awesomenick

Isn't that how blu808 does it? Cutting off the roof is hardcore. haha.

Cloud9

Nice cages, keep the pics coming im loving the ideas!

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chibo

Except that's how it is very commonly done.
Building a Roll Cage

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1989 S13 | 1996 S14 | 2001 E46 | 2009 ZX6R

gotta240

Now is this just another one of YOUR IDEAS or is this some factual info that you can provide evidence of?

I've spoken with fairly hardcore cage builders who are more than happy to cut a hole in the floor to get a PROPER FITTING cage. So seriously, do you have any evidence of this other than your opinion... Like quotes from REAL cage builders saying this? Untill then, i call bullshit.

blu808

Now now.

If you were retarded and were planning to just weld the hoop to the floor, then yes it might be a bad idea to cut a hole there.

If you are like any sensible fabricator you would know that the floor has about the same strength as a lunch box.

It is fine to cut a hole in the floor in order to lower the cage and get to the joints up top for proper welding. Assuming you are going to be plating and boxing the hoops mounting area in properly with 1/8" plate after the cage has been lifted back up.

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eDmSiL80

heres some of the progress pics











custom seat rails.


my teammate stevey boys cage.

scottie

Or you can take it outside the car........

s13dan

OK, heres my geuss on cages, i havent read anything outside this thread, nor do i know much about making one. I would say making a cage indepently boxed in, welded into the car is one way to do it. The floor keeps it in place, not so much for strenth. Or cant you weld it into the frame? The places that i see where the welds are on the floor, are directly in contact with the frame, is that right?I see jeep guys cut the floor to get to the frame.- Either way thats my 2cents i dunno shit. They all look great.I just love seeing ppl cut the roof off, seems to makes since if your wanting really good welds and easy to paint.

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89 240sx hatch #933-the hot rod
91 240sx coupe #131,603-the daily

lazysk8er2

so we got the cages in whats the weight factor anyone weigh their cars after they got it done? just wanna see numbers if neone has any. very very good work dudes lets see some more!

blu808

That is correct. However our cars do not have a frame to weld too. That is why you must box it into a major bulkhead.

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chibo

That's how it's done with offroad trucks - minus Cherokees, which are like most cars and the 240 - unibodies. There is no 'frame' in the traditional sense.

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1989 S13 | 1996 S14 | 2001 E46 | 2009 ZX6R

s13dan

unibody.... im sleepy. Yea i know that, the places where folks are placing gussets is really strong, multiply (six ply?) steel.And the strut towers=super strong. But no actual frame under it. Got it.

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89 240sx hatch #933-the hot rod
91 240sx coupe #131,603-the daily

DeadlyZ33

That cage is really sick but why did Pro Fab have to advertise on your shit?

gotta240

Read Blu808's reply before spreading more bullshit please.

racepar1

Huh, I've haven't heard of that before. You know I trust your opinion on fabrication of pretty much anything.

Relax nancy, nobody is perfect. YOU included!

scottie

Maybe its a southern thing but all the 8-9 second domestic guys around my place cut a hole in the floor, drop it through to weld the top of the cage, then lift it back up. They then weld the floor plate over small hole and weld the cage to the plates. Then they get underneath, patch the metal so it wont gather moisture and voila!

Scott

blu808

racepar1: yea no biggie man. :-)

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thefro526

It's more or less of preference and the spec the cage is built to for most installs. For most people it's easier to cut a hole in the thin piece of steel that we call a floor pan use that to get desired fitment then it is to cut off the roof like some people do. If you think about it, cutting a hole into the floor and then replacing it with an even stronger piece of sheet metal sounds better than just welding to the floor. Really, at the end of the day who the hell cares how a cage got in their car as long as it's safe, meets spec, and is cost effective.

s13dan

^^^ werd

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89 240sx hatch #933-the hot rod
91 240sx coupe #131,603-the daily

Wiisass

So for Justin's cage, it doesn't fit perfectly, it could definitely be better. The part of the main hoop that is above the harness bar and goes into the horizontal part at the roof isn't that far away, but it could be closer. But it's a compromise, you could have a cage that fits up against all the body panels, but then you spend as much time cutting parts out and welding them back in so you can weld all around the tubes that it ends up being not worth it. I also think that I was making the distance between the center of the two top bends on the main hoop a little closer to each other than I do now when I did that cage.

