Welding coilovers to spindle

You can judge penetration by how the wield looks if it looks like toothpaste squeezed out on top of the metal you did not penetrate

When you have proper penetration the wield should look fluid with the material like they totally melted together

I absolutely would not drive on that.

I hope no one thinks I'm being defensive here. I'm having to use this as a learning curve, it's not ideal but here we are.

V8srfun: Thanks, that's the sort of thing I'm looking for. On that note I have a question. Yes I realize there is a lot of pool up going on. If I grind down the welds and it becomes totally solid and smooth due to my earlier passes would that not satisfy the criteria?

For an example…the rusted side that didn't fail. I forgot to snap a picture but on this side when I ground down the welds I found solid metal. There was no place (aside from the occasional gaps, 95% was solid) were I could tell where spindle started and adapter stopped. Now from the outside I could not have seen that because the welds looked, as you described, like toothpaste. However on the inside they fit your melted together criteria.

The problem is when you grind it it becomes harder to judge the penetration what I mean is that you can make a not so good wield look better by grinding the top of it off but in all reality it is still the same wield

If I was you I would at least try and redo the first one with a better preheat. I understand your situation and believe me I know it is tough when you are pressed for time and need your car.

Ok I think I understand now, thanks for the clarification. I don't see why I couldn't at least try to get the first one redone. I honestly don't feel I would do any better the first go around, aside from preheat, but I could do it. My thing was wanting them to cool for 24 hours before hitting them with paint(which I planned to do today) and then install them early tomorrow before school.

Why are you getting so defensive??

It's your car man, if you feel as though your welds are sound then its all good.

Maybe I'll be the contrarian today haha :P

The welds look ugly and I'm sure there's isolated spots of bad penetration (effectively like solder) but overall with the multiple passes and the gusset, I believe they are adequate…

It looks like you were moving too fast. Take your time so it has the chance to penetrate. Watch youtube mig videos for proper techniques and practice on some 1/8" thick scraps. Try to break your own welds, to find your strengths and weaknesses.

Boosted300: So funny :roll eyes:

Spooledup300z: I understand that's what it really comes down to I really just don't have a lot of confidence when it comes to welding. If people tell me my welds will fail wether or not they are qualified to say that it's going to make me second guess the whole project…if that makes sense.

G-E: That's pretty much how I feel about them at the moment.

Butter: That's what I figured out today. I took the advice and re-welded both of them and cut my wire speed back, kept the heat the same and slowed down and the welds seemed to improve. They still look horrible but I feel more confident about them now than I did yesterday. I'm going to keep up with learning for future projects. I have all the scrap 1/8" stock from making the gusset I can practice on.

So as I said there I did re-weld both sides. Still nothing amazing in how they look but I do feel better about them. I let them cool earlier and hit them with some primer a few minutes ago. Going to paint them early, install my new tie rod ends and get everything back together. I'll post some pictures of how they turned out.

Just a side note…I am trying to purchase another set of adapter tubes from Powertrix. If I can then source a pair of 4 lug spindles I am going to send them in and have Powertrix get me set up properly. That is my endgame plan with this if I can get the adapter tubes.

You can swap you hubs onto any spindle. Just find a spare set of spindles, cut them down and send them in.

This is not the safest thing to do but to test your wield and build your confidence back up you could always find a really bumpy back road and give them a good test just don't go to fast so if any thing does happen (not that it will) you can still keep control of the car

I also want to say the wields you did are way better than the original ones that failed. They do not have to be pretty to be good

Adamvann3: That's good to know. I was under the assumption that the spindles were different between Turbo and N/A. Maybe it was just strut tube diameter?

V8srfun: Good advice. Just knowing they are better than the original ones that failed make me feel better about them. They lasted a long time with some pretty heavy abuse before they failed so if I take it easy and navigate bumps carefully enough I should be able to make them last until I can get a replacement set. Still waiting to hear from Powertrix so that will determine what I do next.

Thanks for all the help everyone. I'll keep this thread updated to let you know how they hold up.

holy shitttttt

Post pics of the finished job eh… don't leave us dangling in a stiff breeze