I have a 8 Point S&W cage. Im Paying a welder to install the cage. what I want to know is this.


Do We need to cut the area where the Floor Plates Go or do we just lay the plates down and weld them.

 

The plates go on top of the floor. The question is why you're doing something that should be the job of the person installing it, the most a customer should have to do is gut the interior.

 

On top of floor, form them if there are curves ( hammer or something) and if he's a welder I'm sure he knows this stuff already.

Paint or powdercoat the cage before you put it in the car, cleaning the paint off and touching it up when done is much easier than trying to paint the whole cage once it's all welded in the car.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by backpurge &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">The plates go on top of the floor. The question is why you're doing something that should be the job of the person installing it, the most a customer should have to do is gut the interior.</TD></TR></TABLE>

Its my buddy welding it in. He knows how to weld, but he has never welded in a Cage.

 

an awful lot of people use a holesaw under the main hoop and front floor mounts and then then drop the bars through when welding to get better access for the top welds.

that's what i'll do for my next cage sort of like:

locate everything and then drill holes.
slide mounting plate over the holes and tack the top halo bars, etc.
pull plates and drop bars into the holes and finish top welds.
set cage back in the car and put bottom plates under the main hoop, etc.
weld in bottom plates on the inside and the bottom holes from the bottom.

good luck!

tom

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by tom91ita &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">an awful lot of people use a holesaw under the main hoop and front floor mounts and then then drop the bars through when welding to get better access for the top welds.

set cage back in the car and put bottom plates under the main hoop, etc.
weld in bottom plates on the inside and the bottom holes from the bottom.

good luck!

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


Tom is right. Mark your floor pan where the "A" pillar bars and the "B" pillar bars make contact with the cage on each corner. Get the hole saw and cut the hole, then, cut a matching hole in 4 plates. (1 for each corner but you will need 8 total) set one set of plates(with holes) in the car and drop in the cage, letting it slip thru the hole in the plate and floor pan. Place the other set of plates under the car and weld the bottom of the cage to these. When finished welding the bottome plates, lift cage back up and using 4 grade 8- 1/2" bolts, bolt the two plates on each corner together, then weld the upper plate to the cage from inside the car. This sandwiches the floor pan to the mouting points of the cage together. Makes a very strong connection. IMHO

My method of cage construction, I put my cage base inside the rockers, they are 2-2.5" square tubing that is welded inside the rocker from just behind the front wheel well to just in front of the rear well. Ya ain't gettin thru that, with the nascar styled door bars. Pic's soon on this last build will be up in a week or so. Dedicated track car, hehe.
During the build, you can see the rollcage base in the rocker and at the base of the firewall. Floorpans have since been removed and replaced.


Donnie


Modified by D Jaws II at 12:00 AM 3/24/2006

 

I have the same 8pt, and there is no reason to drill holes on the floor. If you do a search for S&W you'll find my post.

If I had to do it again, I'd bolt the plates in. The floor is scary thin and I ended up ordering more plates to tie the plates into the rockers. The plates needed for the 7/8 points aren't included either, and you'll need some if you run those bars.