NHRA Chassis Certification

[Brian Oatway]

I need to upgrade the roll bar in my car to a 10pt roll cage. The cage needs to pass an NHRA Chassis Certification inspection.

Has anybody been through one of these inspections in the past? What exactly will they be looking at or looking for? Is it simply a visual inspection?

The rules are pretty clear on tube dimensions and locations and the cage is chromoly so it will need to be tig'd.

[H80N]

NHRA Rulebook

I need to upgrade the roll bar in my car to a 10pt roll cage. The cage needs to pass an NHRA Chassis Certification inspection.

Has anybody been through one of these inspections in the past? What exactly will they be looking at or looking for? Is it simply a visual inspection?

The rules are pretty clear on tube dimensions and locations and the cage is chromoly so it will need to be tig'd.

Here is a good place to start..

You could always get in touch with one of the Tech Support Contact people to answer your questions..

http://www.nhraracer.com/content/general.asp?articleid=46636&zoneid=132

if you are a current member you can download the rulebook here..

http://www.nhraracer.com/content/general.asp?articleid=47000&zoneid=132

[gocirino]

Just did one recently. Certed to 8.5 ET... They did visual and ultrasonic test on it.

[Cgotto6]

Just did one recently. Certed to 8.5 ET... They did visual and ultrasonic test on it.

What exactly is the ultrasonic test? I have never seen one administered. Also, what car did you just get that inspection done on?

[Brian Oatway]

Thanks for replying.

The replies are exactly where my confusion is coming in. I've had people tell me that it's just visual and others tell me they do some testing of the welds.

[gocirino]

Depends whether the track can afford a sonic tester. Mine was a 68 Camaro. Here's a link for the sonic tester unit.

http://www.checkline.com/product/PR-82

[Brian Oatway]

Gotya.....did they use it to verify welds or were they just checking tube wall thickness?

It's interesting that a track will issue a chassis certification sticker that is good anywhere but different tracks use different inspection procedures.

[gocirino]

Both... of course!

[Brian Oatway]

I passed my 8.50 Chassis Certification yesterday.

I had been in contact with the inspector emailing him pictures for review and comment as I went along so I was pretty confident that everything would be OK, but I was sill a bit nervous since this was my first cage.

The inspection only took about 10 minutes. They checked the diameter of every tube with a slip over gauge and they checked the thickness of every tube with a sonic tester. They also visually verified all of the floor plates and gussets but they did not spend time looking at the welds. If they looked at the welds at all it was a very casual type of thing.

There was another car looking for a 6.50 cert that they were much more thorough with but even that car if they were inspecting welds it was a visual check only but I will say the welds on that car looked ALOT nicer than mine!!!

Very happy it passed inspection but a little disappointed that the welds didn't even get a look.

[mbramble]

Well, show us some photos so we can inspect the welds for ya !!

[Brian Oatway]

Well, show us some photos so we can inspect the welds for ya !!

I'll find some pics to put up but I can hear it already......

1. You are not a professional welder and should not be making these welds.
2. This type of work can only be done by a real chassis builder and not by a hobbyist in a residential garage.
3. etc

I get and admire the pride, quality and eye towards safety you guys display towards your craft but some of you are a little rough on us shade tree guys!!

[Brian Oatway]

I found a pic on my phone, not a super pic of the welds but a nice pic of some snot in one of them that was where I embedded the tip of my tungsten and had to grind it out. I'm sure I have some better pics at home