In the interest of time, I may soon be purchasing the pre-bent weld-in autopower cage kit. I've seen many complaints online about the bolt-in kits not fitting close to the walls of the car, seemingly being designed to work around interior pieces. I just want to hear if anyone has had good or bad results with the weld in kit. I will be installing this in a totally stripped out chassis, with no interior to work around.

Thanks,
Ed

 

I purchased the U-Weld cage for my 84 gsl-se endurance racer.

The car is entirely stripped and if I am honest, when we finished the fit left a bit to be desired around the a-pillars and roof line in the front.

That being said I will summarize my thoughts/experience below as to not write an overly long post

1. We called them and said the car was totally stripped and we have tall drivers (I'm 6'4) so they said they would keep come extra length on the front and rear hoop. It was delivered as promised. Very good customer service.

2. Build quality is absolutely top notch. No kinks in the bends and the welds are perfect.

3. You have to trim and notch (and obviously weld) several pieces to install in the car. My friend and I did the fitting and notching using a drill press with a notching jig. We were both 100% amateurs so this is why I would hesitate to say "the kit doesn't fit well"
Heck, I might even say the kit was so well designed we couldn't even F it up!
We also had a professional do all the welds after we fitted.

4. The driver side harness bar is curved backward, to allow a seat for the driver, obviously. But the passenger side cross brace is just straight. This means we could not put a passenger seat in. Ultimately not needed for our race car but I would have like the option.

5. I use the car in Lemons, Chump, and NASA and the cage passes all tech inspections.

Bottom Line: It's the perfect option for someone who has enough gumption to measure and fit and notch and re-fit and remeasure, but doesn't necessarily have the fabrication background to feel comfortable bending and welding a cage from scratch.

That being said, now that I am more experienced and more confident, I plan to build my own cage from scratch for my next build.

Hope that helped?

 

10/10 absolutely perfect response. I could not find that level of detail anywhere on the internet. I will be sure to mention to them that I am a tall driver in a gutted car, too. It'd also be cool to have the bars bend such that they'd allow some passenger seat.

Thanks,
Ed

 

 

Glad to help.

Is this a race car?

There are plenty of threads about cage design and building so I won't get into it but here are my 2 cents about installing this cage:

-Get a tube notcher. Preferably one for a drill press.

-We also had a port-a-band (portable band saw). This was so nice. A chop saw could also work but it's a rougher cut and it can be hard to get the angles needed.

-Take the windshield out. Not sure if I can stress this enough.

-In order to get 360 degree welds on the main hoop you will need to lower the cage inside the car. To accomplish this, tack the cage together then cut 4 ~3" holes through the floor panels were the cage sits. It drops through the car, make your final welds, lift it up and slide your base plate over the holes and voila!

 

Yeah, that's the goal. I've got lots of mods so I can't run SCCA IT, but I think I could run track days and SOLO XP, later returning the car to stock to run SCCA IT.

Cage will be installed at a relative's racing shop that should have all the bending/notching equipment, just not enough time to trial/error bending a cage. My windshield is cracked and I'm planning on replacing it with Lexan anyway, so it'll come out for the cage install.

Will look into getting a portable band saw. That sounds deluxe.

Good to hear confirmation that the "drop the cage through holes in the floor" strategy works on an FB. I was worried about cutting through e.g. the boxed section on the floor behind the front seats.

I'm really looking forward to this install, and will definitely post pictures when complete as a thank you for the advice.

 

Ah yes, my other suggestion was going to be to build the cage at the family race shop.

 

I mean, doesn't everyone have a family race shop?

Shop's actually in Philadelphia, not far from you. Go figure.

 

KCREPU already posted my video, was the first thing I thought of when I saw this thread.

Check this out too, I have some more pics on my build thread that I just put up that you can take a look at too:
My Build Thread Post #32 with Autopower Stuff