I was sortof planning ahead looking for local welders who would weld in a roll cage for me yeasterday and got asked a question i couldnt answer

the one guy i was able to talk to didnt know if he had to be certified to weld nhra roll cages and keep them "legal". he is great at welding, owns an auto repair shop so its not a lack of skill, he just didnt know if he had to be certified, and also if i crash and teh cages breaks, is he at risk?

oh and as a note, if i did do this i would get a weld in kit, he wouldnt be fabricating anything

-Jacob

 

doing rollcages is not something that just anyone can do even if he knows how to weld. Making the cage, bending the bars, and welding them in properly is something that you shouldn't screw with.

If he doesn't know if he has to be legal or not, and all he really is is someone who knows how to weld really well (this is his first time doing a real cage?) I would maybe offer him to take a quick class on cage setup or something, I dunno.. I wouldn't let him do it without training.

 

If you're buying a kit, and just having him weld it, then theres no problem with having him do it. Really it comes down to whether or not you want to trust your life with him.

 

thanks guys

 

as for liability if he gives you a receipt(proof he welded cage) then he could make a blanket statement about racing being dangerous blah blah. most likely this is a cash transaction with no records for grieving family members to find after your untimely death. he should be safe. I am not sure of certifications being required for the NHRA. like alot of tech questions here. they can be answered by yourself if you get the rulebook for the sanctioning body you intend to race with before you do any work to the car.

 

i would imagine the cage itself is what needs to be inspected, not the welder. if the welds are crappy, misplaced, or the wrong tubing is used, or it just doesn't look safe, i wouldn't think they'd accept it. they probably won't interogate you about who welded the cage.

on another note, i thought the nhra required the cages to be bolted in rather than welded. can't remember where i saw that, probably wrong.

 

Exactly. If you are racing in an organization that requires a cage then they are most likely going to inspect it. It's easy to tell if welds are poor, and it's simple enough to verify tube thickness with an inspection hole. If it passes the inspection then you should be fine.

 

They inspect it as per how fast your car is. You have to weld your cage, then take your car to a shop to inspect it for the times you run. You can not grind your welds. mild steel can be miged or tiged but 4130 chrome-moly must be tiged. All materials must be 1 3/4" O.D. x .118" or .083 4130 if your firewall is modified in excess of 1 sq foot u must have a dash bar of 1 1/4" x .118" or .083 moly