jennetic

I am tearing down my 987.1 Boxster to the frame. While it's all apart, I want to make some improvements such as seam welding the car but I am a noob when it comes to this level of modification and I would love some ideas on what else could be done while I'm in there. Any resources for learning more about the chassis that comes in this car?

jscott82

What's end game? road race? rally? Amphibious?

I don't think seam welding is really needed on these cars as the chassis is glued in all the right places. Welding in a good cage should stiffen it up in all the other places.

jennetic

Ultimately the goal is to make it into a road and track car. The power is going to more than double and the body is going wider. It all still needs to look good when it's all done though so there will be no cage. Safety and rigidity are two huge priorities here and the stock chassis has seen a lot so it is unlikely to rise to the challenge. I basically want this done so that in 100k miles from now I won't have to revisit it or ever again really.

teknolust72

This is not coming from first hand Porsche race car building experience, but from building race cars in general, so feel free to take this info with a grain of salt....

If you are serious about seam welding, be sure to get your chassis measured/straightened first. With age and stress, the chassis may have some unexpected torsional twist and you do not want to "lock" that in while seam welding. Also seam welding is most effective for the biggest "openings", such as door frames, trunk/hatch frames, etc. Many people can and will do as much as possible all over the car (such as floor pans, etc), but with marginal returns. If you are building it for road use as well, I would recommend NOT doing the entire car as it will transfer all road noise, vibrations, etc, to the inside of the vehicle.

Also, you could also fill the hollow parts of the chassis with foam to increase torsionally rigidity...