I had a guy build my cage, and it was the first Civic he had done. His shop builds spec Miatas and does cages for them all the time. Anyway, it was my only real option for a custom cage for my geographical region

He did a pretty decent job from what I can tell, though he didn't do all the fancy stuff I showed him in pictures I had gotten from HT. It's a basic 6-point design. You can't tell from the pictures, but the door bars actually angle out towards the door, perfectly fitting without going inside the door. He decided not to run the a-piller bar through the dash, he had a structural reason, but I didn't really catch it.

Sitting in the car there is a good 4-5 inches of clearence from the bars in any direction. I haven't put on any padding yet (no, not driving it on the street)

So anyway, I didn't pay much as he was trying to give me a deal since it was his first Honda, and I'm curious how it looks to all of you cage experts. Thanks

 

looks basic except for the diagonal doorbar and the driver side bar having a bend in it. but i dont think its a big deal. otherwise, gets the job done but not really impressive.

 

that was my basic thoughts too...
as long as it gets the job done, as you said!

good thing I didn't pay an "impressive" amount of $$$

 

looks good, did you weld it in yourself?

 

should have hit the strut towers but it looks good

 

Nope, he did all the work... though I am, at this moment, getting high in my garage preping and painting it

He was going to hit the strut towers but a cage builder that he contacted who had done Hondas had told him of a couple cases where the metal around the shock towers cracked after having the cage welded to those points... so he didn't do it. Besides, it's easy enough to add a strut tower bar there.

 

If it's still a work in progress, I'd have him...
Add some more door bars on the driver's side or make an X out of the current bar
Add the 7th and 8th points (from the front hoop to the firewall)
Gusset the halo/front hoop intersections
Add some extra bars in between the mount points for extra strength

The cage looks good but simple. Probably better than a bolt-in. Add a few extra pieces to it, and it would be quite a bit better.

 

I'm w/ CM, I think you have to add to the drivers door protection if you're going wheel to wheel! other than that looks pretty decent...

 

I agree with the others about the door bars needing some more support, maybe an X bar to go with it. Having that bend in the door bar weakens it and gives a natural place to bend, might even consider adding a stub to go from the main hoop low up to the underside of the knee just so there is some triangulation and reduction of easy bending.

I also agree about the rear down tube needs to go to the rear shocks mount. If they wrap a sheet of steel around the tower as a mounting plate it won't come apart and will add to suspension stiffness, then take a horizontal bar between those to points. You are allowed a large mounting plate area so the bigger it is, ther stronger it will be and the more surface of the car it will fasten to.

Looks like a good start but with a few additional bars it would be quite a bit better.


[Modified by CRX Lee, 4:15 AM 2/26/2003]

 

Looks pretty good. I took extensive pics of my cage. Feel free to browse

http://groups.msn.com/TheGonzalezFam...ectitacrx.msnw

 

you can compareit to my cage...also the first time my friend did a civic cage...even the same color!






sorry i don't have better pics....


[Modified by JoeyM, 6:26 AM 2/26/2003]


[Modified by JoeyM, 6:28 AM 2/26/2003]

 

HOLY triangulation(<if theres such as word) batman!


A question for anyone to answer
What gauge steel do you use to box the rear shock towers...and does the tube go through the box to the tower or they are just welded to the box.


[Modified by 89civicdx, 4:39 AM 2/26/2003]

 

Welded to the box.

In this cage, where is the harness bar? Where are the door bars?

 

looks like the door bars are in the 3rd pic

 

Quote:

"HOLY triangulation batman!"

Ditto! There are roll cages...and then there are bridges built inside of cars! I could see a 600 hp rear drive car needing that much tubing back there, but a FWD Civic? It sure is pretty though.

 

That is a very strong looking piece. From what I see of the back half, I think it would survive anything. But you need to check on a couple of things before you take it to a race. The main hoop looks like it may be more than 190 degrees, if so the tubing has to be one step larger or thicker than what is required for the weight of the car. The second thing is that it is required that a horizontal bar run from on side of the hoop to the other. I think that the X- brace in the main hoop should make it strong, but I think it may be a case of where the written word gets in the way of what is needed.

 

Another rules gray area... on the right rear shock tower, would an inspector count that as 3 points of contact or 1? It looks like all three tubes hit the same plate, but it looks like none of the tubes touch each other to create 1 "point".

 

As long as they all mount within the area of the allowed base plate (I forget the size, it is in the GCR) then they can be coutned as one point.

 

Hmm, OK.

FYI the maximun plate area is 100 square inches.

 

the main hoop isn't more than 180 degrees...just a bad pic. the harness bars are the short straight ones in the rear x. i should take new pics.

 

I also would say this. The metal will not crack, maybe in a roll over and after the cage was to do it's job but not before.

Not bad

 

Piper Motorsports attached the rear supports in my CRX in the same place (behind the shock towers). Mitch explained that on an EG or CRX this is a much stronger part of the uni-body than the towers. If the rear supports are triangulated with an x-brace, it stiffens the back of the car up quite a bit, whereas attachment on the towers would flex them and let the chassis twist. Since you can only use 100 sq" of plate (SCCA IT rules) you may not be able to reenforce the towers enough to do any good.

Piper's cages on other Hondas I've seen do attach to the towers so I think this is really specific to the 88-91 cars.

 

Ben,
Looks like he could've fit the tubing a lot closer to the interior sheetmetal, but like everyone else said, it would be to your benefit to add a few extras to make it a lot stronger/safer.

89civicdx,
That's a lot of bracing. Looks more like a strong rally-car cage actually. I think the horizontal brace must extend the full width of the main hoop. This might be a hang-up getting passed pass tech.

Richy,
I've seen your cage before. I printed a few pictures of various cage designs (including yours) and gave them to my cage builder for reference. My finished cage is at, http://members7.clubphoto.com/john51...56/guest.phtml

$.02


[Modified by johng, 10:32 AM 2/26/2003]

 

If your not building this car for SCCA that sounds good, but SCCA does require a horizontal bar attaching the legs of the main hoop. This is necessary no matter where you attach the seat belts

 

Exactly.