so im undecided on what type and brand of roll cage to get..

the car is gonna be a daily/auto-x'er..

which roll cage would be the best to get, as far as brand/where to buy/rigidity?

4,6,8 or 10 point?

 

???

 

I would say a cage is pretty much pointless on a daily driver or auto cross car. Are cages required in any Auto-X class? I would imagine not as typically there is very little collision risk during auto-x.

If you simply must get a cage, the only way to go is custom. That way you can get the fit you really want.

 

its more for structural stability and rigidity as well as the 'roll' in roll cage.

so, the jegster cage and the hawks cage wont work or what?

 

Those will work just fine. Just won't have that TIGHT fit that a custom cage would have. But then again.....NO off-the-shelf cage will have the tight fit that a custom fabbed cage would.

 

It is very important to make sure your head can't hit the tubing in case of a collision on the street.

 

There's a difference between a roll bar and a roll cage. It's not a cage unless it has the halo bar and a-pillar bars.

I have no idea what the requirements are for an autocross roll bar but a basic 6 or 8 point roll bar with swing out door bars is fine for a daily driver however any proper roll bar or roll cage means the back seat becomes useless.

As for fit and quality, the S&W kits are very good.

 

ahh, see. i didnt even think about that! but im only 5'9" so it should be okay right?

interesting..

oops..i guess i want a roll bar then..and im not running like SCCA or anything official..just for fun track days..

idk if this is a plausible argument but wont the swingouts create a weak point in the setup?

the backseats are coming out either way so thats alright

S&W..isnt that what hawks sells? or is it cheaper/better to get em straight from them?


was looking at this one..would it be good and give me the extra stability/rigidity that im after?

http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/ca...mildsteel.aspx

 

???

 

I want to know too I, heard wolfe cages are good. ive no exepraince with cages yet but same boat

 

yeahh..orr said his 8-point competition engineering cage is pretty good so i might just do that

 

As a daily driver it is going to suck getting in and out with that cage.

 

nahh..i dont see it being bad..dont think it'll bug me quick release steering wheel is gonna help

 

I really wouldn't do it unless you have a need for it. As said before its just going to be a pain. Do you really have nothing better to spend $1000+ on?

 

I have the S&W 8 point roll bar mild steel kit. Mines basically going to be a street/strip car. The roll bar was put in years ago. The kit I got from a group purchase deal. I had under $600 or so in the kit with dual swing outs and installation at a welding shop. Mine has dual swing outs and clearanced door bars for the arm rests. I'm 6'4 but I adjusted the main hoop to be within the limits of the tech book at the time. Swing outs use extremely large bolts and high tensile pin and they are double shear (it would have to shear both edges bottom and top). That makes them pretty strong.

The kit was pretty much rough cut so you'll have to trim it and adjust your angles on the cuts to get the bars where you want them. It's also a good time to add in your mounting tabs for the harnesses.

You're definitely adding some weight when you add one, so keep that in mind. If you're just going for more rigid chassis you'll get more bang for your buck from doing wonderbar, sfcs, and other suspension upgrades first.

 

I have the 10 point competition engineering one installed.
If I had to do it again I'd just do the 8 point.
The 10 is just a pain to get in and out of if your tall.
my

 

do you have a 220volt mig or tig to weld this in? Buying the roll bar is the cheapest part of the project, normal shop rates are $100-175 a point for whatever you buy for labor.

 

yeah a good shop can do 100 a point, so 800 for 8pt isnt bad... I got a good buddy that has his own shop, so couple hundred for the competition engineer kit and 300 bucks install for me and i made out with a 8pt bar for under what a shop would normally charge, including his work since he does cages at 100 a point. The kit saved me like 300 bucks so it was well worth it and fit great in the end.

I have no issue getting in and out of the car. I have more issue getting in and out of the Corbeau Forza seats than anything. roll bar side bars help me get out

 

Orr89rocz- I'll help you out, and take those seat off your hands and give you my c4 vette seats instead...i don't want you to have a difficult time getting in and out of your car now...

