I've wanted a cage for a while and finally am starting to have enough money to think about buying one. I'm currently thinking about a S&W or a CE unit, but I honestly have no idea what’s out there. I also have a few questions.

First, I want to keep the back seat in the car. Note that I never said that I want people sitting there. I just want the seat physically in the car. Why? Two reasons, I think it looks weird without it there - the lump in the floor just doesn't fit. Also, I plan on mounting my amps inside the back seat to keep them out of harm's way and away from prying eyes. The cage is an added bonus in this case; it will be next to impossible to fold the back down all the way to gain access to the amps. So in other words, I’m fine with having a bar running across where people’s chests would normally be as long as the back seat can stay in the car.

Secondly, how do bars that run down the a-pillers interact with the dash/dash pad? Do they mount to the firewall, is there a bar that runs inside the dash to connect them, etc. More importantly, do you have to cut a hole in the dash pad? If so it’s not really a big deal because I’m planning on recovering it right now anyway, so I should be able to accommodate the bars somehow.

Thanks for any input

EDIT: also, any comments as to a cage vs roll bar? I'm not going to be fit for any kind of major competition for a while. I want something I can legally (NASA) mount 5 point belts to, but my main concern is stiffening the frame. How much stiffer would the behind the dash bar make a cage as compaired to just a roll bar?

 

I read your post a few times before responding and have a couple of comments:

You should plan to meet the requirements of the sanctioning body that you plan on racing in i.e. NHRA, SCCA, etc. I realize you are not going to compete in the near future, but if you do, it would be nice to meet the applicable requirements.

I just completed the installation of the CE 8 pt kit (it's really a 6 pt) to NHRA specs. It doesn't have the halo bar. If you use a halo bar, the A-pillar bars go through the dash pad and tie into the point where the door bars weld onto the floor plate. I remember seeing a really good installation somewhere on this forum. I'll be gald to send some pics of mine while the interior is still out. I'm not going back with the rear seat, but it would fit----the rear bars go about where the passengers' heads would be. It should make the car much stiffer along with the sfc's. The material is mild steel and is very heavy.

I called S&W Racecars and ordered their door bars to work with the stock arm rests on the door panels. They have a bend in them that I couldn't do (they were $44.00). They worked out well.

I did all my own notching and welding. If you can do this, it will save you significant amounts of money. If you don't weld, you can still cut and notch the tubing to save money.

Have you considered fabricating some sort of box covered in carpet to hide your stereo stuff? Just a thought.

Boo

 

I didn’t know that one of the bars would interfere with the arm rest. I’m glad that you posted this now instead of finding out the hard way

I don't have a problem cutting holes in the dash pad as long as I do it before I make my attempt at recovering it. That way I won't have foam showing and can try to incorporate the cuts somehow.

As for the stereo stuff, I thought about a carpeted amp rack to hide the amps, but it would still stand out to anyone that knows the car (and it would be pretty big so it would probably be obvious to those that don’t know the car too, not to mention that it would be heavy). The rear seat install is completely stealth and I don't loose much by leaving the rear seat in. The cushions are just huge pieces of foam, so there's very little weight to them. I should go grab one and weigh it since it’s they're all out of the car right now.

 

Maybe this will help. There are "bolt-ins" that are less intrusive.

Boo

 

how much weight did that add to the car?

 

This is a guess----about 70-80 lbs. I justify it in my mind as being a chassis stiffener, safety feature, and the weight is toward the rear. I'm putting a big block in this car and am trying to lose weight where I can, so it hurt to add this weight.

The interior plastic, headliner, and carpet will go back in for comfort and looks. I can justify the 20-30lbs all those pieces weigh collectively.

Boo

 

That defantly helps and looks like it is exactly what I'm looking for right now. By the time I'm eventually ready to race I can always add on to a base like that.

 

I originally installed a 6 point roll bar in my car when I started dipping into the 11's. I weighed all the bars. It added 70 pounds to the car. A roll bar needs all the bars to be 1-3/4" in diameter.

When I finally went fast enough to need a full cage, I decided to do it properly. I cut out the large tube roll car and installed a fresh cage. In a roll cage, the largest diameter tubes are only 1-5/8" and not all of them need to be that big. Main hoop, rear tubes, A-pillar bars, halo bar and normal door bar are all 1-5/8". All the other bars in my cage only need to be 1-1/2". Although I saved a bit of weight by using the smaller tubes allowed in a cage compared to a roll bar, I never did weigh all the cage tubes. Estimate would put it at 120 - 150 pounds. Advantage of a simple roll bar or a full cage is the increased stiffness of the car. My car's body doesn't flex at all. Even with a T-top, there's no body cracks.

I have no interior so there was never a problem on how to run the tubes. I still use a dash pad but it's just for cosmetics. I chopped off the ends to fit it between the A-piller tubes.