Stitch welding , and twin diff hanger ? (Weld in sunroof?)

[BATTS91]

My e30 is coming off road next month and i have lots of time on my hands .
Now the old girl is going to be set up for drifting and taking pure abuse , ive been looking up on stitch welding the front turrets ,bulk head , slam panel , rear turrets .

Anyone had any experiance with this ? Is the much point in doing just those ive mentioned or go all out on chassis rails too and ect , there will eventually at aome point a full bdc approved cage with gusseting , to front and back struts .


Also ill be cutting the spare wheel well out and while im in the boot considering fabricating somthing with box section to support an e36 twin hanger diff , anyone got any pics or ideas or advice on this too ? Cheers

[maxfield]

I stitch welded my nova but that's because they're made of cheese and I had it down to a shell.

E30s are built very well built so not really necessary IMO, especially if your likely to be running a mega cage.

I'll be doing a twin plate diff mount soon. I've got an idea in my head of how I want it to be but whether it will work out I don't know

[BATTS91]

Everything wil be coming off mine , wether its all at once is another question .

I have an idea of a welded rear strut bar , and box section in the boot with hanger to hold the diff , with braces to the strut bar . Well something along those lines anyway .

[leeparkes]

Im sure its winx who has pics of a twin hanger, do a search under his name. craigieeb has done it too.

[Green]

Think Jozi did some stitch welding in his touring project, check his topic in the gallery section and I'm sure there's an image or two showing what was done in the engine bay.

[winx]

This is what I did:


Then you can either modify the ring on the diff so it doesnt hit the speedo sensor or install a spacer before the e36 backing plate:


I installed the spacer so I can change diffs easily.

As I was putting coilovers on the rear I made a strut brace:



The 2 bolts in the floor are the top of the new diff hangers, these are now braced into the strut brace but I can't find a picture.

If I was doing it again I would cut out the whole cross beam and then start from scratch, bracing it down from the turrets to the diff hangers with a bent piece of cds...

[s13b]

Ive had a fully preped, stitch welded and caged drift car and can tell you it makes for a hard ride. Depends on how much comfort you want and if its going to be a road car as well. If you're going to do it I would recommend as a minimum complete engine bay and front turrets / arch inside and out, then rear arches, turrets and possibly areas around the diff if you're removing the wheel well.
TBH if you're going to that much trouble you may as well do it right, it doesnt take that long once you get started! This will then take up any "slack" left over from areas not tied into the cage.

Once finished though you should be able to pick 3 wheels off the floor just by lifting one corner

[Motorhole]

Once finished though you should be able to pick 3 wheels off the floor just by lifting one corner

Can do that anyway with just a 6-point welded cage and stitch-welded front/rear turrets and inner wings

[Jozi]

I stitched around the turrets and across the firewall, was advised against doing the chassis legs as there's crumple zones there. Out back I did around the arches and turrets and also the cross member and diff hanger.

I started a thread with some pics and what other people had done here: http://www.e30zone.net/modules.php?name ... highlight=

[Rosc0PColtrane]

Avert ye gaze OEM phags!!!!!

This is what I did:


Then you can either modify the ring on the diff so it doesnt hit the speedo sensor or install a spacer before the e36 backing plate:


I installed the spacer so I can change diffs easily.

As I was putting coilovers on the rear I made a strut brace:



The 2 bolts in the floor are the top of the new diff hangers, these are now braced into the strut brace but I can't find a picture.

If I was doing it again I would cut out the whole cross beam and then start from scratch, bracing it down from the turrets to the diff hangers with a bent piece of cds...

[BATTS91]

Thanks Winx , just had a look at your thread , from what i see you cut off the original and welded two hangers on the standard beam ? Is this correct ? .
I have an m50 and going m52 i shall be ising the whole e36 diff.

I shall be looking at the situation of cutting the beam out and replacing with box section with cross bars to strut brace .

Also thanks for the advoce on stitching , comfirms that i defo want to be taking this route with front and back turrets in and out , front panel and bulkhead .
The dash will be coming out would it be worth doing jnside of the bulkhead too ? As i h e to make a couple of minir rust repairs there anyways ,

What methods of stitching is good ? 2" weld 2"gap Ive heard people do 3-4" weld and 3-4" gap , im thinking 2" will be best . To state the obvious i ask as never stitch welded up a car before but have plenty experiance in welding and geting a good penetrated welds

The car will be used on the road but only weekend sort of use and of course off road at track ect noise and harsh ride is not really an issue .

Thanks for the advice so far guys all going up top for when the car comes off road on the 10th

[winx]

Yes I cut off the original hanger and made 2 new ones, I welded a thick plate on the boot floor and tied the new diff hangers to both that and the original cross beam, then made the removable strut brace. If I did it again I would cut out the spare wheel we'll and the floor where that beam goes across, then put a new cross brace in with the diff hangers cross braced into that and the turrets.

I'll try and find a picture of what someone else had done after mine and is a better way probably.

