Hey Guys have a roll cage question!

[shane38]

Doing my cage for my 67 elco seeing if its better to tie the cage to the frame or make plates to the floor pan which i did made already but someone told me i should tie it to the frame!! Curious on your thoughts......
Knowing once i tied the cage to the frame theres no way to lift the body to remove frame bushing!!

Thanks guys

[MrQuick]

You can connect to the body then have a removable plate or structure that connects the body to the frame. No need to run the tubing straight through.

[shane38]

Thanks a lot..
Dang thats smart way to do that....

[regal454]

If you cut through the floor now after you've fitted the cage to sit on plates, the whole cage will probably sit too low...

[raustinss]

Ian on extreme 4x4 showed a cool way to attach the body and frame....make the cage come to the floor with a plate...about a inch or two up from the plate drill a 3/8" hole then drill a hole on the underside of the car...going into the roll cage. On the frame weld a plate that another piece of tubing can attach to. Now you need to find a piece of tubing that can slide into the hole in the underside of the car and into the roll cage.that piece of tubing need only to be about 6" long. Now drop the body onto the frame..tack the smaller tubing to the plate on the frame. Repeat for all the mounts..lift the body and weld the tubing...lower the body again and you now have the option of either using the 3/8" hole to plug weld the two pieces of tubing together..or drill thru the smaller tubing and insert a grade 8 bolt. Which gives the ability. To remove the body.

[shane38]

True but was thinking to use solid bar or square tubing to get my hight i needed if i went that way...

[shane38]

Nice Gotta find that episode

Thanks
raustinss

[shane38]

Ian on extreme 4x4 showed a cool way to attach the body and frame....make the cage come to the floor with a plate...about a inch or two up from the plate drill a 3/8" hole then drill a hole on the underside of the car...going into the roll cage. On the frame weld a plate that another piece of tubing can attach to. Now you need to find a piece of tubing that can slide into the hole in the underside of the car and into the roll cage.that piece of tubing need only to be about 6" long. Now drop the body onto the frame..tack the smaller tubing to the plate on the frame. Repeat for all the mounts..lift the body and weld the tubing...lower the body again and you now have the option of either using the 3/8" hole to plug weld the two pieces of tubing together..or drill thru the smaller tubing and insert a grade 8 bolt. Which gives the ability. To remove the body.

Thanks gotta see if i can find that episode out

[chevelletiger]

Shane, i would like to ask is what are you installing the cage for?drag,autocross,for a harness bar,ect.? Imo i would weld it to the frame,and add rear strut bars to the frame at the bed.most folks run cages for safety ie. Roll overs,and chassis rigidity.i would take a look at schwarz performace vid on youtube and you see how one of these abodys can flex and you wish you had welded to the frame.

[chevelletiger]

...most racing sanctions want the main hoop welded to a full frame car.

[shane38]

Setting the car up for autocross for safety and for the seats.... attached a pic of the cage but its not welded yet..
gonna youtube the vid right now..

Shane, i would like to ask is what are you installing the cage for?drag,autocross,for a harness bar,ect.? Imo i would weld it to the frame,and add rear strut bars to the frame at the bed.most folks run cages for safety ie. Roll overs,and chassis rigidity.i would take a look at schwarz performace vid on youtube and you see how one of these abodys can flex and you wish you had welded to the frame.

sorry the picture blurry


Dang the flex of the frames crazy...

[exwestracer]

Personally, I wouldn't use the single through-bolt attachment method mentioned above. It would be fine for autocross, but have you ever seen what happens to a car when it comes unstuck at high speed? The top and bottom plate sandwich idea is a good one if you need to get the body back off at some point. Best method by far (and also the most difficult) is to run the cage legs all the way down through the rails and weld them top and bottom.

BTW, you mentioned frame flex... Don't expect a world of difference from installing that cage in your Elco. It doesn't span enough length to reinforce the chassis structure much, and the bolt in door bars aren't helping that, either.

[shane38]

Personally, I wouldn't use the single through-bolt attachment method mentioned above. It would be fine for autocross, but have you ever seen what happens to a car when it comes unstuck at high speed? The top and bottom plate sandwich idea is a good one if you need to get the body back off at some point. Best method by far (and also the most difficult) is to run the cage legs all the way down through the rails and weld them top and bottom.

BTW, you mentioned frame flex... Don't expect a world of difference from installing that cage in your Elco. It doesn't span enough length to reinforce the chassis structure much, and the bolt in door bars aren't helping that, either.

Yeah im thinking about changing the design completely!!going to tie the full cage to the frame and tie the front and rear to the frame and change the front design and run it through the dash so i can tie the front in with it and would be cleaner.. yeah I'm not liking the bolt in door bars at all the cage came with the car when i bought it just welded it together to see how it would be... thinking about just saving the rear bar and change everything else.... still trying to figure out how weld the cage for some reason down the road if i need to remove the body but like you said the cages stronger with out any bolts and just weld it up..

[exwestracer]

The halo and A pillar bars aren't "bad" although a little lower from the roof than I like. If you are looking mainly for stiffness, poke tubes out through the rear bulkhead just below the package tray and tie them into the crossmember right at the rear spring pockets. In front, "X" the doors and run your front tubes directly to the front spring pockets on the frame (or as close as you can get depending on what type of UCA you have).

That will pick up the suspension loads right where they are fed into the chassis, and there is no rectangle anywhere to "give".

[raustinss]

If chassis flex is a question look at hpi customs in Canada. They sell a kit which includes two cross members..transfer mount...drive shaft hoop...exhaust hangers..all this increases the torsional ridgity by more then 100%...around 1000$...maybe less
Ryan