chassi stress cracks

[xandyx]

i've recently noticed that my chassi is cracking. i've got a bit sad because i haven't ride the as much as i'd like to, and i miss hiting the road in my G.

this shows where's the crack, i think it goes a bit under the car


here's the passenger side (in your case, your drivers side) seems ok, but will weld some metal to


here is the opposite side, it has been welded by the previous owner, they call this a reinforced leg, for me it a shitty arc weld, this side will get square metal bars


well, my problem is that the mechanics/welders arround here in the south of Portugal only do some stitch weld and they call to theyr job a well reinforced chassi, and i call that a shitty job!

IMO the only guy that could do the job is a guy from lisbon, sergio from SEpoer, who only works with g40/g60 and knows what to be done.

my problem is that the car is not capable to travel to lisbon, so i talked with my uncle an he's been welding for more than 30 years, including a couple of rally cars.

i've searched in the forum and i found yoof chassi increase.

well, my car allways run standard, no mods have been made yet, but i'll do some in the future (sns chip, 65mm pulley, larger TB, gt inlet) but not too powerfull because it will be my daily ride.

i'll increase the strength the best that i can't to avoid the cracks in future. i'll do it using a mig welder and some round piece or bar to increase the welds.

once again, i'd like to know your oppinions about this and give me some advises to get the proper job done.

if possible, show me your chassi job and tell me where else to put more metal/weld to solve the problem once.

thnks a lot fr your time.

greetings
andré

[hayesey]

I've done a similar thing to mine as yoof has to his.  I welded a piece of 1 inch box section brace between the chassis leg and the bulk head on the gearbox side, you can just about make out the end of it in this pic:



Then I have also stitch welded all around the area where the top gearbox mount goes and then along the chassis leg to inner wing seams.

[Yoof]

That's mine- 30mm CDS welded in. The Mk3 polos suffer badly due to the stiffness at the front of the car (or lack of). You really need a subframe to tie the rear tca mounting points in line with the front of the chassis leg, and then cross braced to each other. As a minimum our stage 2.

Another pic, mine's now full stich welded (MIG), excuse the filler dust.

[hayesey]

yeah the areas you can see with seam sealer there are basically the same bits I've stitch welded.

I also forgot to mention subframe, you can see mine leaning against the wall in that picture!  It helps keep the chassis legs from moving about a lot.

[xandyx]

i get it!

thanks for your pics! they are really helpfull!

btw, i think that the crack behind engine goes a bit down. i checked with my hand and it seems that crack is like a T. do you think i should stitch weld it or weld also some metal over the stitch to avoid future crack on side of the welds?

i'm going for sure get a subframe after this. i saw stage 2 at PPP and it has a really good price, but i dont know if my chassi have suffered with the crack and if the frame will fit perfect in tca and anti roll bar mount. i'll see if it's possible to get a custom stage2. As i'm from Portugal, would be a pain in the ass to order one from uk, and if it doesn't fit, send it back to get a shorter/larger one.


i'll start to remove the engine asap and then i'll let you know how i'm going with the project.

thanks a lot for your time
greetings
André