Risking

We were discussion fire wall penetration tonight over the phone and yes it will now be a triple bar through the fire wall to the shock tower, Twin bars are difficult but triple is kinda hard to get symetrical and allow the booster to be used so yeah will see how it goes. Firewall bars are not done untill the legs and hoop are based and done. Im familiar with that method but it does not work well for me. I like to have the legs in and done before the intrusions as it makes getting into the car to do the cross work so much easier. Also the base plates are better made inside the car and welded up before the legs are attatched. You will see in the next few days why I do it this way and the rear legs are one VERY big reason I dont follow that method. The way I do it will allow the cage to be moved down AND forward which drops the legs down off the edge of the shock tower and hence away from the roof by about 3 inches. Its simple to do and over the next few days Ill have good photos and show the method for you.

That photo is showing a funny angle. Those two bars almost run parrallel to each other and meet at the main hoop. In between those two bars but on the other side of the hoop is where the rear legs will be welded too.

DECC stations are bullshit. Return to standard or dont pass. Engineers reports are usless EPS emmission tests are only sometimes accepted. They need to be more consistant

Thanks mick. Its not easy to get a cage done by me. Usually we're stupidly busy building our own cars but ive kinda put mine to the side (its next to this 180) to do this job for John which is also allowing me to do this thread. The more knowledge people have of the process and ammount of work required the better off the market in general will be. I see so many cages not welded right or not knotched properly. Im hoping people can approach cage builders with a bit more knowledge and the right questions to make sure they are getting the kind of job they want.

Okay today there was a lot of work happeneing. We got started by trial fitting the main hoop It fits pretty well as id expect from Peter really. So moving along the next thing we do is to knotch out the front legs and get them set up and tacked into position. Raise the hoop up through its holes and use scissor jacks to level it and hold it roughly in place. Make two more holes from the front legs to drop down into. We put them where ever we want and then cut the leg to length. This is the knotcher we are currently using, its from a company called speedwerx and is brilliant. Some careful planning is required to cut to length and get the angle of the knotch correct. Get it right and you will end up with a joint like this and a leg looking something like the next photo. The next thing we do to add some strength to the leg joints while raising and lower the cage is to add the supports and get everything square. Nothing is welded at this stage only tacked well into position While in this position we also knotch and fit the windscreen bar into position. Didnt get photos though. Nest thing is to drop the whole cage down through the floor, Like this.... While the cage is down now is the time to fit up the roof bars. We could do a full X but rather a roof V. Have always done it this way and it provides strength to the center of the screen bar that a X does not. Knotched fitted and tacked then raised back up it will look like this... Lowered back down after checking clearance we now add in the windscreen supports and check the cage is square again. The whole upper section is now TIG'ed in position and constantly checking the cage is staying square and level. Alot of work is required to get the thing to this stage, two guys and about 4 hours work. Here is a perfect example of why I TIG weld my cages, The joints need to be near perfect and you get results like this... Okay so the upper is now welded and we can lift the whole lot back up and weld the lower sections. Again alot of time is spent welding the joints and making sure everything is presentable and notched well. Welded up and raised this is what you will be left with So thats today's effort. Its taken alot of work and time but so far the results are good. John is wrapped with what ive showed him so far which is the most important thing. If there are questions about the way we have done things just ask. It may be different to the way others do it but this is the method that works for me and it allows me to fully weld every joint unlike some cages I see which have no welds around the difficult areas. Some lateral thinking and there is no excuse for un-welded areas. During the week ill be doing the bases and the rear section of the cage as well as the new dash support bar and begining the side intrusion bars and drop bar.

It will caged and looking shit hot I wanna chase the little rocket around oran, see if Canto can keep up too

Thats something I was contemplating is a time log. It took two guys 5 hours today to totally gut the car and have it ready for caging. That includes stripping the sound material from the floor but not fully cleaning it. I can give a good time estimate, but Jay and myself work very well together and have done heaps of cages in the past so were pretty efficient. Ill do my best to give an estimate of how long it would take though. With a weld in the majority of the time is in the fitting. A bolt in is very simple and takes no more than a few hours once its painted.

Oh thats funny. My GTR is so outside the box its ridiculous. There is not one original suspension pick up point on the R32, everything is custom from the mounting locations to the arms themselves. The angles, roll centers, everything is totally different to the original car We totally redesigned the suspension to run a wishbone style upper and lower arm. It works well but not well enough to warrant the cost should you have to pay someone to do it for you. There is nothing that wrong with the original car and id not build another that way again.

Done it a few times. Custom billet adaptors, some minor modifications to the upright to clear the adaptors. Rotors to suit. Wheels are dependant on the size of the rotor you choose. Master you need a 1 inch and a bias valve fitted to the rears

DJRIFT it depends on the type of car as to the windows coming out. I agree it should be welded by someone very confident in their welding. Its not a job to be taken lightly. There is procedures to follow which makes the whole job alot less stressfull all of which ill be sharing with eveyone in this thread. The job can be very daunting, esspecially when it comes to knotching and calculating angles etc etc. Today the car was Gutted and I mean gutted. There is nothing left, not one trim clip or wiring loom. We stripped the sound deadening out and have a little bit left to finish off before the real work begins Typically Idont do stripping its too much work and takes far to long. In this case I have made an exception and we did it today. Loads of work! This si the 180 being stripped. Dash out and a few things removed. This it it with everything just about removed and alot of the sound deadening taken from the body shell. Alot of work getting it to this point Afterwards we toyed around with the hoop and made sure it was wide enough etc. Basicly to begin with we hole saw holes in the body to allow the hoop to slide down through the floor. Not everyone does this but there is a few reasons I do it even when building a box section for the hoop to rest on. *it lets the cage drop right down to get the roof bars welded perfectly *if the holes are big enough you can drop the front more than the rear which lets you weld the intrusion bars and leg supports very easily. Important in a 180sx which has no room to weld around as the quarter windows are no where near the cage *makes marking the desired hoop height very easy. We will left it up and hold in place with scissor jacks, mark off the cutting length of the hoop ends and that way I know the lengths are correct instead of measuring I can pysically see. The bases will still be boxed into the corner and the hole plated up, but this method I like as it lets me raise and lower the cage alot more than without the floor holes. The easier it makes to weld the better the welding will be More to come tomorrow, hopefully if im motivated Ill get alot of it done like the hoop and front legs etc

