"Homemade Vehicle" Washington State

[RegularGuy]

Myself and a few other engineering students have been designing a hybrid vehicle and are trying to figure out what is actually required to pass the "Homemade Motor Vehicle Inspection" the two things currently on our plate being the frame and bumper requirements. As best as we can tell, crash testing doesn't actually need to be conducted and a finite element analysis will suffice as enough to meet safety requirements.

The question for my fellow forum members, has anyone here gone through the inspection process for a owner built frame/ bumper? If so, what did highway patrol actually want?


Associated documents:
Inspection Guide
WAC 204.10.022

 

[cbxer55]

Judging from what I see on Oklahoma roads that appear home built, we don't have any inspection criteria here. Run what you brung seems to be the name of the game here.

 

[Uncle Gump]

In Michigan they call it an Assembled Roadster.

I've built several and had to follow the rules outlined on form TR-54. All that was required was to provide receipts for the major components. The actual police inspection usually consisted of a walk around inspection of equipment and the policeman saying... this is pretty cool... how much to build me one?

I'm sure a quick Google will get you the information.

 

[RegularGuy]

It's not so much the lack of information, all the applicable requirements are listed, rather we're interested to what extent those requirements are adhered to by the inspectors. Requiring an individual to do crash tests before building a one off vehicle seems a little out of the question although the legal requirement for doing so would appear to be there. This is in part due to the codes being referenced are meant for vehicle manufacturer's...

The question we have remains as; for those which have gone through this process, what needed to go into your custom frame paperwork wise to have it approved?

 

[RonD]

Washington state custom vehicle info sheet: http://www.wsp.wa.gov/traveler/docs/inspection_guides/street_ rod_custom_vehicle_inspection_guide.pdf

List at the bottom with articles to read

SEMA law allows Custom builds, Washington passed a SEMA law, it includes street rods but also custom builds
A ground up build is a Custom build, that you can used "home made" parts to assemble, this law was directed at custom show cars but yours falls into that category, custom means it doesn't have to have even one "factory" part
If you can imagine it you can build it
But to get it "street legal" you have to build it right

This one tells about the frame: https://app.leg.wa.gov/wac/default.aspx?cite=204-10-022

Also says this about bumpers: Bumpers are optional equipment on vehicles defined as street rod vehicles, custom vehicles and kit vehicles.

Says this about the frame:
(8) Frame: A motor vehicle must be equipped with a frame. If an existing frame from a recognized manufacturer is not used and a special frame is fabricated, it must be constructed of wall box or continuous section tubing, wall channel, or unitized construction capable of supporting the vehicle, its load, and the torque produced by the power source under all conditions of operation. The structural strength of the frame must be certified by the builder as meeting the applicable standards set under 49 C.F.R. 571 Parts 201, 214, 216, and 220 through 224, and the SAE Standards. Such certification must be made by either:
(a) Certification provided on the vehicle in the form of a label which has been affixed in accordance with FMVSS outlining the portions of the FMVSS which have been met; or
(b) A notarized letter from the builder of the frame outlining the portions of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) which have been met; or
(c) If the vehicle is a kit vehicle, as outlined in RCW 46.12.440, documentation from the manufacturer of the vehicle frame that informs the owner that the frame has not been certified as meeting the applicable federal motor vehicle safety standard set under 49 C.F.R. 571 Parts 201, 214, 216, and 220 through 224, and the applicable SAE Standards.


Looks like all the info is out there
No mention of crash tests, lol, but you would need someone to sign off on the frame once it is built, and you would have to have a good ballpark estimate of the weight it will need to carry and the MAXIMUM torque the engine and/or electric motor can generate

 

[RegularGuy]

The sections which concern my team are 49 C.F.R. 571, part 214 which covers testing for side impact, and part 216 which covers roof crush testing. Additionally, 49 C.F.R. 581 which covers bumper impact testing. We hope to avoid 49 C.F.R. 581 entirely by using an existing bumper but that may not be possible.

Uncle Gump, did you construct your own frame? Based upon the documents in finding for Michigan, frame requirements don't seem to be mentioned in either the TR-54, BFS-72, or the SOS - Assembled Vehicle page. I would be interested to know what they asked for regarding documentation beyond proof of ownership

 

[Ranger850]

Lets see some pics of this when its finished please.

 

[Shran]

I'm not sure there's a method to do what you're trying to do in South Dakota (not that it matters anyway) but what most people do here is either build off of an existing vehicle using maybe only the VIN tag and part of the firewall it is attached to and end up with something loosely resembling what it once was. A Jeep rock crawler buggy that looks somewhat like a Jeep would be one example... without getting too deep into the felony level VIN tag removal/swap issue, there is usually no problem. Building a "Jeep" that looks like a Ferrari probably would not fly though.

