Roll cage goodness!

 

More roll cage sweetness.

 

Looks good! Are you planning to put the interior back in the car? I ask because I installed my hoop in the same spot and now I'm afraid I won't be able to get the rear plastics back in.

 

Interior will be going back in, we are going to weld most of it and before the main hoop gets welded to the floor we will break the tacks and sneak them in, because right now they wont go in.

 

Looks good. I was going to ask if it was a kit or custom made then I saw the JD bender.

I like cages where the halo tube is part of the a-pillar tubes and only uses a cross tube across the top of the windshield. They just look cleaner done that way.

Doesn't take much to get an 8.50 cert but it also doesn't take much to add in a few more tubes. Diagonal across the roof, sill bars and X tube in the door all serve a purpose but are not required for the 8.50 cert. I got way more tubes than required for the 8.50 but I know my cage will stay together and protect me if I ever put the car on the roof. I don't have a funny car cage mainly because it's not required and it makes it a real pain getting in and out of the car.

I plan on running in Edmonton a few Sundays this year. Just haven't decided exactly when yet. Car still isn't ready to race. Sucks not having a local track any more.

 

You would be better off running your rear kickers down by where the shock mounts than back where you have them going if it isn't already welded up. I would also straight bars, or a rear halo. Looks good!

 

i may have missed it, but what tubing are you using?
i know for out weight our cars need .120 wall 1.75 o.d. DOM

 

1 5/8" 0.120" wall DOM

 

 

In those first couple of new pictures, I was wondering why your door bars looked funny then I saw they were swing out bars. That eliminates the X door bar and funny car cage option but you could still put in sill tubes.

Only a 6 or 8 point roll bar requires 1-3/4" tubing in the main tubes. A full cage only requires 1-5/8" tubing for the main tubes. Many of the secondary tubes can be 1-1/2" or 1-1/4" depending on location and length.

0.134" ERW tubing or 0.120" DOM tubing. Our local metal supplier doesn't even carry ERW (special order) so whenever I pick up tubing it's 0.120" DOM.

Wish I had a TIG machine to make those pretty welds.

 

Yeah, those welds make mine look like amateur hour.

Where did you get the hardware for the swing-out bars? And can you take some close-up pics of them? I've been eyeing the ones from S&W Race Cars, but they don't have a decent picture of them. I'm worried about clearance issues with the door panel on. TIA.

 

The swingout's are alston chassisworks. Far nicer than any of the S&W/comp engineering style swingouts. Pricey, but worth it IMO. The guy doing the cage continue's to impress me. He's fast, cheap, and does KILLER work, the fit and finish of the cage, along with the quality of welds blows me away.

 

Is this a business that is putting in your cage?
Care to share his name?

 

Just a buddy that takes on selective projects in his garage. Not what he does for a living. Search cream dream v 2.0 on yellow bullet, or the Bavarian nightmare on yellow bullet to see more of his work.

 

yet again, more roll cage updates

 

That's another nice thing about doing the a-pillar and halo tubes like that. Most of it can be welded up outside the car then only a few welds need to be done inside the car.

 

Yah, I'm extremely happy with how its turned out so far.

 

Looks good!

But are the swing out bars legal for competition?

 

Legal to 8.50! This is primarily a street car, and with the new engine/trans combo in the works I'm probably going to run it out of cage in a hurry. When that time comes it will get a new chromoly 25.3 6.50 cert

 

That looks pretty good...the welds look very nice...clean job!!

 

Cage is 95% welded. Just gotta weld the plate to the floor and the finish welding the cage to the plates.

 

Cage is 100% done. Glass will be going in soon!









Started mounting the nitrous fuel cell



Threw on a front tire to check clearance on the fuel cell.

 

So how much did having the custom cage put in cost you?

 

2500$ including material

 

What size fuel cell did you pick up?

 

3 Gallon for the fuel side of the nitrous up front, 15 gallon for the fuel cell in the rear

 

more updates!

nitrous fuel cell roughly mounted, may have to shorten up the cell a bit. Goign to put on the front fender and see how it fits.





Started removing the old front suspension



Driver side seat partially mounted

 

More updates!

Rear bumpstops cut off and plated.





Kirkeys mounted.







Painless switch panel mounted on the halo bar.

 

Well, more updates... Last night was quite productive.

Brought the hood and front fenders to check clearance on the top of radiator.





Cut out some floor in the rear to make room for the fuel cell



Kirkeys



Radiator fits!



Nitrous fuel cell.





Welded a sump into the fuel cell



Rear wheel wells all cleaned up



Shot from the rear

 

Custom made master cylinder adapter





Torque arm bolted to the rear end.



Removable upper rad tie bar to make engine installation/removal easier





REAR END IS IN!

 

Rad & fan mounted

 

I'm not sure if you have ever answered this question yet and I missed it or not, but what are you looking to run when you get it to the track?

 

I need to do something like that but it would also require a bit more fabrication and relocation work because I have so much attached to and running across what I currently use for an upper rad support.

 

With the 383, 11.40's is my goal on motor. Id like to.run mid 10's on the bottle. With the turbo motor in the works, it should run 8.50's pretty easily

 

Sweet! Really nice work so far, cant wait to see what you do when you get it to the track.

 

I just did this to my car. I actually cut the whole rad support out and put the rad in the vertical position.

 

Wow this is gonna look awsome when its done for sure. Cant wait to see it and how the interior will fit

 

Made the car a roller again last night, so I can bring it home tonight. Nolan is gone for a week, so im bringing it home to keep going hard on it until he gets back to finish the fab work

New front steering loosely bolted in to make rolling it around easier.



Outside for the first time in a while











A picture a took when I was sitting in the car making engine noises.

 

WOW! exactly what i want to do

 

Thanks for the updates!

When do you plan on hitting a track?
This summer?

 

Updates! the pictures are self explanatory

 

Wow that's a nice piece! I have an 8point, like how you did the a pillar bars off the main hoop and tied em together with the halo, looks cleaner than a pillar bar welded to halo

 

Thanks, I couldn't be happier with the cage!

 

Progress!

 

looks great, but if i may ask, how in the heck did you pull the cage out after tacking it in place? am i missing something?

 

you cut the tacks in strategic locations.

 

This car is making some progress...looking like it could be a nice piece when its done

 

Y'all do some real clean work!! Wish more fbody guys were like you instead of hamfist hackers early on. kinda gave us a bad reputation.

 

Second that. It seems like a small percentage of third gen owners don't just slap there cars together. Or there more worried about how to add cup holders to there vehicle.

 

Ingram...thats a nice lookin firebird.


It isvery rare to see nice 3rd gens. Usually every car i see is a wreck. Hell..mine needs carpet and paint soo bad i cant talk. LOL