for those who want to know, Shane is brilliant to deal with, no hassle and straight forward. Unique if shane cant help with the dry sump gear your after shoot me a PM and I may be able to help.

Thanks for that Shane, they will go to very good use thats for sure, The tank is also for the sports sedan so it will be used as well.

For what you want to do with the car Zebra weld in is a MUCH better option. Tim I used to mig weld all my cages but really dont like the finish. I now Mig the bases and plates to the floor but everything else is TIG'ed. If you are carefull and have a good quality knotcher Tig welded cages look so much better. One thing with this one is Boz will be using it as a promotional tool as well so it needs to be very presentable and look the part. Tig welding is the only option. Okay this is the "kit" that bonds have supplied us with. Im not 100% sure what the retail on this particular kit is. Ill ask petter and let you all know though. All the lengths are cut to the right length they just need to be knotched out at the right angles and made to fit. The legs will require some touching up around the bends to get them a little tighter to the pillars. There's a few bars that will be added to this kit and Im considereing doing a fire wall penetration as well considering John wants to keep it for a while and the cars are known to flex in the front alot. Everything is labeled, Pete and Allan spend some time getting the parts labeled and wrapped in pairs to make the job less jigsaw like come time to assemble it. This is the donor cage that John has given up. Its a really nice expample but race rally only so its going to be a purpose built car. The cage is only the begining for this girl but thats not the point of this thread. Tomorrow the car will be stripped to a bare shell and the work will begin.

They are pre Bent hoops and front legs. The roof bars have slight bends and so forth but everything still requires tweaking to fit well. The bolt in kits anyone could instal these require some thought and planning like you will see in a few days.

Chris log books and cage certification are different but I'll cover both in this tread I do my own certifications and have an engineer that I use when doing a Molly cage which is not oftern. The process is very simple providing you follow the basic cage designs. I'll put photos of everything up as it goes along this thread is not about drumming up business so posts like above are not needed. It's about the technical aspects of a cage and it's construction not making money or creating business.

Has anyone else had a stint in the MX5 to see how quick it will go?? Ill swap you cars next time were out. Get you into an overpowered GTR for a few laps.

Okay so there seems to be an increasing number of guys (and girls) who are wanting to get into entry level motorsport like the current MRA (motor racing aus) championship etc etc. The one thing they all need and dont seem to full understand is rollcages and what they have to go through to get one fitted and log booked etc. The ammount of time and labour and why it cost what it does to have the cage fitted when they have purchased a "kit" So I have a car here owned by the one John Boston. Its a little 180sx which we are building to run various events. Im going to update this thread and start a bit of a cage log for the guys who are interested. Basicly the idea is to show you what the car goes through and the entire process involved in fitting a weld in cage to a vehicle. From a complete car to a caged stripped interior. The Basic kit has been purchased from Bonds roll bars. It contains the main hoop, pre bent front legs and enough material to fabricate full intrusion bars, hoop cross, rear legs and full cross, roof diagonal, harness bar, front leg supports and a dash bar. Fairly extensive cage but also what I think is typical for the guys who are getting into motorsport to purchase and have fitted. I want to show the process we use, the notching methods and tooling we use (both manual and CNC cut) The welding procedures and the assembly procedure required to weld the joints properly and well. there is more to it that throwing some tube in and welding it up. The aim of this thread is not to start a cage war about procedures and whats the best way etc etc. I mearly want to outline the way it can be done and try to put some understanding out there for the guys who are thinking about caging a car but are not sure or have questions. I know there is alot of guys out there who already know what goes on and have a good idea of how cages are fabricated, but after some searching I found there is nothing showing a cage from Virgin car to final product with detailed photos and outlines. So thats what I think this thread can be for. Ill get some photos up tomorrow night of the basic Bonds kit and the car as it stands now. Then if people want to see it grow then Ill keep the thread updated and explain whats happened as it goes along. Hopefully it helps the community a little and inspires people to get their cars caged and out on the circuit. And before anyone PM's me asking if ill cage their car, sorry but no. Im too busy, im doing this thread as I get PM's left right and center asking how much the car gets screwed up and what needs to be done etc. So here it is in one thread.

Allan Smiths car??

Fuel system is finding its way into my sports sedan Paul.. It went to a good home

yeah 10min session in the morning to qualify then final positions determine grid position for the next race. Then the final race should you choose to enter is basicly reverse grid

djr81 is 100% correct with pretty much everything his stated about the GTR.

Going to need something. The engine and transmission are a bit longer than expected. Tailshft is very very short in the proposed position.

Yeah basicly moral of the story is thrash it pay no attention to it and it should do well. Stupid cars. Im not sure when the next round is. Its another wakefield one though

the space is more than ample its the ammount of shit I have in there thats the problem! Im looking to swap the cars around in the next few days and take it to somewhere bigger. Its almost time to try and mount an RB26 into a hole thats way to small.

yep I rekon your crazy to run without a shut down. Saved my engine and I can imagine yours wouldnt be cheap either!