But it's strong, it fits pretty well and there's a ton of room for the driver, which I think it more important than having a tube 1/2" closer to the body. But also, my cages are always evolving, I am always finding different and better ways to do things, to make things fit better, to make them easier to weld, etc. I'm still very happy with how Justin's cage came out, the main hoop could be a little tighter and I could've done something a little different with the bends in the halo, but that's just nitpicking. You hardly even notice the cage when you're driving the car or even getting in and out. It's not intrusive or in the way, but you know it's there and strong.

I tend to leave a little room around points that are going to be in tight corners if possible. If you can't get a good weld all the way around the tube, then there is no point of even putting it there. On my cages, it's mostly the lower points that are tucked a little in. So the bottom of the main hoop and bottom of the a-pillar bars are pushed a little away from the wall so that I can get in there and make sure everything is strong. But I have been pushing the middle bend closer to the body than before. So now I put the location where the harness bar bolts up and where the dash bar goes across against the walls of the chassis.

With some of the cages I've seen that have bars with "perfect" fitment, I've noticed some that aren't even welded all the way around. Or there is some half-assed, make it look like it's welded crap going on. I just don't trust stuff like that.

It's definitely possible to get perfect fitment, but it depends on your process and how much time you really want to put into it. Cutting the roof off is one of the things that I would love to start doing, but people won't want to pay for it. There are also some other tricks that could be done to get bars in tighter spots, but again, it would get expensive labor wise. I wish I could have someone walk in and give me a blank check and tell me to hide the cage in the unibody. It would be awesome, but it's not going to happen.

As for the holes in the floor. I don't like them. It's not that it isn't a way to do it, but I just have some problems with it. It goes back to the way I design my cages. I'm real anal about everything being where I want it to and being symmetric, so I do things a little differently.

But if you cut holes, it's fine, just make sure to seal underneath the car after you weld the base plates on. And put a little thought into the base plates, but that goes for all cages. Just one flat pieces of metal welded to the thin metal of the floor isn't going to help spread the load as well as a single piece of metal with bends and welded to both horizontal and vertical parts of the chassis. You don't have to go crazy with it, but at least a little something more in good in most spots.

But I have a ton of pics in my gallery of the cages that I've done.
TIP Roll Cages

I haven't posted up some of the more recent work, but hopefully I'll make some more progress on my brother's supra soon and then I'll put pics of that up.

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R/T Tuning
Drift and RWD Sport
DriftAssNation

gotta240

Great reply. Very informative.

Thanks!

Edit. Since you know your shit....

I will be buying ONE die for the trikes "build it yourself" bender. What die to you recommend? 90, 180? 6 inch bend or 7 inch bend?

blu808

180 dies are always nice. You can def get by with just a 90, but its always nice to know you can go all the way.

I use 5.5 and 6 " CLR dies. keep in mind the tighter the radius, the harder it is to bend. Also you run into material thickness limitations if you go too tight.

I would stick with 6" or 5.5" CLR. Anything tighter seems to be unnecessary.

Just my 2 cents.
Luke

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gotta240

Great. Will deff. go with the 6" 180degree then. I was planning on using 1 3/4 90 wall DOM. Any reason to use something different for a stock weight s14?

Also, any advice/opinions on dimple dies? IE: most common size used and do i need to go top of the line or can i just get the cheaper ones since i'm only doing a few cages a year?

Thanks for your reply/expertise

blu808

I like to use 1.5 x .120 or .125 dom in my cars 240s/rx-7s.

Reason being is that it smaller, takes up less room, and is easier to get the tubing out of the drivers way (head), which if your tall 6ft+ really makes a difference with head room.

1 3/4" is cool, but I think it just looks too big in our cars, and looks like it belongs on a off road truck, or rock crawlers.

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C. Anderson

Umm, not if you have a good penetrating weld.

Volchok

your like a week late with that comment...read the thread before posting...

C. Anderson

I know it was posted a week ago.

KiDyNomiTe

Here is mine, done by Jacobson Motorsports

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C. Anderson

^
You're car is so sick!

alexander500

I just finished this rear half cage for an auto-cross guy in his Civic hatchback: