1994 Camaro Roll Bar

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1994 Camaro Roll Bar

Roll bar in interior

Why put a roll bar into my car?

Racing rules require T-tops and convertibles have one
To run on the Salt Flats
To run on the race track

Why do it myself?

A friend sold me the main hoop for $95, and gave me scrap tube for the backstays
I saved around $500
I had a welder to use
It seemed like a fun project to learn some more metal working

Bad things about having a roll bar

Cost and effort to install
Painful if you bang your head on it
If you get pulled over I suspect you are more likely to get a ticket
Probably hurts the resale value of the car

Good things about having a roll bar

Better safety
Enables doing certain forms of racing
Looks cool

My requirements:

Meet http://www.saltflats.com rules for 130 club
Be SCCA autocross legal (has to be bolt-in)
Keep the back seat and trunk usable (I am tall and the roll bar doesn't make it hard to get in or hurt the comfort. I can still fold down the rear seat, recline the front seats, and use the whole trunk.)

I also wanted what I built to comform to drag racing and SCCA track racing rules, in case I decided to upgrade to those forms of racing in the future. This doesn't mean my "cage" is legal, but that I tried to make what I put in compliant so I wouldn't have to take it out, but just add to it.

I removed the front and rear seats, pulled back some carpet, and removed some of the plastic side panels.

The matrix below summarizes some of the roll bar rules. Check for yourself, in case rules have changed or I made a mistake. The SCCA rules tend to be the most strict, for instance you have to use expensive DOM (drawn over mandel, or sometimes called "seamless" tubes). Though not a strict rule, Utah Salt Flats Racing Association encourages using mild steel over chromo.

	2006 Southern California Timing Association http://www.saltflats.com	http://www.nhra.com/contacts/tech_faq.html, hard tops 11.99 seconds to 10.00 seconds	SCCA Showroom Stock	1994 Red Camaro Roll bar
Material	Mild steel or E4130 chomoly	Mild steel or chrome moly	DOM alloy steel only, seamless, no ERW (seamless)	Mild steel main hoop, chomo backstays
Tube Diameter	1.75	1.75	1.75 <= 4000 lbs	1.75
Wall thickness	0.120 mild steel 0.095 E4130 Chromoly	0.118 mild steel 0.083 chrome moly	0.120	0.125 main hoop
Pad thickness	0.25 Required above and below floor pan on unitized and monocoque	0.125 above and below if bolted, top if welded	0.080 if welded, 3/16 if bolted with appropriate backing plates	0.25, bolted, above and below
Pad perimeter	>= 22	6x6	No side < 2 or > 12, projected to flat plane if multiangled	>= 22, most pads are about 3x8
Pad area		6x6	<= 100 square inches, projected to flat plane if multiangled	3x8 = 24 square inches, OK
Pad general			Where possible, extend to vertical
Gussets	0.125, required on shoulder rail		Recommended. <= 0.125. Max 2 gussets per joint.	n/a
Front hoop to helmet	>= 3			n/a
Helmet retaining strap	0.125, 1.0			n/a
Helmet to main hoop	n/a	<= 6		<= 6
Top of main hoop to brace		<= 5	<= 6	<= 5
Hoop to brace angle			>= 30 degrees	>= 30 degrees
Bolts	>= 3/8, >= grade 5	3/8	>= 3/8. >= grade 5	>= 3/8 >= grade 5
Bolting	At least 2 bolts, 180 degrees apart	4 bolts	>= 3 bolts per plate	3 bolts per plate
Padding	SFI 45.1 near helmet		Where helmet can contact, nonresilient such as Ethafoam, >= 1.0, SFI 45.2 or FIA strongly encouraged.	SFI 45.1
Bends			Main hoop 4 max total 180 degrees. No crimps	Yes
Inspection hole			3/16 to ¼	Will drill one when and if needed
Main hoop			Continuous	Continuous
Bend radius			>= 3x tube diameter
Welds	Not ground		Continuous around tubes. No cracks.Thorough fusion. Craters filled to cross section. Undercut not more than 0.01.	Not ground, and continuous around tubes. Test welds show no cracks and thorough fusion. No undercut.

Keywords: Camaro, Firebird, LT1, LS1, autocross, road racing, SCCA, NHRA, drag racing, safety, roll bar, welding, racing rules

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