Alright, so im ready for a cage. My car is sitting as a shell right now, and it is the perfect time to have one fabricated up. After looking at the "pre fabed cages" I decided my life is worth a lot more then some jigged up piece of ####. I made a few calls to some "local" (the 3 major cities around me) shops. I have found the shop I want to go with. (hybrid connection in buffalo)


I talked on the phone with the 2 owners for about an hour today. we discussed a few things, and basically came to this point. They agreed to build a cage for me, but wanted to make sure it meets all requirements for all the sanctioned racing i plan on doing.

For the most part, the car is going to be a drag car. as things come together more and more (brakes, more suspension, ect...) I plan on doing some track days at tracks in the North East (Watkins glen, lime rock, ect.) And most likely auto crossing. From talking to Don and Lee at hybrid, I've found out each type of racing (drag, road, rally, ect) has their own rules and regulations pertaining to cages.

Say I wanted to be legal for NHRA, SCCA, and IHRA (the 3 sanctions i believe i would be racing in, correct me if im wrong) what kind of specs would the cage have to have? does anyone have any past experience/ info they want to share with me? wheres the best place to find the requirements of the cages?




I *think* im going chromolly, it is what Lee suggested to me, he said the metal is stronger then mild steel, and therefore can be made of skinnier tubing, which will help with weight. What is your take on which material to use?


I'm open to all suggestions, and would appreciate your input!

Well, if you dont know what specs to follow and what material/ tubing thickness needed, dont knock the prebent cages offered by comp engineering. The comp cage is .134 dom tubing and in its 6point offering, it will pass tech for nhra down to a 10.99 1/4 mile. In order for it to tech for a 9.99, you need to add a halo bar and front chassis bars making it an 8pt cage.

As far as chromoly, you can go a little thinner but not by much but the price is a lot more. Figure, you might be able to save 10lbs with chromoly on an 8pt cage but for like $3-400 more, is it worth it? I dont think so.

As far as what you need, what are your plans? Each sactioning body has its own set of rules. Your best bet is to check the rulebooks and see what are required for what you plan to do.

Here are a couple of pics of my "jigged up piece of ####" and it will be completely safe and meet my requirements for what I plan to do.

sorry to go off topic, but is it easy to get in and out of your car 92awddsm?

SinEclipse said:

sorry to go off topic, but is it easy to get in and out of your car 92awddsm?

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Its not bad since I had the door bars bent to contact the floor pan right in front of the seats. My wife is 5 months pregnant and she can still get in and out of it with no problem.

It also still meets tech because the door bars have to pass the driver between the shoulder and elbow. If I ran them straight and just pointed them down, the would have past me right above the elbow. This way, they are about an 1" below my shoulder.

tnick24 said:

After looking at the "pre fabed cages" I decided my life is worth a lot more then some jigged up piece of ####.

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WTF
I have a comp. engineering cage in my 93 tsi and it is anything but jigged and unless you cant weld at all, Its as safe as any custom one you get put in.
perhaps you were looking at those show only cages

i have a 2gb eclipse and i was wondering if i can do the rear section only, will that pass regulation? similar to 92awddsm, but it does not pass the front seat. pretty much the roll cage will be in the rear only and not going across the front.

SinEclipse said:

i have a 2gb eclipse and i was wondering if i can do the rear section only, will that pass regulation? similar to 92awddsm, but it does not pass the front seat. pretty much the roll cage will be in the rear only and not going across the front.

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You can do the main loop and down bars with no problem. You dont really need the door bars untill you start running faster than an 11.20 or quicker. That will also vary from track to track but according to your profile, you have a long way before you have to worry about any tech prblems at a track.

EDIT: I am looking at the rules for my local track and this is what it reads: Main loop and rear support bars(4 pt) for any convertible 12.50 and faster. Add main loop support bars for any car that is 11.50 or quicker. Add door bars for any car 11.20 and faster. Add halo bar and front supports(8 pt) for any car that is 10.99 and faster. All tubing must be at least .125 dom or .110 chromoly. And for 10.50 and quicker, must be 10 pt cage with a minimum of .130 dom and .125 chromoly. Anything faster than 10.99 will be sonic tested for bar thickness.

thanks for the info.

Here are a couple of pics of my "jigged up piece of ####" and it will be completely safe and meet my requirements for what I plan to do.

