powerneedy

Before you get upset and flame me for not searching for this, the answer is I did. I didnt find what I was looking for and I am a visual kinda guy so I was hoping we could get a good thread of scca/nasa cages in one thread. In my searching I found some ok pics of what im after but i would like some more ideas/options

Im looking for some key points for my cage that we start building in the next week or so.

-Forward arms on the cage is it possible to keep the heater and go threw the dash not in front of it? And also have a dash bar for the cage?

-Rear bars, I get the going to the rear shock towers but i see a "strut bar" if you will not always attached to the cage but still on the plates is that legal or is it considered another attachment point?

-Door bars I have a good idea what i want here but i would always like to see more.

-Gusseting, I get what it does, but where is some key points to do it? what gauge of metal? Is it worth it?

Any other interesting or good tips is always appreciated

Stinkycheezmonky

I'll see if I can dig up some of my pics.

1. Forward arms/dash bar + heater: yes, it is possible, but takes a bit of finagling, depending on how you have it done. My dash bar is on the slightest angle to clear the heater box and the steering column.

2. Not 100% sure on that one. My guess would be "additional attachment point."

3. There are some really good designs floating around, I'll see if I can post some up.

4. Can't say here either.



-Make sure your welds go all the way around the bars (think where the front arms meet the main hoop, but on top; plan ahead for it).
-Make sure the cage leaves room for your driver; a bigger driver needs more room, and tighter bars to the body.
-Avoid S-bends! (door bars)
-Triangulate, triangulate, triangulate
-Make SURE the tubing you're using is legal for whatever organization you'll be competing in. It sucks ***** to have to redo a cage because of something like that. Take my word for it.

Lo-Buck EF

guessets. yes, its worth it (is it worth the weight penalty in HC? i dont know yet). where should you do it? everywhere. a-pillar, b-pillar, tie the roof in, wherever you can.
what thickness im not sure on. but a cage builder should know what to use there.

door bars. as popular as the X is, level door bars are alot easier to get in and out of (you dont slide down the bar) and you can push them into the door (nascar bars) for more driver space.

rear section. the cross brace (from shock tower to shock tower) can go from the two down tubes or from the shock towers. what you can't do (and i have seen) is have the rear legs catch the lateral bar between the shock towers.

now, if you are building your cage around some class/ruleset, then consult them before the final trigger is pulled on the cage build.

powerneedy

Hey guys thanks on the info for sure helpful. I am building the cage to fit multiple classes as i may not stay in TA forever. I decided to go with 1 3/4 0.95 for the rigidity as 1 1/2 1.20 and the bar I choose are almost no different in weight. I was going to go chromoly until i read up on the heating and cooling process you have to do and we don't have the ability's to do that really.

door bars im not going the X bar as my buddy has those and there not bad in his car(Focus) as far as closeness to the body but they SUCK to get in and out of haha.

Ya post up any pics you have as like i said im visual lol

like i said hopefully we can turn this into a great cage thread for future people

redzcstandardhatch

i LOVE cage pics

-adam, who just bought 150 feet of DOM and has been looking at designs for weeks.

PICS PICS PICS

anybody comment on occasional street driving and door bars/x/nascar bars?

Lo-Buck EF

<---street drove the old racecar for 1.5 years with the cage. not the smartest thing in terms of hitting your head on metal and its a b1tch to get in and out of in parking spots. but it looks cool
some pix of my cage (bought the chassis with the cage in already. my design would be slightly different)

sander

Totally roomy on the Nazkar bars. I like the room, I don't think its bad getting in and out of. I also don't complain about much, so take that as you desire haha.

I'll try and dig up some more pictures of mine, or take some new ones

s

Stinkycheezmonky

Here's the dashbar design I have:


And this is one of my personal favorites for a doorbar design:


And another one I like:




Also, for a dashbar design: unless you're restricted to an IT ruleset, consider modifying/replacing the heater box with something different. Sander will have something pretty nifty set up for his in the next few weeks.

civichb20

visit here www.pmgarage.com I have posted a lot of my pics of my CRX hope this helps.

powerneedy

stinky i like that door in the 1st one that was the style i was going for. i need to retain the center console and all of the dash peaces even if not functional or else im outta mod class into super mod(aka unlimited)

lo buck what you said you would do some things different? like what?

Stinkycheezmonky

With ANY dashbar inside, you'll have to gut the crap out of the dash. I could have my center console and so on in there if I really wanted it.