[s13b]

If the dash is coming out to do repairs and you're going to the effort of doing the rest, you may as well do inside the bulk head. It will only add strength and IMO improve how the car handles / feels which is kinda the whole idea.
1" - 1.5" stitch is plenty with the same gap between, I've even seen 10mm weld, 10mm gap, 10mm weld kinda like OE spot welds just more of them, but prefer the other method.

HTH

[Jozi]

For the most part I tried welding between the spots if that makes sense?

[BATTS91]

Thanks winx, ill be looking into removing the beam ill get outside tomorrow and get a proper insight of it and draw somthing up , all tied i to the strut brace and turrets . Pics would be great for ideas if you could cheers

S13b , exactly what i was thinking . While im there sort of thing do it ! .
May sound a dumb question may not but , did you mark out on the car were to weld or just guess an inch ? , marking out seems a long process but if a job is worth doing its worth doing right this time!

[BATTS91]

Jozi , i think i know what you mean , like didnt weld over the original spots ? Also what size stitching did you do ? And did you mark out before welding ?

Thanks guys , its all going to be fun soon and there will be a thread

[Phill172]

From most of the cars I have seen at BDC you could have a cage made out of straws and itll be passed.

The chap on the BDC scrutineering was amazed that mine had a proper weld in cage out to turrets etc.

Very interested in the diff side of things, you say your using the whole e36 diff, what does that mean in terms of drive shafts?

The difference that just my cage made to the car was phenomenal so interesting to hear results of stitch welding too.
Whats the spec of the car if your running it in bdc?

[Jozi]

I think I did about 5-6 spots so maybe 10-15mm, depended on how much of a gap there was between the spot welds. Probably should have marked it out rather than eye ball it, some of the stitching over lapped with the spot welds.

[s13b]

All depends on how much of a perfectionist you are / how much of a fuck you give... TBH as long as your welds are good (neat and penetration) I wouldnt worry too much about marking out, or if they overlap / arent exactly spaced.
Just go along the entire length of which ever seam you are welding with a wire wheel, clean back to bare metal and make sure you get all the seam sealer out! Depending on the finish you are after and how much smoke you mind in the cabin, you can always go back over the entire seam with sealer, or just paint over.

Phill - I did cage and stitch welding at the same time so cant really say how much one added compared to the other, do know that the car felt so solid and different to stock it was amazing.

Having said all that, none of this will mean jack if you dont have suspension and geometry work done as well. i would recommend as a minimum GAZ coilovers, uprated ARB's + drop links and anything else you can afford!

[winx]

This is similar to what I would do if I had my time again, then up to the turrets as well.

[B7]

Hows that coming along Henry?

[BATTS91]

Im not in or competed in bdc yet , but in time to come maybe next year i hope to .
Currently running m50b25 , thats definatly coming out and probably m52b28 as its soo much easier to than m60 .
Will be runnin e36 evo modified hubs arms , and modded rod ends at front for more lock .

As for the diff im using an e30 3.64 welded at the moment but its too short , i have been looking into puting e36 diff in but it doesnt appear to be just a bolt in jobbie , may have to get the e36 diff hanger and modify to fit e30 rear beam , maybe too much work for what its worth im not sure yet , but as far as im aware the shafts do bolt on fine .

A freind has been in contact with a guy who builds cages for gaz coilovers track cars who seems to be very reasonably priced and not far away for a full cage with gusseting to front and rear turrets .

As for the stitch welding that makes my mind up not to mark it up , probably cant see it with a mask on anyhow so guess an inch to inch and half . As for overlapping ect im not that bothered none of them will be seen from the outside so big coats of paint will do for protection ,
Ive allways seen welding as the cleaner the metal the cleaner and better the weld so all will be cleaned up with a knotted wheel on a grinder

I will hopefully be running gaz coils whether they be gold or gha i dont know , everything depends at the time of cash , at first ill be doing all that costs next to nothing to improve the car then i have some high hopes of starting a new job that pays well to fund the project and get splashing out on her :p

[BATTS91]

Thanks for the pic winx ill save that for inspiration , if not copy to put cross bars in as you say .

[winx]

Hows that coming along Henry?

It is now a runner Few more bits to purchase and then bolting more stuff on to the car. Should be ready for the 'Ring in May all being well

[BATTS91]

Anyone got comments advice/experiance or even pics of welding the sunroof panel in ?

[s13b]

bitch to do and get 100% flat n lookin good. If youre going down that route along with everything else, id just start with a bare non-sunroof shell (318 / 316). TBH when youve got a full cage n everything else a sunroof wont even be noticeable.

If you wanna though, bare metal everything then weld little bits at a time on opposite sides. Let everything cool in-between welds so as not to warp it. Then, flat back welds, filler, flat, filler, guide coat, flat, filler etc etc

[BATTS91]

As i imagined , maybe ill look into bonding it in place . Just want to get rid of the sunroof cassette ,.
Maybe strip the sunroof panel down and keep the seal on and a few tacks inside and some tiger seal .