
Discussion
i've been told that I'll probably need to seam weld my mk3 cortina to handle some V8 power, probably 350-400bhp (Ford 302).
I'm a bit concerned as I've read reports of chassis twisting due to heat build up etc. How much of a problem is this when seam welding. I've found the website below, the guy seems to have done his escort while on a chassis spit, which I presume didn't provide much in the way of rigid support.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.brannan/
In principal it seems stragithforward but I don't want to wreck my car.
BTW Stevie Turbo ,I know the granny is a bit different, but similar construction I suppose, what sort of strengthening have you got in place? Have you seam welded?
Advice appreciated. But I think I know the answer: £££££££££££ into the black hole.
I'm a bit concerned as I've read reports of chassis twisting due to heat build up etc. How much of a problem is this when seam welding. I've found the website below, the guy seems to have done his escort while on a chassis spit, which I presume didn't provide much in the way of rigid support.
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/a.brannan/
In principal it seems stragithforward but I don't want to wreck my car.
BTW Stevie Turbo ,I know the granny is a bit different, but similar construction I suppose, what sort of strengthening have you got in place? Have you seam welded?
Advice appreciated. But I think I know the answer: £££££££££££ into the black hole.
IMHO It would be virtually imposible to warp your shell by seam welding it the heat and stresses are localised to the already spot welded seams
you could concievably cause some localised distortion when welding near to or on largeish flat panels but not to the extent i think you are afraid off there simply wont be enough pull in the joints to twist a shell
the above assumes a degree of care will be taken and you weld in small runs allowing the previoust welds to cool a little dont go mad lol
you could concievably cause some localised distortion when welding near to or on largeish flat panels but not to the extent i think you are afraid off there simply wont be enough pull in the joints to twist a shell
the above assumes a degree of care will be taken and you weld in small runs allowing the previoust welds to cool a little dont go mad lol
I was under the impression that seam welding shells was in general a bad idea as you get an amount of hardening around the welds 
When you have spot welds the stell every where else can flex, when it's seam welded it's stronger for a bit then it all cracks
Not sure how true this is, but I know I've had to re do large patches due to cracks quite close to repair welds in the past
If you're putting in a large amount of power I would consider a cold drawn steel roll cage connecting to the original shell at 6 points
When you have spot welds the stell every where else can flex, when it's seam welded it's stronger for a bit then it all cracks
Not sure how true this is, but I know I've had to re do large patches due to cracks quite close to repair welds in the past
If you're putting in a large amount of power I would consider a cold drawn steel roll cage connecting to the original shell at 6 points
go to www.buysellcortina and ask nightmaresracing,he has alot of experience in strengthening the mk3 shell/chassis to handle modded v8's. he was racing a VERY modded silver/black lined 2-door mk3 (previously white/red lined) up at the pod a little while back,he's also built a mk3 2-door van that has been kicked into touch too.
pics are available of his cars in the 'members cars' section.
pics are available of his cars in the 'members cars' section.
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