Fabricators, what would be a ballpark for this?

Fabbing a cage for road racing (either nascar bars or x braces for doors). Cage needs to be welded up, but not welded to the chassis (cage has to be removed before welded in).

Roof cut off (windows already removed).

Roof welded on after cage is welded in.

PM me if you don't want to post your figures.

For 94-01 Integra BTW.

 

I don't think you have to cut the roof. all you would have to do is drill the spot welds at the guters, that should give you plenty of room.

btw cages are alowed to be 70% (I think) welded if yoiu use gusets where 100% weld is not an option.

 

You missed the point.

The cage has to be REMOVED before it is welded to the chassis.

 

It is welded in the car, just not permanently to the chassis (tack it I guess). Then it is pulled, then put back in, and roof welded back on.

 

Why does it have to be removed prior to final installation?

 

For bling.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Aquafina &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Fabricators, what would be a ballpark for this?

Fabbing a cage for road racing (either nascar bars or x braces for doors). Cage needs to be welded up, but not welded to the chassis (cage has to be removed before welded in).

Roof cut off (windows already removed).

Roof welded on after cage is welded in.

PM me if you don't want to post your figures.

For 94-01 Integra BTW.</TD></TR></TABLE>

wait im lost as to why you need to REMOVE the cage to weld it?? you don't, there is 2 different methods that work very good.

If you go to the RR/auto-X forum and search there is a few threads about good cage builders.

a good cage will cost you between 2500 and 3500.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Aquafina &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">You missed the point.

The cage has to be REMOVED before it is welded to the chassis.</TD></TR></TABLE>

NO IT DOESN'T.

Once you get a cage in a car (a GOOD tight fiting cage) there is NO WAY in hell your going to be able to weld it all up out side of the car and then put it back in.


Please, don't worry about how its done, search for the thread go to some one who knows what they are doing and have them do the cage.

gaaaaa in fact you even asked https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1508747

befor i had my cage put in, i searched and searched and searched. Did alot of research and understood what i bleive makes a good cage. I then found a good cage builder, talked to him about my idea's and we meshed his ideas and mine, and i love my cage

 

dude... get a bodyshop to cut it off...trailer the car to a fabricator to do your cage, then take it back to get the roof welded back on. I really doubt a fabricator is gonna do the roof cutoff and welding, thats not what they really do. A bodyshop is the places that does BODY metalwork. When you cut off the roof and reweld it and grind it, its gonna need a lot of bondo or a crapload of time with a hammer and dolly. Either way, not the type of job a chassis place will do...

and if you want some helpful info, I think you would be better off taking out the floor and setting the body over the cage. The cuts can be made with a cutoff wheel, then use some sheetmetal spacers (the 1/8" ones to hold the floor back in place and weld it with a mig. IT can look ugly and no need for bodo.

 

Not cutting the floor out.

 

Its not uncommon for stock car guys to cut the roof off to install the cage.Most often in the hobby stock style cars that are really lightly modified production cars.I'm not sure why everyone is so amazed you want to do it.You won't have any problem having a chassis shop doing the whole job.
Glenn

 

Man, just tell people that you want to have the cage built, then remove it to chrome it and people will stop busting your chops about wanting to have the top cut off. Of course, they'll start in on chroming it, but at least they'll comprehend the top cut.

Leave the top on so that the fabricator can build the cage to the existing roofline. When they're ready, they can cut the top off, finish off the welds, pull the cage, have it chromed, reinstall and then tack the roof back on. You wont want to have the car move at all once the top is hacked otherwise all kind of misalignment issues will pop up. Pull all of the glass you can as you wont want to pay the fabricator to do it, and they wont want to touch it anyway.

Cutting the top off is not that big of a deal. It's done all of the time to make sunroof cars into non sunroof cars in SCCA IT racing.

 

FYI, you don't need to "cut" the roof off. there are 4 (i think) spot welds that holnd the skin on. Use a spot weld drill bit, and drill them out.

Honestly though if the cage builder is requesting this done, look at other options as its not need, (more work cost $$$$).

 

Getting a roof cut out and replaced is going to cost roughly $700 at a bodyshop, assuming you planto re-use the same roof panel. I've seen it done several times - usually to convert a sunroof car to solid, but also to use a cage that has been removed from a tub that was trashed beyond repair. Even with the roof off, most tight fitting cages aren't going to just drop in without some cutting and welding once the cage is in place.

I'd be supprised if a chromed cage would pass tech for most racing organizations. You haven't actually said that you were planning on chrome, but that's the conclusion that everyone has jumped to. If it actually is a race car, and it were to get wrecked, the chrome on the tubes could shatter or splinter off and cause you serious injury. It would also be very difficult to repair or modify if it didn't pass tech or rules change.

-Chris

 

Man...you must be around some daring body shops. I had a 69 fastback that had a crappy sunroof cut into it and we replaced the roof instead of patching it. Cost me $1500 to cut off and replace the old roof and it was cut BELOW the origional seams. I had one hell of a time trying to find a place in the DFW area (huge area) of TX to do the work. I must have called 20 bodyshops and only found 1 willing to do the work.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by beepy &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I don't think he actually wants a full cage. He said "NASCAR bars or X-braces for doors".

