Progress!! Roll cage under construction!
 

After a few months of minimal progress, I dropped the FC off at the fabricators place for my new custom roll cage. This has been a major mind deal after dealing with several outfits to get the job done only to have something go wrong, be it my side or theirs.

I am hoping to have it back in a couple of weeks, and I will have some pics by then. He's about an hour away from me, so I can't just drive by to check it out. The guy is good though, and has been building racing chassis for 20+ years from local circle track to ARCA and ASA.

When the essential contruction has been completed, I'm going to pay a visit (at his request) to make sure that everything is how I want it, then he will finish off all of the welds and I will pick it up.

In addition to the basic 8-point ITS cage, I have incorporated a full X into the main hoop, a Petty bar running to the RS floor mount, NASCAR-style driver door bars, and an added roof support bar. I have a basic design concept in bitmap, but it's too large a file to attach, and I can't get is small enough with any clarity. Oh well.

I will likely have to run the dash up to him sometime this week, so if I can snap a few pics while I'm there, I will post them up.

Sweet!!!!!! Congrats! Definitely want pics..

If there's only one thing I could tell you I would have done different on my cage, it would be to move the front a-pillar bar location to the sill instead of the floor. Kinda hurts leg room where it's at, and I'm worried I'm going to bust an ankle on it (not sure if being on the sill would really help much in a real accident with that, but it's a concern with how it sits now)

PaulC

Thanks for the feedback, Paul. I was on the fence as to how to do the front down tubes. When Racecar Engineering had a fabrication shop, we did a lot of SCCA cages, and this is a picture from an E-Prod FC that we did in the attachment.

I like how it was done, but in trying to fabricate the lower boxes myself, I thought it might be easier to do an "L" shaped plate on the floor, and tie it to the rocker. The other issue I was worried about is the wording in the GCR, ITCS 17.1.4.D.10.a.3 which states" The forward part of the cage shall be mounted to the floor of the vehicle." It could be argued on both sides as to whether a rocker box meets the rule, but I decided to err on the side of caution.

Cages...
 

I like those front drops but I don't think they'll go over too big in many raod racing scrutineers eyes. My rules state that the the drop is to be mounted to a plate affixed to the floor and no less then 4 inches by 5 inches. What they didn't say is if the mounting plate can be angled/bent so this is what I did...

Cages...
 

Again... More detail and including the door bars...

P.S. Took the two of us 3 days to do the 8-point cage to spec. Came out cherry. I'm in Toronto if you want any cage work done and are nearby.

what class is this for Jason? SCCA has a rule of 2" per side minimum IIRC, maximum of 100 sq inches total pad area.

I hear ya on the rule, but honestly, in my case, I would have fought it, I worry about my ankle, even with all the padding.

PaulC

is there no set standard for cages in the US? in New Zealand there is a governing body for all racing except drag racing. they have a yearly published manual with all the ins and outs of cages, and what can and cant be done.

for what its worth my down bars onto the floor look similar to the ones post by Team Wire Racing.

Cheers
Shane

Sports Car Club of America sets the standard for the racing we do. Due to the limitations of various cars, they do not dictate exactly how mounts, etc. must be done, but rather specify the minimum criteria you must meet when you do them.

The picture I posted will provide a couple of inches more space to the left of the driver's ankle, but I decided that the rules are calling for something more like racerjason posted. We are also allowed to use mounting plates that have up to 100 sq. in. per plate, which is quite a lot if you think about it. I told my fabricator to use the largest, reasonable mounting plates possible, and to butt the tube to the rocker, then weld the tube to the plate at the bottom and all the way up the side. That should make it as strong as anything.

Chris, What I did to my 914 project was to build a top plate like yours with the addition of a hole in the top of the rocker; I then ran the cage leg doun to the bottom of the rocker where another plate was welded to the underside of the car. Then the leg was welded where it passed through the top plate. Ties the cage into more of the cars structure. John

PaulC It was buit to spec for Canada Challenge GT Cup (ASN FIA Sanctioned) and Ontario regional road/sprint racing (CASC Sanctioned). I think it conforms to some other though as well, perhaps NASA.

BTW Jason, your rules conform to SCCA rules too (as long as you're under the 100 sq in rule), just more stringent that SCCAs.

Chris, where's the pics? :D

PaulC

Silk,

It's more like, "Where's the camera?". I usually have easy access to a digital camera, but I'm having a hard time lately. Hope to have some done by this weekend. I'll let you know. The cage turned out pretty sweet!

Later.

LOL, gotcha :)

PaulC