Just got my car back from the chassis shop. I had a S&W Racecars 8point roll bar installed. Its tied into the subframe connectors and the SSM lift bar kit. The body is so stiff now, the Ttops used to creak when going up a curb, not anymore! I do have to say this though, Its a pain in the butt to get in and out of. Can't wait to get the interior back in and install the 5 point seatbelt harnesses and get this thing to the track. I had tabs welded espically to mount those belts onto the crossbar. Anyway, just thought I would share my excitment!

 

I was thinking of getting a cage myself now i am sure i will.
Looks exellent.


Jeff

 

Ive got a 10 point cage im getting installed soon. I take it you left your headliner out when it was done. Is that going to be easy to get back in? How about the interior platics? I want to put those in once the cage is done. But im worried if its even possible.

 

Nice!!! that looks excellent!!!my friend is going to do that to his Camaro......now i know what to expect..

 

Wow, looks nice. Will look really good with the interior back in, but it doesn't look like that'll be really easy to do, huh?

 

Here's my rollbar which I just had done a few weeks ago. It's a 6. and I got swing out sidebars since I only go to the track once in awhile. I still climb over most of the time but you get used to it(I'm pretty skinny so that helps too). My rear bars go into the hatch area b/c I'm keeping my rear seat in. I'll cut my speaker board around the bar and when it's in it'll look good. Right now it looks kind of dumb IMO.



As far as the interior goes it can definitely go back in if you plan ahead. I gave the chassis guy the rear armrest plastic pieces, the pieces where the rear lap belt coms through. That way he knew where to weld the main hoop in a good location while not making it impossible for those parts to go back in. It's a crazy tight fit but it does go back in with a little work. I also had my headliner redone and I installed it BEFORE the bar went in as advised by the chassis shop. You could do it after but it's harder. I haven't finished putting it all back in yet but almost. If you want I'll post pics when it's back together or send an e-mail and I'll send them to you.

 

Those are some sweet bars but i've got a convertible and i want a roll bar to stiffen the body. Anybody know of a company who carries bars for the convertibles? I drive my car every day so i don't want the bars going from the back to the front of the doors.

 

heres what it will look like when it done( if you DO have one installed in your vert------you will have to fine a fabricator or go to your local race-oriented shop and ask them if they can fabricate a 2-point roll bar--

-(Basically, it's the main hoop from a 12-point cage set-up) (ask them to install a 2 pt main hoop only! ! !)

 

First thing you should get if you haven't already is a set of sub-frame connectors welded in. They make a big difference.

 

------------I am looking into that now the shop that installed my roll bar suggested a shop that does that..........

 

Thanks for the nice comments guys!

There is about 1/2 in gap between the top bar and the roof. Enough to squeeze a headliner in there. I took the headliner out for 2 reasons.

1- My chassis man asked me to due to when the joints are mig welded, it tends to throw a lot of sparks and he didn't want to risk burning it.

2- Its much easier to paint the bars without worrying about getting paint on the interior panels and headliner.

I gave all the interior plastic panels and overhead console to my chassis guy when he installed the cage in order for every thing to clear and fit properly.

If you notice in my pics, the rear bars go straight to the hatch floor. I had cut my rear seat mounts out and gotten rid of the rear seats. There was no clearance problems with rear seats so we modified the kit to go straight to the rear spring perches for extra rigidity. The front bars also go straight through the floor to the subframe connectors. Defineatly get the subframe connectors installed first. There's not much point in installing a cage if it has nothing to tie into. In the rear where there is no frame members to mount to, we used steel plate to anchor the rear bars to above and inside the rear spring perches. Had to move them in a little bit to clear the interior trim panels. Other kits that have to clear the rear seats have surved rear bars like ones in RYN28's pics.

One more thing to consider. I had to order special side bars that go to the floor next to the seats that were bent especially to clear the armrests. The stock kits come with bars made for race cars without armrests, so make sure you get the right ones.

Oh man, the best thing about 'vert roll bars is that they can be assembled then taken out the car to be chrome dipped. {possible due to no roof on car}. I've seen a few like that and looks sooooooo sweet.

I'll try to get more pics up once I get the interior back in.

This is the site where my cage kit came from:
http://www.swracecars.com/

 

I deleted my pics back accident trying to do something so here they are again.

 

Those cages are bad @$$!! would you guys mind telling me how much they cost to get done? thanks for any info!!!

Mike

 

Very Nice!!! Pretty crazy guage cluster too!!!

 

Saleen, The kit costs around $150.00. The install labor with some customizing was $450.00 by a local chassis shop that builds full tube race cars. I thought that was a pretty good price considering all that was done.

CrazyHawaiian, thanks for the complement about the gauges. I made it myself out of sheet aluminum and covered it with carbon fiber film. Here are some closeups for you. Sorry but I still have some holes there to fill.........lol

I apologise about the mess in the car, I'm still trying to find time to get this thing back together

 

"by a local chassis shop that builds full tube race cars"

Not that I know sh*t about welding, but the weld on the bar that'd be behind the drivers left shoulder looks kinda sloppy... Car Craft got a roll cage certified, and if the welds were sloppy it wouldn't pass...


