Im buying a cage from kens custom, (chromoly)and I plan on having it installed. I havent talked to my welder yet, but I would like to know how many hours (best case scenario) I am looking at. I know there are alot of variables and things can happen, but I have never done a cage up and have no idea how long a usually job takes. Its a basic 10pt and I wont be usuing the windshield bar, just the 2 bars through the dash. I plan on removing the interior for him, hes not a honda guy and Im sure that would add a few hundred bucks to the job. It is also going into an EG.

Yes I know its kinda hard to predict how much he is going to want to do it, but I want to make sure Im not getting taken. I trust him, I just want to make sure I can trust him on a job this expensive. I looked into NRG and they were really helpful and would love a cage by them, but Im in ohio and I just cant swing 2 trips to NYC this summer.(i tried, trust me) Inbetween building my garage, the car, 50+ hours/week and a owning smalltime landscaping business its just not possible right now. So I have to make due.

Again I know there are alot of variables, but Im keeping it as simple as possible.

 

Depends on fitment, we charge by point, not by hours either.

 

also depends on if you are taking the car in all prepped and what not. there is a lot of prep work to be done before even starting to fit the tubes: interior pieces that need to be removed, sound deadening that needs to be removed where the floor plates will be, will the car be stripped before by you or the installer, stuff like that.

its hard to charge by the hour on a cage. charging by the point is the way to go for a cage, then for headers/manifolds, its just a flate rate charge depending on the chassis its going in and material type

 

well, Im going to do as much as I can all the way down to removing the dash. Im not sure how he is going to charge, I am just looking for a ball park figure. How much do you guys charge per point. Or does it depend on which point? I dont want to buy the cage, then find out he is going to charge ....only to fing out it would be cheaper to buy plane tickets, fuel, and 2 wasted weekends driving to NYC. The cage is around 650 shipped and I personally dont think that leaves much room for labor compared to the NRG quote I got. Plus the NRG cage will fit better Im sure since they are bending their own. Ill post up his quote later today and you guys can tell me if it sounds fair or not? Thats all Im looking for

 

I'd take it to NRG.

 

After begining work on the STI, I have TOTALLY under estimated the amount of time required. I've put in a lot of time into this one, and it's not even half done.

 

Depends on the fitment, usually around $120 or so. And I will never take the customers word about fitment. I have had to many customers tell me, oh it fits great, and when it gets here it fits like ***** .

 

Dude you need to talk to your welder and the shop he works for and tell them exactly what you are getting and what you want done, I can't tell you how many cages were installed at my last shop and the owner underestimated the labor rates, and it would royally kick him in the nutz on time spent. Long story short you need to get in touch with your welder and establish a financial ceiling he can't go above to finish the job. And above all else like others above me said make sure you knock out as much of the prep work as possible, and that should knock you cost down.

 

120 per point is underestimated? If prepped and all? That sounds very fair to me.
He didn't say 120 for the labor on the entire cage.

 

And you can mig 4130 with ers80-d2 wire

 

Yes you can do allot of things but the nhra rule book specifies 4130 to be tig welded. If the right guy does the cert it will fail!! If your talking a 6 point rollbar then the normal racetrack tech guy will probably overlook it. If its 1 5/8 OD with a .083 wall it better be tigged because it will be considered 4130 after the sonic test during the cert.

 

^ you sir are 100% correct.

To be honest with the OP it will probably work out to be about the same as the quote i gave you to have someone install the prefabbed cage. It honestly will take about the same time to install a pre-fabbed one compared to one made for the car if the right people are doing it.

 

You worry too much about cost. Go get a better job so you don't have to be chincy about spending money on your hobby.

 

look jackass, I never said I was looking for the cheapest possibleway to get a cage built. I dont have the time at the moment to trailer a car to NYC fly home, fly back and trailer a car home, because I have a good job, and a small business, and a family. I never once complained about anything costing too much. There is nothing wrong with getting several quotes for a job and asking several experienced people that have built cages what a fair price would be. I got it, 120$ a point give or take some.

I had an appointment last week and never got up to see my welder, but Im gonna try again thurs. I'll see how it works out, I just might have to take some early vacation and come see ya miller, Ill let you know.

 

OP go with NRG.
miller--I just saw the cage you guys did in Rob's hatch, it looked really nice.

 

I dont think you guys understand or didnt read, Im in SOUTHWEST OHIO. its at least a 12 hour drive ONE WAY towing a car. If it was even half of that, It wouldnt be a question. Plus I have to pay for a round trip plane ticket, schedule time away from work, and worry about my truck and trailer being left in another state unattended for however long it takes to get done. And I know noone in the NY area anymore. At this point, Im just weighing out all my options before I decide on my best course of action and one of those options is to have my welder do my cage. However Im in redneck central down here and he has never caged a civic before, lots and lots of muscle cars but no imports. Yes I know the process of cage building doesnt change, but the amount of time it takes will change if you are not familar with the chassis and what works and doesnt work.

 

is this Nate? We do cages down here. we can save you the trip and keep you in a custom fitted cage that will fit better then a prebent. Pm me on SRD as i rarely get on HT.


Jon

 

yeah Ill hit you up, I didnt know you guys had a bender...I was gonna have doug times weld it up for me, but he doesnt have a bender either, every other damn piece of equipment, but no bender.