Risking

My apologies I forgot about the first two drawings showing the compulsary diagonals. Being a molly cage has it been engineered or did they use nominated thickness materials? Once this cage is done ive got one to do for another member on here then a full molly cage in an R34. Have had to submit drawings of the molly cage to the engineer before I begin so he can do the simulated testing. Ill be sure to log the progress of the molly cage as its a totally different procedure to get it approved. Alot of work has gone into that Z car cage thats for sure. The firewall work is very similar to what ill be doing with this cage. Ill have the bars located slightly different on the shock tower but the same layout. Very close to what I do with the GTR's as well. On the inside where the bar meets the lower point of the leg it would have been nice to have it lower but im guessing the way the fire wall is done made that not possible.

Jay is using an ATi balancer on his engine. I use ROSS on mine but dont use the ROSS dry sump gear I turn up my own and modify the pulley the suit the way I wanted it done. They are a good bit of gear and work well.

There is ample room for a good seating position with that hoop. Besides that Boz is a short arse and will be seated well forwards anyways, my gtr is donethe same and no problems. You are aware that you need some form of diagonal inside that hoop?? It won't pass anything like that. It also seems along way off the roof line at the top? Any particular reason you did it that way?? Marlin I drop every cage through the floor and TIG weld every joint the full 360 degrees. Back a few pages there is some good photos of how I drop them and do the roof bars etc. I ant see the point doing a cage if you don't welded it and finish it off properly.

A few better quality photos of what has happened over the last few days and from the write up above. Still have to plate the cage in only have the top plates done now not the full box sections. Over the next few days ill finish off the bases and get the rest of the car cleaned up ready to be painted. Also need to go over each weld and tidy up a few tight places to get to like inside the intrusion bars etc From this photo you can see how close the drop part of the front leg is to body of the car.

No problem at all. Ive got room for it even if it has to sit for a week before I get to it.

Well today I got the main hoop finished. To me this is how a hoop should be done. A full cross from corner to corner with a horozontal bar across the center os the cross intersection Basicly we run a string line from point to point where the center of the 38mm tube will line up. From there I use an angle finder and set the desired angle in the knotcher. Knotch out the end and measure the total length of the bar required. Set up for the other end of the tube and knotch it out at the length needed. That gives me one solid diagonal bar which is then Tacked into position. Next I string line up the other side of the hoop which in theory should be identical if you've done the job properly. Mine was roughly 1 degree different which is nothing. So we make an indentical bar for the other side but this one needs to be knotched in half to intersect the solid bar. So the distance is measured and the angle measured. Then the solid bar we have has the knotcher put through it at the distance and angle needed to make the joint. In theory if you do it right then the two bits your left with should fit into the hoop perfectly and make a neat cross. Then we cut the horozontal bars and calculate the same type of angles for the interesection. These are a really tight fit and can require some persuasion with a rubber hammer to fit and get level. The exact same method is used to do the cross in the rear legs. One solid bar, the other knotched out where the interection is and fitted into place. Its a time consuming process of measure 3 times cut once The dash bar has also been done, I make them fro 44mm tube same as the main hoop as when running bracing off through the fire wall there can be alot of load put on this bar. With the dash bar fitted and holding the legs out where they should be the front legs sit hard up against the body of the car, there is not even 5mm between the tube and the body. Still left to do is the bar between the two rear shock towers, two bars on each side from the intrusion bar/hoop intersection to the rear leg mounting plates. and the final difficult part the 6 bars that will penetrate the fire wall. From both upper and lower intrusion bar/front legs points to each shock tower and then from the center of the dash bar out to teach shock tower as well. Sorry the photos are average they are shitty I phone jobs but will get some good quality shots of the cage latter today or tomorrow

are you ahead of schedule or am I behind!

ill be there once again. May even try and shout the car a new set of slicks if the budget can stretch that far.

Alot of people use generic mild steel rods but from the engineering Ive had done in the past im told they dont have enough tensile strength, so for anything that does not need to be inspected mild steel filler would be fine but if it does need to be engineered then er70s-6 is required or er70s-2 is more prefered but expensive. I use er70s-6 on pretty much everything and -2 on anything molly or CDS if the owner wants to spend a few bucks more. As for inspections it is advisable to have the cage looked as it is constructed If the design falls outside the basic CAMS guidelines as if there is a problem it can quickly and easily be rectified. Cages like this only require certification from the fabricator and they are typically looked at when the car is pre scuited before its first meeting. So no this type of cage does not require any inspections of roof welding etc etc. Its crazy, the space frame GTR im building has to have the cage inspected but the chassis its self can be built from water pipe and welded with a ARC welder for all cams care. Ive always put the horozontal bar in my main hoops. Every hoop ive done has a full diagonal cross and a horozontal bar. Same as the rear , full cross between the legs. I wont do a cage unless the hoop is crossed, rear legs are crossed, intrusions are done to the bends or very close to it (depends on the height of the leg bend etc), dash bar between the front legs and there is some form of V or cross in the roof. To me thats the bare minimum a circuit car should have. Typically things go a little further like old mate Boz's car here.

