How to tell if ........

[Mr_C]

my engine bay has been strength welded................

I was told by the former owner it had been and there are signs of welding but i'm unsure of what type/kind, it looks like plate welding and then some of it looks just normal. I was just wondering if there was any way of telling if it had/has been done as I'm looking to upgrade my engine from a 1400 16v to a 2 litre. Most of the welding it near the struts and front/lower parts of the engine bay.

Thanks in advance.

Chris

[chimp007_uk]

if the engine bay has been seem welded, there'll be welds a inch long then an inch gap etc along all the seams.

if it has a strengthening kit then there will be plates fitted at key locations.

[Mr_C]

I've just been out to take some piccies of some of the welding and now i'm a bit paranoid and in the right way that this looks like rot welding lol!

Sorry if they come out big!

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a111/MrC3003/DSC000044.jpg

http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a111/MrC3003/DSC00043.jpg

[Spudly]

Thats rot welding there mate, or at teast it looks like it, ive not actually seen a seam welded bay but ive had a couple of my strut tops and inner wings done before and they looked pretty much like that!!

[Karl M]

does it have to be gapped welding or can it be continues weld all the way along ?

[rc]

i continusly welded mine all the way round just to be safe lol

[chimp007_uk]

thats rot welding

[Jack]

Stitch welding is said to be stronger than a continuous weld. If a continuous weld fails, the whole lot tends to go twang; but if a stitch weld fails then you've still got another handful of welds holding the two plates/panels/chassis areas together.

[Karl M]

Ahh right im gona be in the sh1t then lol

[Stuart]

its more to do with if you have a front end shunt there is still an element of a crumple zone with stitch, if its fully seamed then you can just kink the chassis...