s2000ellier

I was doing some suspension work today and noticed the upper a-arm mounts have the typical AP1 failure at the weld on both sides. I didn't think this was possible on street tires but here I am.

Does anyone know if fixing the broken weld is more involved than grinding the mount surface to bare metal and putting down a weld?

Also looking for advice on purchasing a stick/arc welder to fix it. Checking out Lincoln models but don't know what all I need to get good penetration on this kind of metal.

I don't know anything about welding but I figured this is an opportunity to learn.

Thoughts?

pics:
Driver Side toward the rear of the car


Passenger Side toward the rear of the car

Zip Tied Suzuka

Rob Robinette has a pretty good write up on it. Pretty much you have to hammer it back flat, grind away the material and weld back. http://robrobinette.com/S2000TrackEvolv.htm I hope this helps. As for welders I cant say anything there. I plan on taking mine up to my exhaust guy and having him preemptively weld mine.

postman

You can clean and lay down weld. However definetly should be done with a decent a welder with gas. You want good penetration consistently. Truthfully I would prep it and take it to a shop known for welding as opposed to buying your own welder.

darcyw

its dead nuts easy, but time consuming. you need to clean the area relentlessly because you can't weld dirt. I cleaned the area of all undercoating and seam sealer down to bare metal- i cleaned along all edges of the upper control arms inner and outer sides. then had the welder come over and seam weld it.

then i primed and painted and re-undercoated it.

my time 3 hours. cost of welder to come over was $60.

good luck.

darcy

SmokeyGatto

how can we prevent this from happening. buy the spoon gussets?

SpeedFreaksUSA

Yes, exactly. We have done the spoon gussets on two of our own AP1s after both failed in similar fashion to the OPs. One strictly uses 255 EHP street tires and the other is run with much sticker r-comps (c51 and c71 Hankook Z214, BFG R1 etc.) in either 245 or 255 sizes up front. It's a bit of a pain and not exactly inexpensive but if done properly is a guaranteed fix for the problem even when using very sticky race tires.

Here is the link for anyone interested
Spoon Sports Gusset Plate Set AP1 Honda S2000

-Matt M.

s2000ellier

dont see how the gussets fix it, the weld is failing not the stamped metal honda put there. if you put a good weld there thats the best can be done imo

postman

Once you weld it correctly. Chances of it breaking at the weld are slim to none. Proper welding is damn near as strong as solid metal.

Apex1.0

This is not the time to learn how to weld. This is not a difficult weld, but skill and experience will lend to a better outcome. This is a load bearing part so a quality weld is critical. Definitely a gas welder will do a better job

A quality weld can be stronger than the substrate materials.

SmokeyGatto

so since my car is still all good. strip it down to bare metal, then weld it? then add gussets?