Driveshaft enclosure. When is it needed? CHASSIS BUILDERS HELP

Guys,

My car has no floor in it right now. I'm almost ready to put the floor in but am unsure if the regular .025 steel will suffice or if this enclosure is needed. At what ET is the 1/8" steel driveshaft enclosure needed. It's listed in Section 2:4 of the General Regs in the NHRA Rulebook.

It states "Open drivelines passing any part of the driver's body must be completely enclosed in 1/8-inch minimum thickness steel plate, securely mounted to the frame or frame structure."

If needed I'll make the drivehshaft tunnel the enclosure and pu tthe .025 steel over the trans only as well as the rest of the floor. Here's the only pic I have easily available that shows the floor area and what is missing. The piece of the factory floor that goes up and over the trans tailhousing is coming out as well as the rest of the floor up to the trans crossmember. Give me an idea of what I need to do.

I don't know when it is required, but I just recieved a 30" .050 4130 enclosure from Jerry Bickle. After hearing what it did to that women,s arm last last year, I figure for $200.00 it is worth it. I know her car was a Pro Mod, but I am kind of attached to my right arm and want to keep it. Just like the engine diaper, when I get that far, I am going to install one of those too, can't be too safe.

Here's the one I got. 2nd link is of all he has, the complete kit is more but has the loops also.

http://www.jerrybickel.com/driveshafts-and-components/driveshaft-cover-only-jbrc1002-30.html

http://www.jerrybickel.com/driveshafts-and-components/driveshaft-loops-and-covers-1.html

I'm with Rick, go ahead and put the steel enclosure in now and be done with it. I'm so glad my chassis builder had the foresight to install one in my car when we built it back in '98.

I'm thinking QuarterMax sells a kit to weld up your own.

John, here's the one I built for my car from leftover pieces I had laying around. Three pieces welded together, then cut in lighting holes to cut down the weight.

Doug what does your car cert to ?

Just loops vs loops/enclosure assembly..........

When a full 360* driveshaft enclosure (next to the driver) is actually "required" by a "Pro" class in their rules (like say Pro Mod/Pro Stock for example) they usually stipulate that the 360* enclosure part (it's self) must be made of sheet 'moly no thinner than .050" thick and must be long enough in the front to fully cover the front U-joint/slip yoke assembly.

The required rear length really depends on the class. But some guys just go ahead and run them all the way back past the driver to the frame kick-up for the 4-link brackets just for the added safety. Doing it this way also allows you to do away with the .032" sheet aluminum driveshaft tunnel part of the floor (if you want), and just run a floor belly pan under the DS enclosure. And when a 360* enclosure is required, 1 full 360* driveshaft loop is required within 6" of both front & back U-joints.

ART's .050" 'moly 360* DS enclosure is a nice piece. And now ART's 2011 catalog shows they also offer a mild steel .083" 360* DS enclosure (I would guess more for the sportsman classes).

Here is an example of what Dave mentions. My enclosure goes all the way back to the 4-link brackets.

Thanks guys. The ART one looks good. I buy all of my stuff from them anyway. May have to pick it up and use it as the driveshaft tunnel. I think I could then run a belly pan in that area too.

bruno wrote:Doug what does your car cert to ?

It just expired at the end of August, but it will cert. to 7.50 to 8.49 Seconds; 3,600 lbs. maximum. I'm not going to bother renewing until I finish the back-half.

BigDave65 wrote:Here is an example of what Dave mentions. My enclosure goes all the way back to the 4-link brackets.

Dave,

How are your side X bars notched where they intersect, are they both notched or is just the outside one noticed?

As best as I remember, just the outside bar is notched. It's been 13 years since it was built and my memory ain't what it used to be.

Yup, usually when the door X bar's joint 1/2 overlaps like that the smaller OD/thinner wall secondary bar is the one notched/fish-mouthed. The larger OD/thicker wall primary bar is left solid.

Thanks, Dave & Dave, first time I have seen that. See you can learn something everyday on here.

BigDave65 wrote:Here is an example of what Dave mentions. My enclosure goes all the way back to the 4-link brackets.

Dave, is the front of your driveshaft enclosure sealed to the trans tunnel? Or is it open under the part where the tunnel overlaps it? I'd like to try and get my trans tunnel to dzus to the front loop of the enclosure if at all possible. I plan to order the enclosure and trans tunnel kit from ART tomorrow. I think they said it was 30" long. That should put it almost to my rear frame rails.

John, it's open at the bottom part. Just really no good way to seal that part. Doesn't seem to be a problem though. The center floorpan is on the underside of the frame and goes all the way up to the crossmember which is non-removable. The tranny comes out the topside. The enclosure goes all the way to just past the end of the tailshaft, it sits on two small posts at the loop and is held in place by a couple of 1/4" quick pins.

You could probably weld a couple of Dzus tabs on the enclosure for the tunnel. My tunnel overlaps the enclosure by about 4" or so.

Need any more info just hollar.

Guys,

I have some 2x2/2x3 frame connectors that run from the firewall top the rear 4 link crossmember. There doesn't seem to be any support or strength to keep the connectors from moving around under power or during an accident. All I have tieing them together currently is the trans crossmember which is removeable. I'm looking to put an "X" between the frame connectors from the the trans crossmember area back to the rear crossmember. What size tubing should I use? I also plan to mount the driveshaft enclosure off of this as well.

I would do the "X" out of 1.25" tubing. .065" if it is chromoly, or .120 if it is mild steel. This will be the perfect place for the driveshaft enclosure to be attached to.

Thanks Curley. I see you made it over from the Bullet

The SFI 25.4/25.5 mild steel specs call for a minimum of 1" x .108" wall ms tubing when/if a center "X" is called for between the frame rails back at the main hoop/4-link/ladder bar crossmember. So for a non-SFI combo, using tubing starting at that size range (or bigger) would probably be OK.