Welding Front Beam Tower Seams???

[Dan_Lockwood]

I did a quick search on this subject and not much came up.

I have all my buggy in sand blast state at the moment and getting ready to weld in the top beam adjuster. Now would be a GREAT time to make the extra effort to weld up the spot welded seams on the towers... BUT?

I did find some reference on the Internet to this, and the guy had a terrible time welding them up and they looked like crap.

Mine have some "air" gaps here and there and are truly solid, no rust.

Any thoughts on this procedure?

Thanks in advance, Dan

[Schepp]

It wont be pretty but it'll be a lot stronger than before. You can also add a gusset/brace to the shock towers if you'd like at this point.

Since yours is blasted and clean you should have less problems than most. Many of the problems with welding are due to poor surface prep.

[Daddy o's 67]

Class 11 racers weld the seams on their beams and added extra metal to the shock tower to reinforce area between the upper & lower beam and at the top where shock stud fastens on a ball joint beam.

Here's a good youtube video on building a Class 11 Beam

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-JefR9mAYM

[BFB]

Ive seen guys do this but considering I am a body man by trade ive dealt with spot welds for decades and from an experience standpoint , a spot weld is waaaay stronger than a welded seam. I dont see welding the seam adding any significant amount of strength to what the spot welds provide. Not to mention , how much strength is a stock shock tower supposed to need? Isn’t your a ball joint beam?
_________________
Forced induction can overcome a lot of obsticles that gets in it's way
"You are the Engineer and the Mechanic.  
Build it your way not the way someone else does it. Their way might not work for you." - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
“ The monkey see monkey do mentality seems to run deep in VW people. "Gene Berg said it was so 30 years ago so thats the way it is" “ - bdkw1

[joemama]

I welded my seam all around, and added gussets from the shock towers to the top tube. Im not sure it was necessary, but couldnt hurt. Dont think you need to weld it completely, maybe some inch long beads at a few places, and the gussets. Not sure what difference wether a ball joint or link. They can both be jumped, or run over rough terrain.

[BFB]

I mentioned balljoint because balljoint doesn't typically get converted to coilovers like a KP , so the shock towers of a BJ beam would only be supporting a shock
_________________
Forced induction can overcome a lot of obsticles that gets in it's way
"You are the Engineer and the Mechanic.  
Build it your way not the way someone else does it. Their way might not work for you." - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
“ The monkey see monkey do mentality seems to run deep in VW people. "Gene Berg said it was so 30 years ago so thats the way it is" “ - bdkw1

[Dan_Lockwood]

[DesertSasquatchXploration]

The only way your going to damage or bend the shock tower with stock shocks is if you stuff the front end going way to fast. You wont care at that point, and in the hospital with a broken back and or neck.

[BFB]

^^^ agree. Also i dont see any point in sealing it, hasn’t been sealed for 40 years so why do it now? If anything id drill a couple small drain holes in the bottom of the towers. Again, as a body guy , ive seen more rust from improper drainage than from things just getting wet.
_________________
Forced induction can overcome a lot of obsticles that gets in it's way
"You are the Engineer and the Mechanic.  
Build it your way not the way someone else does it. Their way might not work for you." - clonebug
An interesting thing happens in forums where everyone starts parroting the same thing and "common knowledge" takes over.
“ The monkey see monkey do mentality seems to run deep in VW people. "Gene Berg said it was so 30 years ago so thats the way it is" “ - bdkw1

[ORANGECRUSHer]

I've done two beams the way you're thinking so far. I don't know what happened to all my pictures because I used to take a ridiculous amount of pictures of everything I did. That was back when the Samba was more fun and less bickering. But anyway, here is a shot to show what it can come out looking like. I had a lot of the same concerns as Dan despite the amazing ability i observed of original VW suspension parts not rusting.
Dan, you know, prep work is all. You gotta make sure all that old paint or gook that might be between the seam is removed. I used a lot of degreasers and sand blasted the crap out of it. Back then I was also treating everything with POR 51 so it got the pre treat spray put on it. The element that's in it is escaping me right now. So here's a pic from 20 years ago after I had painted it. You can look at any of my recent pics and see this still looks just as good.
Just so you know, I did leave that little drain open thats at the bottom of the seam under the bottom tube to allow moisture that might get in to have a way out. I smoothed it all out so you could barely tell it had been welded.

_________________
Brian H.
I may not know everything,but I will try to help if I can
OrangeCrushER Berrien Warrior 2.4L Quad4
LAZY MARY 1970 Baja 1835cc

[Dan_Lockwood]

Brian,

Thanks for the picture.

I know that there are many different frames over the decades, but the front couple feet of yours looks just like mine.

Here's a picture or two of my POS buggy as I bought it.

Keep in mind that the person before my seller tried to stretch the frame 18" and did a very poor job of it. In my rebuild so far, I've kept the lower frame tubes all the way back to the rear suspension torsion housing. The top frame rails that go from the front to the rear engine loop, have been cut off right at the driver's seat area. All of the rear has been made new and all the top tubes have been replaced as well. I couldn't ever get into this buggy when I bought it, just sure can now...

Thanks for the picture again, looks great!

Thanks, Dan

[ORANGECRUSHer]

If i may Dan, one thing, and maybe your already planning on this, one thing I would make sure to do is put some triangulation behind that windshield. Heaven forbid if that ever flipped over, it would fold up like a piece of paper.
_________________
Brian H.
I may not know everything,but I will try to help if I can
OrangeCrushER Berrien Warrior 2.4L Quad4
LAZY MARY 1970 Baja 1835cc

[ORANGECRUSHer]

Despite the mods, your buggy looks similar to Berrien buggies which is what mine is base off
_________________
Brian H.
I may not know everything,but I will try to help if I can
OrangeCrushER Berrien Warrior 2.4L Quad4
LAZY MARY 1970 Baja 1835cc

[Dan_Lockwood]

[ORANGECRUSHer]

I figured as much. A man can get carried away putting bracing in his buggy. That's what happened to me. I used to love notching tube and tiggin it in. Gettin old aint for the faint of heart, though.
_________________
Brian H.
I may not know everything,but I will try to help if I can
OrangeCrushER Berrien Warrior 2.4L Quad4
LAZY MARY 1970 Baja 1835cc