Lo-Buck EF

with my dash bar the heater core is still in there but w/o blower motor. i have to get that working again. defogger+rain=WIN!

hondaapi

This is a car we buildt for a customer in the moment. He is presenting his buildt in a german forum.
Scroll alittle down and you can see it.

http://www.hondapower.de/forum/showt...=142617&page=7

typeR_s

I'm in for more.. I am planning out my cage right now for my DC2, and my goal is to have it in and painted before April.

I plan on running my FULL interior except rear seat and trimming panels only where I need.

Stinkycheezmonky

Dude, somehow I keep forgetting to send you info. Check civichb20's link, that has some great cage links. I'll be sending you some more tonight for sure.

Also, why the full interior thing? Is that a class rule?

Lo-Buck EF

Yea, unless your running showroom stock, ditch the interior. The cage can then be built a lot tighter to the body and the builder won't have to work around an interior. Plus if u ever sell it later on it will hurt the sale if a racer wants to buy it cause they have to now try to pull out pannels that are wedged in place by a part of the cage.

powerneedy

i was thinking about keeping most of my interior but then i decided i would push it right up to the every rule in the class

typeR_s

well for the class I'm going to compete in this season it is a rule.
And I'm not building this car with the intention of just being a stripped out bare bones race car.

I'm building it to not only track the crap out of it (as much as I can afford) I'm also building it to show case alot of what I can do as a builder to help reresent my shop. I am also going to be the one welding and fabing EVERYTHING on my car.

I am also keeping my interior because I just like how it looks better. And as for selling it, it's a joke everything I went through to get this exact car. When I'm ready to build another honda I'll just get another one and park it right next to the dc2.

redzcstandardhatch

i need opinions from dudes in this thread! (sorry for the bit of a hijack)

-my car is a street car.it sees thousands of miles, and i love driving it on sundays, nights, and whenever i can find an excuse to need it.

- it also is almost a 10 second car, and will most likely be one this year (needs a cage for drag racing, of some sort)

-its also sees a half-dozen or more track days. it will not be raced-on-track ever...just HPDE/instructing , and some Time-attack style stuff in the future....

do i put a full cage in (cut out my old cage this year, it sucked), or is the "halo" and pillar bars too dangerous for lots of street use? i didnt have them before, just a rear-bar setup. i'm so torn. i want to go all-out, then i want to just do door-bars NHRA style.

opinoins?

Stinkycheezmonky

It really comes down to what you feel comfortable with. You can accept the risk and potential consequences, and take whatever measures you feel necessary to reduce that (SFI padding, or the dual-layer padding; getting the upper arms as tight up against the body as humanly possible to maximize distance to your head; lower the seat, etc.), or you can play it safe and just not drive the car on the street, or not have forward arms/halo.

I don't remember, how close does your head sit to the roof and how far forward do you sit?

redzcstandardhatch

i dont sit that far forward, and i look short in my car (even though i'm 6'2'') because of the rather slammed buckets. i've got them rather low. i'm not so much worried about it, until splitime says i should be worried about it over and over. haha

i think with SFI padding and a really tight build, it'd be pretty safe, if not safer than the factory crap (which is a bunch of metal that would deform in a hit, and only protected by an 1/8'' of plastic)

i wish i didnt want to drive the car on the street, but it begs to be driven...i just love driving it, even though 99% of the time i'm just putting around, being bounced around on the terrible chicago roads.

Stinkycheezmonky

The NHRA doorbars with rear section would probably be a nice compromise. Not quite as nice for on-track stuff, but you're not doing too many HPDEs anyway, right?

Alternatively, if you could do it and give your head like...6" of clearance to the padding (padding, not the bar) that might be ok too. In an accident, you'll move around a lot, but I don't know that you'll move that far in that direction. You'd want to keep the arms tight against the A-pillar too.

*DISCLAIMER: Stinky is saying all this with the stipulation that whoever chooses to do this accepts the possibility of catastrophic skull failure. Stinky is not responsible for busted heads or brain-painted interiors!

That wasn't directed at you, Adam, just noobs who might read this later.

typeR_s

http://turbohightechperformance.auto...age/index.html

It's not a Honda but it's one of the best installs I can find.

Stinkycheezmonky

L-Con Fab. 'Nuff said.

powerneedy

That is way nice cage! i will take some of that stuff for sure...