 

Haha thanks but once the effort is spent to get in the car, its well worth it

 

ive done all that..thats why im doing the cage

 

what quixck realease are you going with?

 

NRG

 

Go look at the SCCA or NASA rules for roll bars and cages. Build it to those specs if that is the type of thing you want to do.

What youll get if you buy a cage for drag racing will first off not be DOM tubing, you will get ERW. ERW is not allowed for road race/autox stuff. Second off, some of the tubes may not be 1 3/4 inch diameter. All of the tubing needs to be 1 3/4 .120 or larger/thicker. You will also not get a diagonal for the main hoop.

Floor plates have to be at LEAST 4"x4" and have to be formed to the floor pan where they are welded. You'll need a harness, you'll need to weld the harness bar at the appropriate height. This means that you'll need to set up the seat you plan on racing in. If your seat is not FIA approved you'll need to install a back brace attached to the harness bar.

The only thing you really need is a main hoop (for a 6 point) bent up for you. The installer is going to have to do the rest.
Take it from me, I have done this in my garage, this is a MUCH bigger project than you think it is if you want to do it correctly.

I suggest just finding someone that can provide a pre bent DOM hoop and then getting the rest of the tubing from a metal supply house. I got all of my DOM tubing from industrial metal supply in S.D. myself. I know there are places like that up north.

 

drag racing cages are DOM, not erw so I don't know where you got that idea from.

 

I think my comp engineering kit isnt DOM...its 1-3/4" O.D. x .134" wall and DOM is .120 i believe. But just need to meet minimum SFI requirement of .118" and most .134's are only as thin as .124". DOM has tighter tolerances.

 

Probably from the jegster kit I bought, and all the other kits I saw for sale that explicitely said erw. Only kit I'm aware of that is dom is from autopower and they charge an arm and a leg for it. So I don't know where you found a dom drag kit but id like to see it.

 

Shoot a PM to a member here called "esc" about this.

His car has everything done suspension wise. I asked him awhile back to give a rating (1= no difference, 10 = fantastic) to his various suspension mods. Here is what he had to say.

Struts (Koni) 7
Shocks (Koni) 6
Springs 4
Wonderbar 0
Solid bearing upper strut mounts 5
Subframe connectors 8
Panhard bar (rod ends) 6 (eliminates lateral wheel hop while cornering only)
Lower Control Arms (rod ends) 6 (wheel hop only)
Torque Arm 0
Sway bars 8
3 point Engine brace 0
Roll cage 0
Solid control arm bushings 10 (every time I turn the steering wheel)

I found the rating of 0 for the roll cage intriguing. I always figured that the roll cage would stiffen up the chassis. But he says he noticed no change. He's running about 600 HP through his '82 Camaro.

So I would say spend the money somewhere else and enjoy the freedom to get in/out of the car as well as use the back seat.

 

...or he can come out to adams time attack in riverside which is near him and see how my car runs with the mods I have (to include a 6 point cage built to nasa/scca rules). I might even put a passenger seat in it so he can ride along. He'll have to try and find something to hold on to though. That way you can compare and contrast lap times from other cars (evos, stis, miatas, bmws, maybe even an exotic) vs "feels like"
Things to learn? not one aftermarket tubular part is necessary. I have three tubular items I put together using parts from coleman racing. Tires, shocks, springs, geometry, weight are the most important things. Upper strut mounts help with neg camber and shock travel number 1. The bearing over bushing hardly does anything. The bearings develop slop in them in no time anyway. Shorten the wheel base. Shed as much weight as possible, etc etc etc..
Socal thirdgens is having a get together on the 12th of july at the track. Perfect opportunity.

 

I'm surprised there too... Subframe connectors I think also do alot just by themselves so if he put in the cage after sfc's then you'd notice very little. I cant remember if i had SFC before my roll bar or after or at the same time... I want to say before but either way, SFC and cage really stiffened up my car.