Some of my friends are doing the 24 hours of Lemons (not LeMans for those of you wondering) in a 96 Dodge Stratus that was donated to them and had asked me to do the roll cage for them. Its a bunch of cars worth $500 of less and is pretty much a ghetto version of the real LeMans. They were donated a universal roll cage but had to purchase additional bars in order to get the cage they wanted it. I dont know the rules about cages for this event, they are not as strict as SCCA or other events. Most of the people entering the event are first time cage builders which suprises me, but I offered to do the cage for free (minus argon for the tig) if they put my name on the car for advertising. Anyway, on with the pics.












Just have the door bars left to do tomorrow. They want nascar style on the drivers side and just a diagonal on the passengers side for easier access. Im not choosing the style of the cage Im just the guy building and welding it. I just like to share pics. Enjoy.

 

That is awesome. I love the 24hrs de lemons.

 

Ah, What a sweet event !

 

That's great, especially considering the fact that you built it for free!

 

Rear diagonals on the crossbar always seemed weak to me, but many drag cars seem to be done that way. Looks good, overall.

Worry more about driver's door intrusion. LeMons cars don't seem to flip (or none have so far to my knowledge), but rubbin' and bangin' are part of the race. I would add Nascar bars and maybe a petty bar.

 

Looks pretty good, I would have opted to not load the strut bar like that. Also is there a reason you didn't take the a pillar bars forward any more than that?

We ended up running what was said to be a autopower when we bought it but ended up being completly different style. We used the pre bent main and a pillar bars and used straight 1 5/8" for the rest.

 

Agtronic - Yes I know I cant believe Im doing it for free but a lot of people offered to help these guys out and never ended up keeping their word. I like doing this kind of stuff so I offered to do it if they covered gas, material and food. And of course they are gonna advertise my name on their car.

import - They wanted to put a strut tower bar in their so I suggested just tieing it into the cage. The cage was a prebent cage that was donated so the pillar bars are as far forward as I could possibly put them


Finished the cage today. A buddy bent up the door bars for us with his tube bender. Came out pretty cool. I would have put an X on the passenger side doorbar but thats what they wanted so...

 

1 - Need a backbrace for the seat
2 - Is the straight bar going to provide enough clearance for the seat? Most bars/cages have that bar bent to give good clearance for the seat and harness.

Everything else looks good on the cage from what i can tell.

I'm by no means a cage expert, but I've built a lemons car and raced in 2 events last one was just a week ago. They are tightening up the rules on cages because of some of the accidents that have occurred. I've seen lemons cars roll, get t-boned, and even just catch on fire, so be sure to take this cage just as seriously as you would on a hardcore race vehicle.

Also, at the last lemons tech inspection, they make you get fully strapped into the car, harness, window net and all... And you have to fully exit the car in under 10 seconds.

 

You might want to check rule 3.1
"At minimum, cage must include: Full front and rear hoop, appropriately braced to each other along the roofline; "

http://www.24hoursoflemons.com/rules/

I don't think the front is going to pass tech inspection. The whole cage looks great but the front must be a 1 piece hoop like the one next to the b pillar. Not a 2 piece with a halo...

this was a revision to the rule this season (ALOT of people complained about it and the judges are strict about it)

The judges might let you pass, due to the high quality of work, but I might would send an e-mail and pics to the judges/forums to confirm.

looks good and good luck. they will need it.

(side note: upgrade the crap out of the cooling system or bring extra head gaskets...)

 

Thanks for the info fellas. I forwarded it to my friends.

 

i know a guy who has a lemons golf, this car/cage is in far better shape than that golf, his cage is a bolt in with exhaust tubing holding together the looser parts. I just don't know if any dodge stratus will finish a 24hr race let alone a donated one....

 

looks really nice for sure. good job on the fab work

 

so he should go from the top of the b-pillar loop, along the roof line, and then down to the floor? then add a bar across to complete the halo?

just curious and making sure im understanding and visualizing properly.

 

hey ill put ur name in ur car if u weld me a cage and ill pay for gas and material...... hehe

 

Sorry this was for some friends....but ill give you a good deal if you help out and keep the flow of beer going!

 

No there should be a hoop that starts at the drivers side kick panel, up the 'A' Pillar run along the top part of the wind shield down the passenger side 'A' Pillar, to the passenger kick. Then two bars (1 passenger side and 1 drivers side) that connect the the front hoop to the rear hoop along the roof line, plus door bars...


this post in the lemons forums has an awesome pic showing a proper two hoop set up
(the first image is CORRECT the other two are INCORRECT)

http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/vi...pid=2297#p2297


Sorry I haven't posted sooner... (I didn't get the subscription up dates :-(
(and for some odd reason I was thinking about this thread in church this morning...)

 

ok. i understand now. i havent seen that design before, but original exp. makes sense now.

 

If you read a little further on the lemons thread...

"Thanks for posting these pix, they are very helpful. ALL THREE OF THESE DESIGNS ARE LEGAL. The "continuous" language is a little tricky--but one-piece front hoops, left/right hoops, and "halo" designs are all acceptable. What we want to avoid are main structural elements of the cage being made of sectioned-together pieces of tube."

 

I saw some pics of some of the cars participating in the race and this cage caught my attention...

 

nice