powdercoating

I was told that the NHRA has come out with a new rule that you can no longer powdercoat new chassis.Dose anyone know anything about this rule?

Thanks Chuck

Chuck ,I talked to Mark McDonald at the seminar and he said it was no problem. It will certify with powdercoat

Thanks little buddy!

Your welcome "MiniMullet"

Don't make me pull a Lone Star on you!!!

I think you need to find a woman BigBoy

All the good ones are taken.

sounds like you shouldve stayed a little longer down at the Cougs then.

First I've heard of this, where did you see or read about the powdercoat rule with the NHRA? Is it because it would throw off the thickness readings when certfying a chassis?

I thought you had to leave a area exposed or drill a small hole if you powdercoated a cage? I want to say I had read this in either the NHRA rule book or a SFI book.

Once you get to a certian class where CM is only allowed you can't paint or power coat. I'd just ask whom ever you are going to get to cert the car.

Gentlemen.. and I use that term loosely...lol
as far as I know....
Powdercoating is ok, as long as it's not "silver vein".. It gives funny readings on the sonic meter..
No need to drill any holes... said meter does a fine job of measuring the wall thickness...Just ask Doug..lol

It's chrome plating of cage/chassis/suspension components that the sanctioning bodies have a problem with cuz the process can cause hydrogen embrittlement leading to component failure.

I think most of the TF & FC guys are the ones that don't paint or power coat their chassis. But it's just to make it easier to check for cracks & fractures in the tubing. This is important because their chassis flex is the suspension.

Only reason I know of for a need to drill holes in the tubing is to release any built up air pressure from the heat generated as your welding. If you don't release the air pressure it could cause a molten weld puddle to blow-out as you finish the weld screwing up the weld joint.

x2 on what dave said Only reason I know of for a need to drill holes in the tubing is to release any built up air pressure from the heat generated as your welding. If you don't release the air pressure it could cause a molten weld puddle to blow-out as you finish the weld screwing up the weld joint.

If you have ever welded alum. you will under stand about drilling a hole that stuff will burn the crap out of you when it blows out the weld it sticks to you and steel will also just not as bad

D. Sea wrote:First I've heard of this, where did you see or read about the powdercoat rule with the NHRA? Is it because it would throw off the thickness readings when certfying a chassis?

I heard this from Richard that some of the power coating effected the sonic meter that Mike is talking about.Mike what makes the silver vein powder coating mess up the sonic meter and thanks Mike for there info.


chuck

Is powdercoating faster or what ?

Faster ,cheaper in the long run ,and holds up alot better. You've got make a rotissorie to do a nice job painting them too.Only thing is ,you need to have all the welding done before coating

Wow No shit .....you gotta weld the deal before you coat it

Lonewolf1970 wrote:

D. Sea wrote:First I've heard of this, where did you see or read about the powdercoat rule with the NHRA? Is it because it would throw off the thickness readings when certfying a chassis?

I heard this from Richard that some of the power coating effected the sonic meter that Mike is talking about.Mike what makes the silver vein powder coating mess up the sonic meter and thanks Mike for there info.


chuck

Chuck, I'm not sure what makes that coating mess up the readings..must have something "metallic" in the coating I guess.. The question had come up on another board, I think it was Drag Race Results, before and a tech guy answered it there...

Lem Evans wrote:Wow No shit .....you gotta weld the deal before you coat it

He needs all his door brackets and engine tabs in place before coating, so yes "No Shit"

....

I think the silver vein being rough throws off the probe of the tester since it can't sit flush to the tubing.

The road race guys are known to drill holes to use a small diameter "hooked" go/no go wire type measuring gauge to measure tubing thickness. Not a bad idea and it cheaper than a sonic checker...

Lonewolf1970 wrote:I was told that the NHRA has come out with a new rule that you can no longer powdercoat new chassis.Dose anyone know anything about this rule?

Thanks Chuck

You have anyone lined up to do it yet? If not my guy in Morgantown at Final Finish can fix you up. They have done dirt track chassis I know.

Call him for a quote.
270-526-4856 ask for Chase. Tell him his UPS man sent you.

I believe you 110% correct about the chrome. I remember a guy wanting to have his hoop chromed for his Mustang convertable and the tech wouldn't pass it or something.

jbozzelle wrote:The road race guys are known to drill holes to use a small diameter "hooked" go/no go wire type measuring gauge to measure tubing thickness. Not a bad idea and it cheaper than a sonic checker...

Simple "go/no-go" tubing gages have been tried in different forms of racing for years, back in ancient time before sonic testing. But any simple go/no-go gage is easily "fooled" by a crafty (sneaky) racer/builder, this is part of the reason for sonic testing.

Fudging what the go/no-go gage measured was easily done. You would start the build with tubing that was normally too thin to pass. Then as your building the cage/chassis, where ever you planed to drill go/no-go inspection holes (had to be close to a weld joint) you would build-up the tubing's thickness (just around the area of the hole) from the inside in the tube. You could either build up a small weld puddle inside the tubing & sand it down to the desired thickness with a drum sander, then drill the hole. Or weld a small washer inside the tube of the correct thickness (or thicker & sand down). With the "washer method" before you drilled the hole to a finished size you had to make sure to carefully run the Tig torch around the inside of the hole just hot enough to fuse the two metals together so you couldn't see a parting line between the two after drilling the hole to a finished size.

Dang Dave you kow all the tricks ........