To bolt or weld?

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To bolt or weld?

Postby vauxhallbitz » Sun Nov 30, 2014 10:48 pm

I have a new pair of front wings to fit to my car but I don't like welded front wings, what are everyone's thoughts on bolting them on instead?
Will it affect the strength of the vehicle and would you have to inform your insurance company???
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Re: To bolt or weld?

Postby 1972nail » Sun Nov 30, 2014 11:11 pm

All GRP wings are bolted on and were even a period mod from DTV when fitting the Old Nail kit. So should be OK.
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Re: To bolt or weld?

Postby vauxhallbitz » Sat Dec 06, 2014 10:18 am

Thanks for that, I hadn't thought about the GRP wings so I can't see any problems with bolting on steel wings.
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Re: To bolt or weld?

Postby rizzo » Sat Dec 06, 2014 2:14 pm

If you have steel wings i really cant understand why you don't want to weld them on, i cant think of anything more unsightly than bolted on wings, aside from this holes will need to be drilled and i think you may struggle with the A post and front panel with out adding brackets or something similar.
Weld them on :goodideasign:
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Re: To bolt or weld?

Postby vauxhallbitz » Sun Dec 07, 2014 12:00 am

Quite simply so that they can be removed easily if required.
The vast majority of classic cars I have owned in the past 35 years, and there have been a few, have all had bolt on wings.
I was only trying to gauge opinion so that I do not fall foul if the MOT but thanks for your comments I had not thought about the A post problem.
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Re: To bolt or weld?

Postby bedfordbad » Sun Dec 07, 2014 12:21 am

Can't understand why you should need to remove wings in the future if all solid underneath!
Weld on as god intended!
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Re: To bolt or weld?

Postby Kraken » Sun Dec 07, 2014 5:55 pm

I'm bolting the wings on my Capri when I get to that stage, just makes more sense to me.
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Re: To bolt or weld?

Postby vauxhallbitz » Sun Dec 07, 2014 10:10 pm

Two situations I can think of, if you have an accident and need to replace the wing or if you want to take them off and put them on another car, in both cases it would be very easy to do this if the wing is bolted on.
Also when you weld them on you have to be 100% accurate at least with bolted wings you have a bit leeway.
I am not sure why manufacturers changed to welded on wings, I presume it was down to costs and time on the production line.
Over the years I have had to do repairs or clean inner wings of many classic cars and the job has been made so easy when they were bolted on.
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Re: To bolt or weld?

Postby junkyarddog » Sun Dec 07, 2014 11:59 pm

I'd prefer bolted on wings,
much easier to work with.
Just one more turn should do it....
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Re: To bolt or weld?

Postby droopsnoot » Wed Dec 10, 2014 11:40 am

When I used to run flat-front cars as daily drivers, any time I replaced a wing I would bolt it on rather than weld it. Partly as I hadn't got a welder at the time, and partly so I could remove it if I needed to. That might be to use the wing elsewhere, or to replace it easier, or to clean out behind it properly and make sure nothing is going bad behind it.

I used to bolt through along the rain channel, a couple of small ones along the bottom behind the wheelarch, and I can't recall how it was fixed to the valance edge - some kind of clip similar to those used to hold mudflaps on springs to mind. It's hard to fix it down the door pillar, but does it need to be fixed there if the rest are solid? It's not going anywhere, the shape sees to that. We've already agreed it's not required for the strength of the car, so it's just about holding the wing in place.
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