Now NASCAR cars are tube chassis cars, so he isn't going to get that, and X-braces... No idea what that is. Perhaps he just wants a 4-point "roll bar".</TD></TR></TABLE>

You can see what a "NASCAR BAR" is in this topic vs. a X door bar on the pass side

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1508273

https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=1439667&page=1

 

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

Roofs are cut off all the time to swap out or put in cages. Its really not a big deal.</TD></TR></TABLE>

eh, i have only heard of it being done on cars like ours a few times, or on cars at the absolute highest level of preperation like sfwd drag cars

there was a guy building an EF for wchc who posted pics of his roof off. Could have sworn it was the pudding color h1 car with the sohc, but i could be wrong

 

Here in the Souteast a lot of Hondas are built for dirt track racing (yes, its true). Roofs removed to fit cages in. Usually local cage builders who do them.

 

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


Lol. 15 people tell you its a bad idea and one guy says it can be done. The guy that somewhat agrees with you knows what he is talking about... Everyone else are a bunch of morons? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Come on Beepy.I'm not saying that building the cage with the roof off is the best or the only way.The other responders were saying that building the cage with the roof ON is the only way.And it's not unheard of on this board to have one correct answer and fifteen wrong ones. I have personally seen dozens of stock car cages built with the roofs off.The roofs are usually bolted to the cage also.There is not much left of the roof supports with lightening and no rear window or b pillars.
Glenn

 

Aquafina,

Here you go--&gt;http://www.performanceforum.co....html

 

We Replaced the roof on my car a while back when we went from 6 pt to 10 pt.
Unrelated, but
Certainly made it easier, but just simply taking the roof out, wont allow you to take the cage in and out.
Putting a roof on the car, isnt too bad of a deal. Just glue the new one on
Youd need to cut across all the pillars and remove the entire top of the car it seems if you wanted to pull the cage out
Depending on the cage you do or how its built, you can get away with taking all the glass out to weld it all up.






Modified by This One at 9:34 PM 2/11/2006

 

I built a 25.5 chassis in a civic and cut the rook off to take it out, weld up what i couldnt before and put it back in...





lol... i found a thread with a couple more pics...
https://honda-tech.com/zerothread?id=988679

 

Aquifina;

I wrote (and did the work) re-skinning the roof on my EF that was linked to on page 2 of this string.

Here is my spin on it;

If you fab'd up a complete cage, you wouldn't be able to get it through the opening due to the roof rails being too close together in relationship to where the base plates for the cage would be.

It would be possible to do a partial cage, remove it, do all the "top" welding, re-insert it, and then weld the additional tubing on.

In my mind, if you had a full cage; the only way that you would be able to remove it (intact) would be to cut the roof at the windshield posts. This is NOT an easy job due to multiple layers of steel in that area. Scrimp on this and you stand to loose a lot of strength and re-alignment can be a major problem.

The big problem is that you have never <U>clearly</U> stated why you feel the need other than saying that it was for bling. (ya, I read the whole string)

If you said why, then you could get more worthwhile information. (of course, you may also get more flaming)

Wes Vann

 

agreed...i've read all 3 pages and had no clue as to what you wanted to do it for other than for "bling"...maybe if tell everyone here what your intentions are and what kinda cage its being used for you might get more usefull answers...and as for me if its just for bling and its being painted just mask everything in the car off besides the bar's and paint it...just my .02 cents

 

dumbest ******* thread ever, I rarely ever post on honda-tech (much less anymore since I don't even drive my honda but once every few weeks) but I do read through a few threads here in and in hopes of still learning a thing or two every once and a while.

anyway, after 3 pages of reading this thread, the person who started it has yet to explain himself, honestly who cares if you don't think you have to explain yourself, in realility we don't really need to know why, but fact of the matter is that everyone once to know....so go ahead and "toot" our horn, tell us why, explain, would it really kill you.

Did you ever think that maybe someone knows or has the answers to your questions and could help you on this but is just waiting to know why you want to do it? and that you could have got the answer you were looking for 2 pages ago if you didn't get assy with people who wanted to know why.

Why the big cover about why you are doing it? I know i'm not alone in the group of people who clicked on this thead hoping to learn about how and why you would do that, but instead of learning anything what-so-ever, I realized that stupid hard-headed people on this site contribute just as much to these worthless threads as the the people posting the "will my b16 beat a (blank) car with (blank) motor" threads.

I realize i'm looking for this perfect world message board, in com'on this really doesn't need to be on page 3 with no real about of great info yet. Instead of being 10 posts long with 8 or so of them with usfull information or honest questions about how/why its done like that, its just a waste of bandwidth right now.


blah whatever, i'm done ranting....

this site is full of some of knowledgable people but sometimes perfectly good questions are not answers over something dumb.

alright whatever, you can go ahead and tell me how i'm a dumbass, or how I misspelled it or didn't use some comma or period where I should have or just flame my post, cause thats all honda-tech seems to be good for recently...

 

People who know what they're doing (people who have done this) are helping me. It's called a PM.