Hey guys Im doing an 8 point roll cage in my car this weekend and I realized that they are supposed to weld to the SFC's which I have, but need to cut away a lot of the floor and redo my exhaust to make them work. Could i leave them out and weld it all to the floor pan? would it be sturdy enough to run 400hp on Drag Radials with my TTops? It does not have to be certified or anything just keep the car from twisting on take off...

Thank you for your time,

~Chris

 

the roll cages are suppose to be welded to the floor with 6"x6" steel plates supplied in the kits. not suppose to cut the floors to be installed. the plates are welded to the floor where the subframes meet and are spotwelded to the floor pan. for strength

 

Okay so I really don't need the SFC's?

 

Yes. SFC tie the front and rear subframe together. With a unibody car, they are a necessity. A roll bar/cage does help to stiffen the car up a bit but doesn't work the same way SFC do so you need both.

The 6x6 plates need to be welded to the floor. These will provide 2 feet of weld to attach the roll bar tubes to the sheet metal of the car. The tubes are then welded to the plates. The plates can be heated up and formed over the sheetmetal for a better fit and the tubes don't need to be installed directly in the center of the plates.

 

I have read a lot of your post's and you seem to know your stuff lol do you think i would be okay for a few passes at the drag strip with a lioght foot brake launch on drag radials and 100 shot of nitrous? Or should i leave the nitrous out till im rolling?

Thanks so much

~Chris

 

What stall converter are you running and how is your nitrous being activated? If the car can stay stuck to the track, nail the nitrous right out of the hole. If it just spins, hit the nitrous later.

 

Stock Stall converter and the nitrous is on a WOT activation with a power switch to the solinoids in the cockpit so i can hit it when ever... Illl prolly wit till im at about 5mph or so but possibly off the line because of the low stall converter.

 

I understand that they are both good to have, but what ways are the functionality of the SFC different from the functionality of the roll bar. I have spohn SFC waiting to be installed and I'm thinking about getting a 6 or 8 point roll bar with swing out door bars. This car is used as my DD, autocross car, and the occasional drag race. I figured the roll bar will be a little better then just SFC for autocross, it will allow a safe way to use a 4/5 point harness, it will allow for future motor builds, and it will provide a race car look. I'm acutally not to concerned about the last one... it comes comes with it. If I had a choice, I would want to get a roll bar built into the car in way where you can keep the stock interior as is and no one would know you have the roll bar/cage ex: the headliner would hide the top of the main hoop.

 

A roll bar/cage doesn't keep the floor/body from flexing, stretching, bending etc. It will add some stiffness but doesn't tie the sheet metal floor/subframe together.

I've had custom weld in SFC since the first day I raced my car. I now have a full cage with a sill bar and still have the original SFC still installed because the cage tubes still don't join the subframes together. The rear subframe is now a back half but there's still no frame other than the SFC connecting the front to the rear.

 

wow geek we pretty much want the same thing with our cars. do u have a cage now?

 

Nope. No roll cage yet... not even a roll bar. My uncle helped me decide to hold off on it since my car is in such good condition and it being all original. Everything I've done to it can be reversed except for the SFC and I have all the original parts. Another reason I'm holding off is because my little 305 doesn't have the power that would make it a requirement.

Instead, I got some more suspension stuff.

Mike

 

well neither does mine but... we are susp cars its never a real requirement unless we are hard core at a track. im wanting to do very similer setup with mine only i have nothing original to keep. its an RS lol i have only driven at one autocross and that killed my old tranny.