What's in the workshop this week, Pelikanblau edition

[MikkiJayne]

[Architex_mA8tey]

Thats a nice welding job, well done all - or should that be WELD DONE

[MikkiJayne]

Originally Posted by pete-p

If it is a case that the suspension bottomed out, would it not be more likely to happen if the car has been lowered or the suspension stiffened? Or if it was a particularly big hole!

More likely with lowered suspension and lower profile tyres. Mine on 18s will hit the ground with a trail of sparks before the suspension bottoms out hard enough to break anything. On 19s or 20s there is a lot less give in the tyre so once the tyre and suspension have compressed as far as they can there is nowhere for the force to go. The other one I've seen with this sort of damage (not the same place, but same cause) is on 20s. Even standard cars have the cracks in the sound deadening though.

It welded back together very nicely - its nice clean thick metal up there. No road schmutz or oxidisation in the alloy as its been well protected from the elements.

Painting now...

[Dezzy]

Originally Posted by Architex_mA8tey

Thats a nice welding job, well done all - or should that be WELD DONE

The welder is right handed

[MikkiJayne]

Every D2 I have has these same cracks in the sound deadening:

Vera's



Dolphin Grey



Stock 2.8Q



Parts FE



Avus FE



Its caused by this little buffer on the control arm hitting the body as a last-resort to stop the suspension tearing itself apart when it runs out of travel



The welds on the turrets are all different. Whether this is just limitations of the machines back then, or they were done by hand I don't know.

This is the Avus FE - notice how the weld extends past the end of one piece:



This is the parts FE - notice here how the weld missed the end of the lower panel and leaves a sharp corner.



The weld on Vera's stop 10mm sooner than these two and left the same sharp corner.

This is the smoking gun - a sharp corner like this is an ideal place for a crack to start. Bottom out hard and suddenly the mass of the car is stopped as the suspension runs out of travel and all that inertia then puts immense forces on this point and starts a tiny crack which then slowly creeps through the weld with normal driving.

You can see it by removing the cover next to the header tank on the passenger side and the one behind the airbox on the driver's side.

[MikkiJayne]

Originally Posted by Dezzy

The welder is right handed

[Davey Blueeyes]

Great work MJ! I love watching this stuff from afar (and offshore!) and thank you for enlightening idiots like me!

[notorious]

This thread is epic.
MikkiJayne, you should be given an award for documenting all this !

[Dezzy]

You're right about the corner MJ but I can see why they have done it, it's flanged down that edge to stiffen it, then when it was welded by the robot it took a single pass across the top. Really to make that joint better it should have had a relief cut (mickey mouse ears) into the corner, or welded around the return (corner) if the return had been caught there would have not been a path for the crack to develop.
That said it is quite a big weld and the gap there at the start of the pass would have been quite large for a single run, I bet the flaw was always there from the factory as a hairline crack probably not visible to the eye. Once there is a path

[David's8]

Now you've got everyone worried aboutb this turret weld

Had a look at mine and, yes, I have the bump stop/sound-deadening cracking but the welds seem OK. The weld on mine doesnt go right to the end but the flange is not quite as sharply finished as some in your photos.