Bad and good roll hoop supports

 Time for the last update from the weekend. First the bad;

This is probably the first time I've had porous welds. I did initially think gas problems, but now I've had more time I reckon it was thread cutting oil. The caps had been tapped just prior to welding, and the oil must have still been present in the seam. It's a little bit coincidental that the bubbles are roughly where the seam is, and only in particular points on the circumference.

The only thing to do is grind it all away and reweld. Which I did, and to be honest I was much happier with the penetration from the second weld. One was even good enough to keep as is, but because the other one needed tidying I thought I'd do both.

This is the final result, two capped hoop supports with their rose joints and weldable brackets ready to go. Obviously this is upside down, the brackets weld on to the hoop like this;

I'm really happy with the outcome, once they're fully welded and the bottom part is also fixed to the plate it's going to be very rigid. I guess I won't know the ultimate strength without something nasty happening, but at least this is done as well as it can be.

Last job for this then, cut the second bar and fully weld both, then brace down to the bottom of the diff cage. After that it'll be a bridge out to the bodywork at the back.