We are doing a S&W 10 point roll cage in our pro all motor crx and I am welding it in, as title says it is my first roll cage so any tips would be very welcome.
My plan is to cut holes in floor so I can get the welds at the top. Only thing is what do people do for getting confortable for tig welding in the car? Do you have a buddy run the pedal while you do the welding or get a finger tip remote?

Thanks again
-James

 

 

things I messed up on...on my first cage.

I didn't clean the place for teh 6x6 pads very well...big no no
Form the plates to the floor...not the floor to the plates
buy extra tubing...you may need to make "modifications" to teh cage
dont cut the tubing too short!!!!
Make sure its perfect the first time, because we all know we're not going to cut it out and start over.
I just put the pedal in teh car and hooked my ground strap to teh cage. since everything was out of the car...i put it where ever I wanted. Also I had a little shop stool that was about 10 inches tall...I sat on this while I welded.

Have a fire extinguisher handy...you may catch **** on fire.

Make sure you do it in a well ventilated area.

have fun.

 

I am also considering cutting the top off now, getting it all tacked good in the car, then bring it out of the car where I can fortably work on it, weld in out of car, then put it back and weld it to plates and it is done
-James

 

thats what the pros do..however i figured that it would be WAY to ******* complicated to cut the top off of my car since I had already painted it lol.

 

yea do that **** right the first time......and if you think the car is going to need a 10 point cage just do that right off the bat. turning a 6pt into a 8-10pt sucks ***.

dont start on your cage at 3am the night before the race. that sucks.


your going to be uncomfortable no matter what. i just put the pedal wherever i could get to it.....put the ground to the main hoop...and went at it. i got like this sheet of foam stuff to lay on that made it a little more comfortable laying down in the car.

take everything out of the car....and if your welding the plates to the car make sure you clean all the undercoating off of the bottom of the car...that stuff catches on fire easy.

cages are no fun haha

 

well it seems we just got the hard part done, we put the main hoop and top hoop in the car and tacked those all up, then we were able to pull them out of the car by taking out the seat and doors, notice the windows are out of the car so that helped to. I just got done welding up the 2 hoops, now all we have to do is put them back in, weld them in place, and get door bars, vertical uprights, and rear bars in and wala it is done.
-James

 

Here is a pic of the main hoop with the top hoop on it out side of car
By doing the cage this method, no holes will be put in the car for droppign down and no roof cutting will be required
-James

 

at least I know someone else who works out of their garage lol.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by joe simpson &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">dont start on your cage at 3am the night before the race. that sucks.

</TD></TR></TABLE>

I TOTALLY KNOW WHAT YOU MEAN JOE.

 

This isnt our home garage, it is a little 1500 sq foot buisness park we work in.
We are looking at a nice one that is 2000 sq foot and has fully insulated walls and roof, this rat shack we are in right now has no insulation, that is a big reason why during the winder/summer we get really backed up, we are either freezing, or summer time it gets 110+ degrees in the shop
-James

 

insulation is a must. Id take a 1000 ft insulated building over a 2k ft non insulated building lol.

 

good work. In to see the finished product

 

hey james, what size pipe and is it ms or cm? looks good so far.

 

1 5/8 ms it is the 10point kit from s&w
today I cut my finger pretty bad working on it, hope it doesnt make me go slow on manifolds, as it is my left index finger, my finger for feeding filler rod
-James

 

I watched Street tuner show the other night and for that cobalt they built a cage for they removed the rivets that hold the roof in place so they can get a tighter fitting cage....didnt look that hard to remove. just an idea.

 

I dont think honda's roofs are rivited in...

 

when i do mine i was planing on cutting holes and just droping the cage down weld the tops up then pull the cage back up and weld the plates up? did it work for you all?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by vaporboy12 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">when i do mine i was planing on cutting holes and just droping the cage down weld the tops up then pull the cage back up and weld the plates up? did it work for you all?</TD></TR></TABLE>

whoa, thats a good idea

 

My advice would be, Take your time. I have seen alot of so called rollcages, there is nothing worst than a poorly built cage. Your safety should be priority!

 

yeah my reccomendation on the cage building would be to clean that **** off of the bottom of the car and make sure you have another person with you to look underneeth at a few points just to make sure you arnt catching the car on fire... also make sure you have some extra argon and plenty of filler rod if you are starting at night or on a weekend, because it is a ton of welding to get the cage done. And for our more fair skined individuals you might want to wear sun screen. I have had some bad *** flash burns from the welder. but if it is cold outside just wear the long sleeves and you should be alright.
Good luck
-Drew

 

well we have 6 days into it so far and it still isnt 100% done so I can let you know we are taking our time
Right now all I have to do is get the back driver virtical done and finish welding plates to floor, god how do you keep the floor plates from popping and burning wholes, we have cleaned that stuff like crazy (almost a mirror polish!) and it will still pop and burn holes
-James

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by JG-Fab &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote"> god how do you keep the floor plates from popping and burning wholes, we have cleaned that stuff like crazy (almost a mirror polish!) and it will still pop and burn holes
-James</TD></TR></TABLE>

Did you use acetone to clean the metal on both sides of the floorpan? Did you clean the mill scale off of the pads and wipe them down as well?

Acetone is your friend

 

nice i'm taking notes lol

 

from what i have seen those cages fit is not that great at all. i guess its ok for a pre-bent setup, but i just don't think its worth the effort.


There are alot of tricks to being able to fully weld a cage inside a car, if the cage fit good and tight, you wouldn't be able to get it out like you did.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Speed Raycer &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">

Did you use acetone to clean the metal on both sides of the floorpan? Did you clean the mill scale off of the pads and wipe them down as well?

Acetone is your friend </TD></TR></TABLE>

If you dont clean it on both sides...what is the difference? noticeable? do you use solar flux on teh underside of the car? i know its tough welding 20 gauge to 1/4" plates