welding seams

What do you guys think about fully welding the seams on the body panels? I've been removing the seam sealer from my car and have been surprised by the amount of rust I've found behind it. I'm wondering if 'stiching up' the seams might be a good idea?

I was just about to ask the same question. I am going to weld my rear frame together this weekend and when I put trunk pans back in, why would I want to drill holes and spot weld the panels in place (like the factory)? Why wouldn't I just stitch the panels in? Wouldn't that be a better "weld"? There was not a huge amount of rust on my panels where I removed the seam sealer, but one panel had about 1/8" gap under the sealer!

I understand why the factory would just spot weld. Saves tons of time. Why should I do that though? I have time to stitch the panels in place.

~Angel

Most race cars have the seams fully welded to stiffen the car up, as long as you don't warp the panels and you aren't going for the 100 percent factory look it sounds like it would be a good idea.

I asked this question in the Race section
funny thing is most of those guys were against it
I'm still gonna stitch my chassis up though
here is my thread
https://board.moparts.org/ubbthreads/show...&PHPSESSID=

I hate to think of the time and material involved - and for what ?!?!?

If you're anything like me, once you start you'll want to weld every seam. I'm in the process now of taking a driver's section floor pan apart to use as a replacement panel and I can tell you that welding the seams on just this one section alone would be a daunting task. In the end, besides a ton of hours, miles of mig wire and untold tanks of gas, what do you have ... a car with not much more structural strength (if any) and one that will be a MAJOR headache should anything happen that requires a panel replacement in the future.

If it were me I'd clean everything as well as possible and then redo all the seams with seamsealer. I also think "today's" seamsealers will do a much better job than the sealers of yesteryear - which had a tendancy to dry out and crack which subsequently let in moisture.