Routing Cage in 70 mustang (ideas needed).

[Zachalanche]

Just started my cage in my 70 Mach1. Since I will be replacing my roof skin I have an opportunity to make this cage an extremely tight fit. If possible I would like to keep all the vents, heater ac etc. I also want to run the cage through the dash so I can keep theinterior as opened up as possible. Here is where I hope some of you mustang guys can help out. I want the front part of the cage to run as close to the A pillar as possible and then tie into the torque box. if I do this the bar will run right in front of the kick panel vent making it impossible to remove. I could restore these peices and install them permenently hoping that they never have any issues, or try to route the cage differentely, or delete them alltogether, which I would rather not do.

Just curious if any of you have encountered this, or have any thoughts on the subject.

thanks in advance for your input.

[rustomatic]

I'd think over what you really want to do with the car, then check out info on what racing/sanctioning bodies (NASA/SCCA) require of cars that are expected to crash violently in competitions. After doing this, you'll see that a lot of cars have very expensively built cages that would be laughed away from a real racing event/competition, due to illogical bar placement. Always remember the main hoop behind your seat as the starting point, then think of the doors crushing, the roof crushing, and how long a tube (especially a bent one) can reasonably be before it no longer has any practical function. Learning a lot of this stuff annoyed the hell out of me, but it also made some things simpler in the plotting of my roll bar install. I do not plan on competing anywhere; I just want functional equipment (and I like the look of pretty scaffolding). Cheers.

[Zachalanche]

point well taken. I think I am in a similar position to the on you are in. I want a functional cage so that i can pass tech inspection for open road racing, but this will also be mostly a street car that won't see much, if any wheel to wheel competition. My intention is to build something structurally sound with plenty of triangulation and as few bends as possible. I have no problem cutting up interior peices to fit around my cage, but I also don't want to lose the function of the few comforts the car has left and I see the kick panel vents as one of those.

1 3/4 .120 wall DOM isn't light so If it isn't serving its purpose as an efficient crash protection structure I don't even want it in there. so I'll have to get clever with this one. I'll try post some pictures so everyone can see the interferrance issue I am trying to avoid.

[Motorcitydak]

you can use these things to make your tubes removable.

http://www.ruffstuffspecialties.com/catalog/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=ruffstuff&Product_Code=TC-DUB&Category_Code=

[rustomatic]

First off, I'm lame with pictures, so I haven't taken any yet with a real camera. That said, I ran the rear tubes off the main hoop to the rear shock location, just inside of the wheelwells. This is good, because there is a factory crossmember there; the bad thing is that the tubes run right through where the rear seat used to be (I didn't want it anyway). I was also able to weld the rear tubes a bit to the frame/sheetmetal that is right behind the rear seat; whether this provides further tortional resistance, I do not really know. It seems like it would.

As for my main hoop and front down bars (I didn't do a real cage, with a halo or front section), the main hoop sits on 2X3 outriggers that go between my through-the-floor connectors (2x2); the front down bars go from the main hoop, just at windowsill height, to the bottom of the A-pillar area, where I've got more 2x3 outriggers. My subframe connectors also tie into the stock front torqueboxes; they overlap each subframe by about a foot. At this point, the thing should be pretty stupidly rigid. I'm not doing four-point horizontal bars in the main hoop, but I did do a diagonal. My car is also for the street, and what's kind of silly is that I think I'll still be able to recline the seats (just got some new ones that have head rests), even with the diagonal...


point well taken. I think I am in a similar position to the on you are in. I want a functional cage so that i can pass tech inspection for open road racing, but this will also be mostly a street car that won't see much, if any wheel to wheel competition. My intention is to build something structurally sound with plenty of triangulation and as few bends as possible. I have no problem cutting up interior peices to fit around my cage, but I also don't want to lose the function of the few comforts the car has left and I see the kick panel vents as one of those.

1 3/4 .120 wall DOM isn't light so If it isn't serving its purpose as an efficient crash protection structure I don't even want it in there. so I'll have to get clever with this one. I'll try post some pictures so everyone can see the interferrance issue I am trying to avoid.