crossmember update (more pics..)

[treed2@u.washington.edu (T. Reed)]

> Brian,
>
> You're right, the common man doesn't have a welder and maybe that is
> why some things are bolted together. However we are talking about a

Not to mention that bolting things are easy to take apart. It was nice,
for example, for VW to bolt our front fenders on so they are easy to
replace compared to, say, a rear quarter panel.

> structural piece that I presume is planned to go into production.

Just a note here - my crossmember hasn't cracked /in half/ yet. The piece
I'm building is not supposed to be a structurally sound replacement for
the factory crossmember. It is just a brace to increase the strength of
the crossmember that is already there and hopefully prevent it from
deflecting enough to crack further.

> Welding this together in my mind would be stronger and would not present
> an additional shipping dilemma. Come to think of it, this would remove a
> possible place where the common man might not get it assembled
> correctly.

True, but I'm not building this thing for the common man. I'm building it
for the Scirocco enthusiast! :D

The idiot-proof argument in general never cut it for me (that's why I stay
the hell away from anything designed by Microsoft) - I guess I just don't
have any sympathy for stupid people

Unfortunately this causes me to be very hard on myself when I do something
stupid..

As far as the actual topic at hand (what's stronger - bolting or welding),
the answer depends completely on the design and the type and direction of
forces being exerted at the junction of the two parts.

-Toby

> Rick Alexander