celigts":onea3txp said:
I'd like to do what I can and have it as professional and not cheap out. A cage will give me more confidence and feel better knowing it will handle what I'll throw at the car.
I'll be starting with autocross so if 4 point will be sufficient then cool but if my builder would rather do it up to the 6 point then be my guest I'll make it happen if he wants to help and bring it the extra mile.
He has never done a cage and is just a fabrication tig welder so he has the skill but will need to do himself some research. Anything I should help him out with? Steps I should let him know of if he doesn't find out.
Should I remove the headliner when he does this?
Mafix that step was to keep it level along the rocker right? Do you have the full job in your project thread?
You can pretty much do what you want as long as you prepare it correctly, the only sequence I would suggest is do not weld the cage to the car until you have welded the top of the cage together, it's impossible to get a welder to the top of the cage with it in place unless you cut holes in the roof.
You will have to remove the headliner and all the interior plastics near to where you want to fit a cage, the heat from the welder will set it on fire. If you follow the "rules" of fitting a cage to the letter, then the cage should be as close to the outer shell as possible so no room for a headliner, but as with anything you can make it as you wish and leave a gap, the cage will still do its job, but will allow the car to crush a little in the event of a crash. Not ideal but not a catastrophe.
I am just fitting a rear cage, the main hoop from the b pilar backwards, but full on rally style, a four point cage would be fine, but I would at least put the diagonals in for strength, so five tubes in total plus at least 3mm steel for the mounting points.
I have rushed this a bit as I am just off to work, but basically, do the minimum that you want to start off with, you can always add more later if you want, it's hard to take stuff away.
Also choose the wall thickness carefully, too thin and it won't do it's job and it won't bend right, 2.7 mm is the current recommended thickness for roll cage tubing.