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I didn't mean to knock the prefabed cages, I've seen rollovers and Ive seen cages fail. its not pretty. I just feel safer having a cage that was handmade specificly for my needs and specificly to my car. If that means I pay a bit more cash, then so be it. Earlier this summer I was on a crew team for a rally event. There was a WRX that had a "pre fabed" cage, It rolled, the cage failed and unfortunatly the driver was killed. he "passed" saftey with the cage that he had put in, but the cage was obviously not safe by any means. Now granted, that could happen to anyone and even the best custom made cage could fail under certain curcumstances. but it makes you think.




as for what I should be running, I'm shooting for a mid 9 second pass this year. I'm thinking i need a 10 point w/ halo? is there anyone on here that has had a cage made for them and would like to share some pictures? Id like to see how you went about making yours. 92awddsm, thanks for the pictures! who makes that cage, and if you dont mind what did you pay for it?


Also-92awddsm , you make a great point about going chromoly. after looking into it, its really not worth the few pounds you save for the extra price diffrence. I'll just not eat Mc donalds on the way to the track

The cage is made by Competition Engineering. I think retail is somewhere around $200 for the loop and strut kit. I only paid $125 because the shop I used to work at sells me parts for jobber price.

As far as cages failing, Ive never seen it. I have on the other hand see lots of welds fail on a cage. If you use the proper thickness bars, the cage will hold up. And the actual strength and intergity of the cage is all determined by the person who welds it in.

I am looking into buy a Shell for dirt track racing at a local track. There is a pure stock class and I have never seen a DSM out there, until yesterday. FWD only and this turbo spanked everyones ass. He coudn't drive worth a crap which made me think, why couldn't I do that? I know I can drive better than that loser. So anyways, I have to have an 8 point cage, so if anyone knows anyone with a schematics or a drawing of how their cage is made or anything, you get the idea, let me know please. Thanks!

tnick24 said:

Alright, so im ready for a cage.

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They've been saying that about me for years. It's only lately that I've begun to agree with them.

After looking at the "pre fabed cages" I decided my life is worth a lot more then some jigged up piece of ####.

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As others have stated, don't be too quick to dismiss on looks alone. Most of your protection is in the car itself, and the cage is to keep the car from coming in too far. It's not like NASCAR where the cage has become the entire car, and is also designed to withstand tangling with the other cages.

Say I wanted to be legal for NHRA, SCCA, and IHRA (the 3 sanctions i believe i would be racing in, correct me if im wrong) what kind of specs would the cage have to have?

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You'd build to whichever is most stringent. I suspect that'll be NHRA, but someone here will know.

Earlier this summer I was on a crew team for a rally event. There was a WRX that had a "pre fabed" cage, It rolled, the cage failed and unfortunatly the driver was killed. he "passed" saftey with the cage that he had put in, but the cage was obviously not safe by any means.

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My sympathy for your experience. However, bear in mind that design and regulations can only go so far. If a whip-roll lands just wrong, any practical cage can fail, and there can always be circumstances (cockpit penetration, guardrail impact) that no one can design around.
I agree with 92awddsm that chrome-moly is overkill for a cage. Save it for the bicycle frames.

Here is the roll cage that is in my car. I cannot take any credit for it becsue the previous owner dre99gsx installed. I am sure that some of know the car or of it. But I though that maybe these pics may help someone out. There is more on dre's website at http://www.twingles.com/ideck/ that should work for you. I know that its frowned upon not to build your own but, I have built 3 Starions researched a boat load of info about the 2g's and Dre just happened to have everything I wanted just needs a little cleaning up, refining and my finishing touches. I hope these help. I wasn't sure if the links I put in for the pics would work so you can go to my profile here
( http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=52032 )
and see the pics.

rocketjr said:

Here is the roll cage that is in my car. I cannot take any credit for it becsue the previous owner dre99gsx installed. I am sure that some of know the car or of it. But I though that maybe these pics may help someone out. There is more on dre's website at http://www.twingles.com/ideck/ that should work for you. I know that its frowned upon not to build your own but, I have built 3 Starions researched a boat load of info about the 2g's and Dre just happened to have everything I wanted just needs a little cleaning up, refining and my finishing touches. I hope these help. I wasn't sure if the links I put in for the pics would work so you can go to my profile here
( http://www.dsmtuners.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=52032 )
and see the pics.

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I was just looking through the gallery and was like wtf someone stole dre's pics. but now I see why

Looking good