I do agree which is why I said something. I see alot of skylines and silvias running around doing sub 10's at wakefield without even a decent hoop and rear legs.

ill have a set of these in my R32 GTR race car for the next meeting. They are being checked and tested right now before we fit them up. Ill be keeping my old spring rates and going from there so after some testing ill be sure to post up results

Like Boz said we have discussed this cage at great length and planned what both john and myself were comfortable doing with it. The way we both see it is that the car will be capable of some serious pace and if it was ever involved in an accident there should be no "i wonder if we did this instead" It has changed alot over the last few weeks, from a stocker 180 to this already. Ive got a few little projects on the go that you are as always more than welcome to drop by a check out mate. Thats the exact reason that cage is in my own GTR. Its pretty intense and can be a pain in the arse at times but I feel safe and know there will be no if buts or maybes should it be involved in an accident. I honestly rekon anyone doing any form of motorsport without a good cage is an idiot. Weight, road car bla bla I dont think is a good enough excuse for not having something. I do have a genuine question for klusio.. Why have you done the main hoop cross like that?? The idea of the cross is to provide strength to the hoop from bend to base to stop it folding over in a roll. I know access to the rear is valuabe etc but id have thought being a rally car you'd want as much strength as possible?

and before anyone comments, id say im more than "qualifed" to build cages................

Im not even going to comment on the above posts. I can see major flaws with the AE86 and the Supra and the skyline for that matter, but its not my place to say anything as im sure people probably have comments about the job Ive been doing too. At the end of the day if the person racing the car is happy with the job then thats what matters as its them who's putting their faith in the job. On anpother note we now have the rear section crossed up and the rear legs all but welded into the car. Left to do id the main hoop cross, the base plates and boxing then the firewall penetration. Ill do write up latter about the rear section and how the legs are done and welded up properly.

how far away from the A pillir is your front leg??? From that photo the bend is in the wrong position and the leg starts to drop far to early not letting it sit close enough to the pillar?? Typically I put the downwards bend right up against the roof and have the leg travel down about 15mm from the a pillar. Im guessing yours is alot more than that??

If someone is willing to give you 5 grand for a 21st b'day pressent then my sincere advise to you would be to NOT waste it on an engine that potentially could go bang 5 Km's down the road when you pick it up from the workshop. A good rebuild and package costs alot more than you have and in my oppinion it would be most disapointing to see someone elses hard earned money go down the drain when you could have invested it or done something meaning full with it. either that or put more to the job and get it done the right way first time around. Dont take me the wrong way im all for spending cash on cars, im one of the worst for it, just do it right though.

we had a similar issue finding 18's to fit over the 997 cup car brakes. The 380mm rotors make finding wheels a real pain in the arse. We've currently got 18*10's front and rear in volk. And have a pait of Mesh BBS that just clear them as well also 18*10

good explaination. Was a rehitorical question on my behalf

hahaha me GTR has a massice hole in the shock tower and the fire wall from big RPM launches its kinda funny cause thats the reason I ended up with the car to begin with. Now I dial up even more RPM and step the clutch even harder and think everytime whoops wheres the flywheel.....

My apologies. It wasn't really meant as a shot at Stuart but when I re-read it it does kinda look that way. Needless to say any skyline out on the track is a good thing to see and if his found a simple solution that works for him then go for it i say. I personally went dry sump a while ago for a multitude of reasons, filling catch cans and having drains/breathers everywhere was one of them so yeah I do understand the frustration you would have encountered before trying the breather system you have used. My quicker car has done a high 4 around wakefield a mid 15 around GP, 45 flat at south and yet to run at the creek in the dry unfortunatly. The grey car sounds very similar to your one, but when we tried putting it on slicks we ran into a world of pain with the oil system. Are you coming out to the next MRA round at wakefield stuart?? alot of the guys run both series. would be great to get a couple of GTR's out the front of the field and provide some good racing. for those interested the IRS from oran park will be televised again on one of the fox sports channels tonight. Inside speed or something it was called.

bring the loom with you ryan. I can go through it all with you. the engine loom there is not a great deal you can do without. But as for the body loom the easiest way we have found is to strip the loom open and cut out everything that you dont need and re-tape the factory loom back together. We only do full re-wires on cars that dont have a factory loom anymore. The last 2 GTR's we built have stripped out factory looms with everything shortened and simplified where possible. It saves alot of headaches latter on down the track and makes the job so much neater and easier to fault find. We throw away to factory fuse and relay boxes and just run basic relays and fuses in the same or similar location to origianal. Its very easy to do and I dont mind running you through the basics.

i do agree, awhole day at a private practice day is required

Thats pretty much how I want it minus the door rubbers and the rubber mat behind the dash. Take the doors off too if you have somewhere safe to store them.

They must meet no further than 100mm away from the base of the leg/hoop. And all intersecting bars must meet within 100mm of each other.

or you could do away with everything complicated you have on there and put a single vent from the head to the crank case and not have any breather issues. The issue is that the crank case cant vent sufficiently, its been discussed at great length in various threads and proven by many individuals.