seam welding?

[Burnera]

Has anybody tried seam welding on these cars?
I see a lot of roll cages, but nothing as far as seam welding so far. It's sort of popular with the import crowd.
It's just taking a spot welder and ...uh spot welding the seam flanges together every inch or two. I haven't noticed too much factory seam welding done already. Just curious.

[sixsixii]

I did some welding on my car last summer with a small MIG set on lowest power. I had to do stitch welds and drill/spot welds for repair purposes. I wouldn't do it again. Results were acceptable but not great. One of the biggest problems is that often you will be welding sheet metal seams that have OEM seam sealer trapped between the metal sheets. It's impossible to clean by mechanical methods and the only way to get it out would be to acid-dip the frame. When you weld such seams, the sealer burns and splatters your weld. It also produces charcoal or other products of combustion that coat the metal nearby and prevent electrical conductivity (act like an insulator). The result it a spotted, intermittent weld with poor penetration.

The other issue is why do you want to do it? Unless you are a hardcore racer I would not recommend it. It will limit movement, bending and twisting of the frame, which will result in added stress to the load points (suspension mounts, etc). It's also going to be much worse if you have a serious collision because the sheet metal will not crumble as designed and YOU will have to absorb a larger force of impact with your body. If you have no airbag, it will may be very bad for you!

Cliff notes: Option 1: strip, acid dip, then weld. Option 2: do nothing.