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Roll bars/cages

20K views 24 replies 12 participants last post by  Joker1570 
#1 ·
Just curious on how many members have a roll bar or a cage in there car.
Is it legal for competition or period correct?
I had an S&W 8pt bar / mild steel in my Nova with a driver side swing out and will probably be installing a bar in the coupe.
 
#2 ·
I have a rollbar in both of my cars. My Austin is a old style 4 point, and my Falcon is a 6 point. I made both of them for ease of entry, and added safety over no rollbar. But neither is NHRA certified. I don't have any tech problems at my local track with either, but it's not an NHRA track.
 
#3 ·
I think a lot of it will depend on how fast you want the car to go. NHRA rules dictate a rollcage in vehicles going 11.99 or faster, and even slower for convertibles. Personally I would trend towards safety rather than the other way around, and I think an exception would be made for modern safety equipment in period correct vehicles. If you go to and NHRA track, I believe swing out door bars are NOT allowed.

But take all of this with a grain of salt, I do not have the most current NHRA rule book.
 
#4 ·
John, buy the NHRA rule book. If you can wait, the new one will be out around the first of the year. Like the others said, decide how fast you want or think the car will run and adjust your build for that. I put in a few more SFI standard stuff for faster than I will probably run, but I thought it was a good idea and not too much more for the safer stuff. I did an 8 point bar for mine with the swing out door bar. I haven't had it certifed by a NHRA track yet, so not sure if it is going to fly or not. Depends on how fast I can get the old girl going. Worst they can do is throw me off the track :)
 
#6 ·
You might look at rollbars or cages for a similar car, like an earlier Ford coupe. Take some measurements of your car's interior and there may be several other kits that could be adapted to your car, and not hurt the integrity of the kit.
One thing I'll add. If your car goes slower than the requirement to have a cage (11.99) but you have a cage anyway. NHRA will require that cage to meet their tech anyway! I've known guys who put a cage in their 12 or 13 sec. car, and it failed tech. Tech officials wont allow a cage that wont pass, regardless of how slow the car is, as once it's passed, the next time it races, it might go faster, and it would already appear to have been accepted.
 
#7 ·
Our nearest strip is an NHRA track. If you install a roll cage, any cage, it HAS to be NHRA legal even if the car/class doesn't require a cage.

Same thing with a roll bar. It has to have four mounting points to the chassis and a diagonal/cross bar.

In the drag Beetle, we built the full cage and car itself to SCCA specs (stricter than NHRA) so that we could run the car in Hill Climbs as well as the Nostalgia Drags and Import Wars. We ended up using a fiberglass tilt nose, fiberglass doors, fenders, rear deck lid and rear valance in order to compensate for the weight of the cage. An odd balancing act for sure.
 
#16 ·
S+W race cars will bend you a main hoop. All you need to do is give them measurements. I talked to them on my 51 Dodge. They won't charge you any extra. I emailed them and they called me direct and talked about it. I was impressed. I'm going to get some extra tubing, I may add a X brace on mine.
 
#23 ·
Yes. Roll bar has to pass tech. If you don't think the car will run that fast, don't put a roll bar in it. Roll bars always have to go to the frame. On your car shouldn't be a problem considering the size of the frame.
 
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