Jonathan O'Hara
Active Member
- Jonathan O'Hara Active Member
Hi guys,
I've welded in a cross-member behind the seats that is around a foot above the stock one and want input on whether my welds are OK enough to rely on.
I added the cross-member because when I put my seats (from Procar) and racing harness in, the straps sit on top of my shoulders, and then straight down to the stock cross-member. Because I'm relatively tall (6'2), the eyelets on the seats don't touch the harness straps or provide any support. I understand if I were in a roll-over, the harness running straight down from the top of my shoulders to the stock bar could compress my spine and do bad things. I think the rule is that straps are supposed to go straight back from the shoulders, +/- 20ish degrees.
With my new bar they do. But ... I'm a pretty new welder, and after welding this bar in, I now have a MUCH greater respect for professional welders who do good welds in a variety of positions (overhead, standing on head, etc.). I've attached pictures of the cross-member, and for illustration, the best weld (outside passenger) and the worst weld (center joints). As background, this was a MIG weld with 0.030" wire and a HF Vulcan Omnipro 220. My fit-up of the tubes was OK, maybe like 0.070" gap on the bottom of a tube was the worst.
Are my welds good enough to rely on, or am I better off tying in the stock cross-member (that is excellently welded by the guys at DF) and just ignoring the 20 degree rule for racing harnesses?
I figure most of you guys on this forum will at least sympathize with my desire to do as much as possible myself, though I do realize there's a point where serious safety concerns are more important.
Thanks for any input!
PS: For any curious SS/SC guys, that's a TVS1320 installed. I haven't run with it yet, but I'm hoping for good things.
I've welded in a cross-member behind the seats that is around a foot above the stock one and want input on whether my welds are OK enough to rely on.
I added the cross-member because when I put my seats (from Procar) and racing harness in, the straps sit on top of my shoulders, and then straight down to the stock cross-member. Because I'm relatively tall (6'2), the eyelets on the seats don't touch the harness straps or provide any support. I understand if I were in a roll-over, the harness running straight down from the top of my shoulders to the stock bar could compress my spine and do bad things. I think the rule is that straps are supposed to go straight back from the shoulders, +/- 20ish degrees.
With my new bar they do. But ... I'm a pretty new welder, and after welding this bar in, I now have a MUCH greater respect for professional welders who do good welds in a variety of positions (overhead, standing on head, etc.). I've attached pictures of the cross-member, and for illustration, the best weld (outside passenger) and the worst weld (center joints). As background, this was a MIG weld with 0.030" wire and a HF Vulcan Omnipro 220. My fit-up of the tubes was OK, maybe like 0.070" gap on the bottom of a tube was the worst.
Are my welds good enough to rely on, or am I better off tying in the stock cross-member (that is excellently welded by the guys at DF) and just ignoring the 20 degree rule for racing harnesses?
I figure most of you guys on this forum will at least sympathize with my desire to do as much as possible myself, though I do realize there's a point where serious safety concerns are more important.
Thanks for any input!
PS: For any curious SS/SC guys, that's a TVS1320 installed. I haven't run with it yet, but I'm hoping for good things.