I like those custom guages. Well done custom clusters are sweet. By the way, good choice not going with the ***** spec white face guages!

As always, the above is IMHO, and your mileage may vary.

-5

 

x5finger, I understand what you are saying. I didn't see that article you are talking about. How sloppy is sloppy, if you know what I mean?

If it don't pass i'm gonna go back there and kick his butt..........LOL.

He did tell me when I picked it up that it will have no prob passing certification. Guess we will see. But, for what I got it for, which was to stiffen up my T-Top car, it works better than I ever thought it would.

Thanks for the compliment on the clusters!

Jay

 

I've seen a few setups with the gauges like that in the dash and it looks badass. Nice job. I have an aluminum panel to do that kind of setup but then I changed my mind. Seeing it again kind of makes me wish I had went through with it. If anyone's interested I'll sell the aluminum panel but the gauges holes need to be cut where you want them. The panel now is solid except for the mounting screw holes and the "windows" on the bottom left/right sides.

 

Some of those welds do look a little on the cold side AKA lack of fusion.

 

Edit

 

That cage looks great, and definately easer to get in and out, but I don't believe that it is NHRA legal, so you'll still get thrown out of a track if you're running 11.99 or faster.

A while back I saw some company selling a cage that had that bar run horizontally to the front. Looked like an easy to live with cage, but it wasn't NHRA legal either.

Of course, last I knew, the swing out side bar wasn't NHRA legal either, but lately I seem to be hearing otherwise.

 

Edit

 

All these pictures of roll bars makes me want to add one. But i sure would hate to take all the interior out again

 

The swing out sidebar is NHRA legal. I usually don't open them for getting in or out though. They helped putting the interior back in but I got them because I liked the idea of being able to remove them.

 

I plan on putting the same one in on my car!!

 

hehe try getting in and out of mine!

 

That' nothing. Try climbing in and out of this thing without smacking your head.

 

Here is another one. I haven't figured out how to post more that 1 pic. at a time.

 

last one.

 

Great cars guys!

 

I was thinking about a roll cage but now i am convinced, i want one. Too bad it will be one of the last things i do. Hey Z28esser you live not to far away from me.

 

i see that!Thats cool...someone needs to have a Ohio car meet.Then i could have a reason to bring outthe primered beast lol.

 

Did you minitub that or backhalf it or what?? Looks like its almost a backhalf but I cant tell.

Can you tell us more about your car? looks like a pretty serious effort there.

 

Was going to mini-tub it, but decided it was easier just to throw a whole tub in it. The car is just cut over to the stock sub-frame. The subframe is still there, but I have a 4-link in the car. There is no added frame rails. It is like an old-style NMCA Super Street car before they really got out of control. Looking to run somewhere in the mid to bottom 8's. It's an all aluminum big block F.A.S.T injection on a sh*tload of nitrous. Hoping to be able to get this car done this year. It is going to be close.

 

Very nice ! Definite Thumbs up!

 

i was thinking about getting something together but i wanna have the body and paint done first on my car.

 

BJM323, I'd love to see more pics of your backhalved car especially underneath and how the 4 link frame ties into the unibody.

 

The car hasn't been backhalved. There is a crossmemeber for the front 4-link mounts like a ladderbar setup would be. The stock subframe is still there. We just cut the floor over to the subframe and put tubs in rather than mess around widening the stock wheelwell. That is why the rollcage extends into the hatch area to where there is a bar that runs from one subframe "rail" to the other. This provides the extra support for the unibody. Let me know if you still want to see pictures. I will try to get some this weekend.

 

Id like to see what it looks like underneath.

 

give me a couple of days and I will get you some pictures.

 

My digital camera took a dump. It will be another couple of days till I get some pics. up. Hey Guido, how do you post more than 1 picture at a time?

 

Hey, can somebody answer a question? If the swing-out sidebar is legal, how about a bolt in one, maybe that's sandwiched with plates that allow a solid four-bolt job so there won't be flex. That way I could take the sidebar completely out when I'm not at the track/

 

The sidebar is bolted in. There is a thick bolt on the bottom with a locknut that the bar pivots on. On top it has a pin you pull out to swing the bar open. Remove the bottom bolt and pull the pin and the bar comes out.

 

Thanks ryn28. I guess if it's still legal, then the swing-out bar still gives plenty of protection. That's probably the direction I'll go then.

 

Gorgrous, that cage looks NICE...

 

I love those last ones. Definatly not a street car!!

 

I know this isn't interior related but, this is where it started. Hope this gives you some idea of what we did. Any questions or want a picture of something else, just drop me some email.

 

another one.

 

one more.

 

Whoops! Original pics. were too big. Let's try this again