E30 chassis strenghtning advice

[dinkyracer]

hello,

my 87 325is is getting a new engine once am done planning to get about 350bhp at the crank. i wanted to know that should i strip my car and seam weld the whole chassis to give it strength ? has anybody done this here? the reason am asking is that my 170bhp car has some amount of flex and with close to 150bhp more i was worried .

what i planned to do is seam weld the full chassis and run a strut brace front and rear? does that sound k ? please do let me know.

thanks in advance.

phil

[jlevie]

The chassis flex shouldn't be a problem just because of the power increase. The drive train would be the weaker link with 350hp at the crank.

A front strut brace will help, but not nearly as much a welded in six or eight cage. A rear strut brace won't hurt, but it won't do any good. The cage would be the solution for a track car, but it wouldn't be suitable for a street car. While you could strip and seam weld the chassis, without adding additional bracing (i.e., cage) you aren't going to get much benefit just from seam welding.

[Garageaholic]

I have a front stress bar for sale, Bavauto, $100 + shipping

[Bav///Motorworks]

i'll buy ur front strut brace whenever u come back to LI? how does that sound?

[ddavidv]

If you've never seam welded a car, then you have no idea how much work that is. We're talking DAYS of welding. After you gut it. Not worth the effort unless you're building a race or rally car at the top level.