On that same tangent, we can get "rebuilt" titles... you basically combine multiple vehicles with existing VIN numbers into one vehicle that is eventually issued a new unique VIN number.

The only "homemade" things we can officially get here are trailers. Everything else is kind of a gray area.

 

[19Walt93]

NH will issue a VIN tag to a home built vehicle. You have to demonstrate that it will meet their standards for braking, steering, etc. If you register it as a street rod seat belts are required but fenders are not. We also require a front license plate for some reason.

 

[RonD]

These guys are in Washington but in Fife, so a ways South of you

They build custom frames, and I assume pass inspections, might be worth a call: http://www.artmorrison.com/specsheets-cust-chassis.php

 

[RegularGuy]

Regarding a Jeep that looks like a Ferrari, thats more or less what would end up happening if we were to try and use an existing vin. We're building a hypercar, glass and most interior will be from the 2020 Mustang, stuck onto what's basically a C8 Corvette with a slightly longer wheelbase and rear quarter-panel. The front bumper will be very reminiscent of the 2020 Ford GT. The car is being driven by 4 electric motors, transmitted through CV axles, a currently unselected battery pack (likely a modified pack from a Chevy Spark), and an engine attached to a generator. This is the exact setup thats used on those mining dump trucks.

I appreciate the help RonD, helpful as always. I'll have to take a closer look at that link in the morning

 

[adsm08]

Regarding a Jeep that looks like a Ferrari, thats more or less what would end up happening if we were to try and use an existing vin. We're building a hypercar, glass and most interior will be from the 2020 Mustang, stuck onto what's basically a C8 Corvette with a slightly longer wheelbase and rear quarter-panel. The front bumper will be very reminiscent of the 2020 Ford GT. The car is being driven by 4 electric motors, transmitted through CV axles, a currently unselected battery pack (likely a modified pack from a Chevy Spark), and an engine attached to a generator. This is the exact setup thats used on those mining dump trucks.

I appreciate the help RonD, helpful as always. I'll have to take a closer look at that link in the morning

Jeep made a proto-type Hybrid Wrangler that used basically that drive train setup. There was a gas engine, but it had no physical connection to the wheels, it was used only to drive an electrical generator which provided power to motors used to drive the wheels.

 

[don4331]

I haven't done a state inspection for vehicle and FEA was in its infancy when we did our automotive design project (research grant approved post '79 oil crisis).

We designed a single seat trike capable of 150+ mpg on then current Natural Resource Canada (EPA in America) fuel consumption test.

The project, of course, has projections to a production vehicle - and that is where we got into trouble. A one off "hot rod" just has to pass an inspection test - and the inspector is often not an engineer. An engineering project will attract attention of both your professors and provincial (state)/federal engineers.

And that is where we got in trouble. While the frame beams were plenty strong enough to support the loads/meet the side impact crash tests, it didn't meet the "crumple zone requirements. We had designed the trike narrow, so there wasn't the required distance - 15cm (6") if I recall correctly - between exterior and passenger. 'Course releasing the trike just in time for the '86 oil glut didn't help us.

While I don't work in automotive industry, I am close enough that I get the vendor white papers, documenting how automotive manufacturers are doing FEA on 100,000 CPU systems with week long run times for their frame crash analysis. Hopefully, you are able to get by with a few magnitudes of simplification.

Good luck

 

[RegularGuy]

This car is going to be pretty big and hopefully at the same tim, rather light. We're aiming for 3200lbs, anything under 4500lbs though and it should make the team happy. We're still in the initial planning stages though so weight estimates are just what we want and what others have achieved...

With the way we intend on constructing this vehicle, the hardpoints (motors, engine, suspension endpoints) will all be connected to the central frame which is the extremely stiff "survival space". The passenger compartment if at all possible, you really don't want to get any smaller during a collision. Surrounding that will be a less rigid structure which will create our crumple zone, the main difference here between most mid engine vehicles and our plan being, aided with the use of either gull wing or lambo style doors, there should be roughly a 1.5 ft between the side contact surface and the occupant. This will be achieved with a combination of thick doors, and aero pieces.....

For visualization, think of the new mustang but with crumple zone added onto the side

 

[RonD]

Unibody is much lighter than frame and body build

Frame and body is better for towing and off-roading so for trucks mostly

Unibody can be lower and much lighter

You would probably need to use a stock unibody passenger space so it would already have the crumple zone requirements
Not sure if you can build a unibody from scratch, didn't see much on that, lol