i want to weld in my rollbar. i have a gasless wirefeed welder. will this be suffiecient? i will only run at the track maybe once a year if that. i just want it to stiffen up the car and plus i think verts with rollbars look mean as hell. any input is greatly appreciated

In my opinion, unless you really need it, I would start with subframe connectors and a wonder bar first. A roll bar should only be installed if you need it. I agree, it does look cool, but it is un-neccessary unless you need to have one for safety regulations or something.

well i am putting in subframe connectors before the roll bar. if i run anyfaster than a 13.99 i have to have a rollbar and the 350 thats going in in the spring will put me into the 13's

unless you're the best welder in the state you'll never get very good results with flux cored wire, even if you are you won't get very good results.

not really.


and even if you only run at the track once in your entire life, if that happens to be the time the car rolls over, and you did a shoddy welding job, not only are you screwed with no roll bar, but you now have a busted steel bar coming toward your body.

do it right,or get it done right or dont do it at all.


MCas7:
id think a 6point roll bar with a nice vertical triange from the door bars, would stiffen a car alot more then one bar welded to the floorpan.... good call on the wonderbar though, unless its a drag only car (doubtful with a vert)

thanks for clearing that up. i've had other ppl tell me yes it would be fine and ppl tell me no it wouldn't .

Well if the bar is cro-mo it will need to be tig welded. If its Mild steel you can use the gasless mig to tack the bar together and to the subframe and then take it to a competant welder to finish the job.

Gasless wire welding isn't really inferior for strength. The biggest issue is, is the welder up to the task of welding the (mild steel is being assumed for the tubing) metal.
A good majority of 120v gasless welders are only meant to weld up to 1/8" mild steel and usually at a duty cycle of 30% at best (about 3 modest minutes of burn). Not really enough time to make a good penetrating weld, weather you 100% v-cut the joints or not.
A good welding machine that is capable of generating the heat to melt the metal is key to a good weld. Flux core wire and stick welding does suck 100% for welding thin gauge metal though.
Just my opinion though...

how much does it cost to pay a shop to do it like on a four point cage

You know just to give the chassis that extra strength

in my elco i did a gasless flux weld job and it looks crappy but once you sand it down it looks ok and once i get the side bars done i will go over it again with an oxy torch to melt it and get penetration on it and if i have to then i will mig it. but it seems pretty damn sturdy

lemme know how it goes!!! cuz we have a torch at school i could use to do that.

You can use flux core on thin tubing an it would be fine. IF you know how. I use to work for a motor home manufacturer here and we would do it all the time. Because we didnt have time to switch to hard wire so we learned to make do. But like I said IF you know what you are doing. And if you dont know what your doing, pay someone who does. Like it was said earlier, its their to save your life, remeber you dont have a roof.

Another thing to consider is if the welds look bad you might not pass tech at the track.

well just found out my friends stepdad got his tig welder. he doesn't have the time to fab it al lup tho. would i be able to do all the cutting and tack it together. then drive it to his house and have him lay down all the final welds?

Just make sure you do a good job of tacking it all up so they dont break on the way. Turn up the heat higher than you would when running a bead. Also make sure you clean up the tacks good when your done because you dont want inclusions when your bud passes over them with the tig.

Another thing to think about. If the feet of the bar attach to the floor pan make sure you do a good job of grinding all of the paint down or else its going to make it very difficult to tig.

i think instead of oxy heating it im gonna just take a tig torch and remelt it and then try and rebead it

well i am putting in subframe connectors before the roll bar. if i run anyfaster than a 13.99 i have to have a rollbar and the 350 thats going in in the spring will put me into the 13's


where are you running that a bar for 13's is needed? i thought i was 11's that you need a 4 point at least and thats speeds over 110mph. i run 13.4 on a good day with my gtp and never had a problem. my buddies GN runs 12.2 they told him if her drops 11 he needs a bar.

I'm pretty sure it is because he is in a vert. coupe and verts have a few diff safety rules I think.

good point. didnt think about that one. although i have seen some crustang converts and a cavalier z24 run without rollbars. ok the cav was pullin 15's but the mustang was close 2 12's

yeah new nhra rules mandate a rollbar for verts running any faster than a 13.99 and i'd be running at route 66 in chicagoland. they enforce those rules i believe

welding my cage doors not this fri but next gonna be tite