I'm not a welder so I can't judge, but was wondering if this looks right to the pros out there.
I'm not a welder so I can't judge, but was wondering if this looks right to the pros out there.
I am very much a novice welder, but I've heard that welds that resemble pigeon droppings are "cold." At least two of those welds look like pigeon droppings and probably lack sufficient penetration.
Yeah. Those are not good at all. I wouldn't trust my life to that cage.
Yeah, that's a lot of just piling up filler rod on the top of the weld area. They could be strong welds (underneath all that), but it seems pretty unlikely.
I am no expert, and on only OK welder, but I would never trust something I did that looked like that for a suspension or a cage.
5/10
I vote no good.
Welds like that can also be a good indication of the lack in care taken to get good fitment and cleanliness. I wouldn't pay extra if a car came with that cage personally. There's no telling what MIG welds on top of MIG welds could be hiding gaps, blow thru, or just bad welding technique.
I think I see an unwelded portion of the down tube to plinth box. If so, it should fail tech inspection even if they're ok with the shoddy welds.
My welds aren't beautiful.
Those welds make mine look like God, himself came down and fabricated the last cage I built.
Yuck.
In reply to Brotus7 :
Along the line of what you said, that you wouldn't pay extra, there is potentially negative value to the cage.
At a minimum it could be viewed as deferred maintenance or needing repairs due to the labor required to grind, inspect, and fix any welds that are hiding flaws.
Of course the seller wouldn't agree.
That's a lot of covering up mistakes. No good.
I would rate those welds at a 3/10. Minimum cage weld score for me to drive in the car would be a 7/10.
I've seen bird E36 M3 welds, popcorn welds, and now cake frosting welds...
Those are the kind of welds lawsuits are made of.
More heat, slow down your hand.
Not only BAD welds, but I would bet that the joints are not notched/coped to a tight fit. That and wanting to know if the welds are 360* around the whole joint.
I've completely cut-out/removed ones that looked like that and built entire new cages . Any competant tech inspector would quickly fail that cage.
Spec Miata isn't exactly a class where drivers treat each other with loads of respect or give much racing room. It's probably the class that sees the most "rubbing is racing" and therefore the place where a cage just might get tested.
Fair to partly cloudy.....
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