Chassis Certificatied guy's come in.
 

How good looking do the welds need to be? I had a journeyman welder who is like 65+ years old tig my 10 point for free so I couldn't pass it up. The welds don't look perfect like some of the ones I've seen pics of, but they did penetrate. I noticed that one of the welds broke so I am having another guy re-weld it for me. ANyways I am going to have my cage certified here in a week or so at the track. I also noticed that it is just about impossible to get every weld all the way around the bar in some places. I assume they let you get away with some welds not completely all the way around. Has anyone ever failed a certification due to shitty looking welds ?

As far as I know the welds have to be all the way around. Also I think it have to be tig welded but I'm not 100% sure.

I'd be concerned about a weld that broke...would make me question the other ones :eek:

I've seen some certified cages at the track with shoddy looking welds.

welds are supposed to be 100% around, but they do allow gussets at some locations if you can achieve at least a 75% weld

Ditto.

ya it's tigged, he just didn't do a great job. He was a pretty fat/old guy and couldn't bend and fold to get to all the joints. He was in pretty bad shape (welding for like 30 years). He is a welding forman out a a chemical plant and hasn't really welded in like 5-10 years. So he kinda lost some skills. ANyways I don't think it is that bad. Just needs some touch ups. The guy that is fixing the one weld has welded cages before that have been certified so he should be able to fix it up. Hopefully it isn't too much work. we'll see.

Pics?

What you're saying honestly scares me a little bit, if you have a weld that broke, then there's a real damn good chance that they all could be suspect.

I'd have a good known chassis shop/guy go over it and make sure it's all done right, because that cage isn't gonna stay together in the event of an accident, it could become a serious threat to you inside the car, cage coudl become more like a guillitine then a safety device.

I totally agree. If you wreck and the cage starts coming apart, the cage itself could kill you.

A weld that broke from what I'm assuming was contraction from cooling is a very bad sign... Not enough filler, not enough penetration or BOTH. I'd go over that entire cage with a fine tooth comb. I'd AT LEAST cut one of the more easily replaceable nodes out and perform a little destructive testing on the bench. This is not something to chance.

Sounds like you are in deep doo doo.

When you crash, the 1st thing you will find out is how good the welder is. In your case you know they are below par already.

I don't want to test Chuck's welds, but if I did I KNOW they are good.

IMHO this is a place where you spend $$.

Just curious, How much pressure did it take you to break the weld?

Not to hijack, but here is a typical weld on my cage. Think it looks alright?


http://i17.photobucket.com/albums/b7...Z/100_2685.jpg

That weld looks fine to me

yup, you guy's were right. I just finnished cutting out a $700 cromolly cage. Now it is time to weld back in a steel cage. The guy that was going to do the touch ups just laughed and said I'm not even going to waste my time. He said you need a totally new cage. So the old one was out as soon as I got it back home. It took me all of 1 hr. to cut it out with a sawzall. Fcuk., was I ever pissed off at that old Journeyman welder. He cost me a lot of money. ANyways I should have the new one welded in just in time before our first Test and Tune. That is certification day also. SO I guess now that I have had time too cool down a bit. Now that i think about it.. I know that in the event of an accident it will actually save me instead of making things worse! It just pisses me off to have to spend at least a G note to get her done again. oh well it's just money hey. I guess i have a slightly used 10 point chromolly cage cut in half if anyone wants to buy it.

I installed/welded my own CM 10pt (wolfe notched) couple years ago, I can TIG great on the bench, been doing it for nearly 30 years, but crawling around the inside of this car on 90 degree days trying to weld this thing made me swear I'd never do it again. It looked decent and I'm sure it was safe, it certified no problem but I'll stick to welding on the bench. Thats why I paid someone younger and skinnier than me to do the 25.5 ;)

Man, I feel for ya.