I'm looking at ordering the deluxe cage kit from kirk racing for my 89 civic next month and thought I'd post to see if anyone who owns one could offer up some reviews or something I might need to look out for.
I did a search and all the posts seem to give it a (minus one). Where I live I haven't found to many cage builders that won't charge you an arm and a leg, so I hope this kirk cage works out well.
TIA
if anyone has pictures of it in an 88-91 hatch that would be awesome as well.

 

94 hatch- not quite you year, but it will be the same general bar. I really like my Kirk bar. It goes to the back of the car, instead of the wheel well tops. It was really easy to install, with the exception of the weather working against us. Fitment is good, and the overall quality is about what I expected. The paint is rather thin, so it will scratch easy- if that matters at all.

 

This is the Kirk cage in my '91 hatch.




Kirk ownz.

 

sweet, thanks for the quick responses.

catch22, did you weld that in yourself? if so how much cutting did you have to do? I know their site says some cutting and adjustment is needed, just curious as to how much trouble we'll be going through to get this thing in.
TIA, again haha.

 

Oh no. Thats a custom Kirk installation.

The pieces you get will likely be identical, but I'm sure you'll have to do some trimming for a perfect fit.

 

Our 8-point cage in the CRX was custom fitted here. You will need to birdmouth the tubing to get the best/tightest fit if you are doing a full custom install. If it is a 4-point then the install is pretty simple. I can tell you that Mark and Julie are terrific to work with. I don't have the X in the rear bracing-but agree that the rear mounted tubes are a great idea in a hatch like the CRX.
Find a welder who knows race cars and pay the going rate-you won't regret it. For the bolt-in variety, just take your time and use the correct hardware (Grade 8 preferred).

 

What kind of cage are you looking for? 4pt bolt-in or full race cage?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Floyd &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">What kind of cage are you looking for? 4pt bolt-in or full race cage?
</TD></TR></TABLE>

I would like to know about rollcages for 88-91 civics also. I would be running SM class in autox and some occasional solo1's later on but SM does not allow more than an 8 point. Anything fit this description?

 

i'm looking at the full cage.

My buddy does a lot of off-road chassis work (he actually built his own cage for his truck). I just didn't want his first "race car project" to be mine haha. But I plan on having him doing all the welding and what not.
With that kid will I get the plates for the attachment points at the car or will we have to make those?
Again, thanks a lot guys.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by introspeed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">With that kid will I get the plates for the attachment points at the car or will we have to make those?</TD></TR></TABLE>

That's a good question...I'm not sure. Given that it's a kit intended to be welded in, and given that such applications typically require some amount of trimming and stuff for a perfect fit...probably what they give you is the plates pre-made, and the tubing set on the long side of what will fit.

My cage is a Kirk cage as well, and it completely kicks ***...but it was installed at Kirk by Mark himself. When you do go to get it installed, do NOT cheap out on who you get to weld it in. r2x recently upgraded to a proper cage on her spec miata. Apparently the new cagebuilder was able to remove parts of the old cage by hand, because the welds were so bad. This is something that could potentially save your life so SPEND THE MONEY to do it right.

Call Kirk up with your questions; good people to work with.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by introspeed &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I'm looking at ordering the deluxe cage kit from kirk racing for my 89 civic next month and thought I'd post to see if anyone who owns one could offer up some reviews or something I might need to look out for.
I did a search and all the posts seem to give it a (minus one). Where I live I haven't found to many cage builders that won't charge you an arm and a leg, so I hope this kirk cage works out well.
</TD></TR></TABLE>

What is the purpose of the cage? Solo, autox, street and what sanctioning body? Different sanctioning bodies can have completely different regulations. Working Tech for the USTCC (similar to BTCC) always made me look twice because the cars do not require a "main hoop" similar to most roll cages. (they kind of split off into a Y shape) And an SCCA approved cage would not pass tech up here in Ontario, Canada regional racing. The rules have gotten very strict after a couple of deaths up here.

As for the price, what kind of price are you getting? A decent cage around here will run $1000 - $1500 for a basic six point with extra gusseting added to the door bars (required in CASC) and an x-brace in the rear. Any cheaper than that and I would get suspicious. I have seen a couple of crashes where the cage failed. You REALLY DON'T WANT THAT. Imagine drivers alluminum seat originally 16" wide before crash and getting reduced to 4" wide with the driver still belted into it. (shiver)

Buy the best damn cage your rules will allow.

 

We are building a CVCC right now, that has a Kirk Cage it in, real nice design.
Looking to them do to my civic's cage too.

 

True story...
Back when the Neon Cup was a big thing ('98-99ish?) Kirk was given a car by Dodge for a bolt-in cage fitment. The car was a factory test mule ACR.
Mark fitted a cage and off the car went to the races.

A couple of years later he got a call from the Mopar guy he'd worked with before...
"Just thought you'd like to know that we tried to crush that car and couldn't do it. We had to send it to a shredder."
And that was a bolt-in.
Yeah... good cage builder.

 

lots of good info in here, thanks once again guys.
i just talked with julie from kirk and she's going to be sending me some more pictures tomorrow along with some more info (like if the plates are included in the kit), so if anyone else is interested I'll post up what she sends me.
MightyMouse: this will be for SCCA (ITE).