[Mike S]

I looked at a lot of cages this year at the track. Didn't like the fit or look of the pre fab cages. Decided to bend my own chromoly cage. Bending conduit as an electrician for 35 years help a ton. My goal is to fit it so that it can't be seen from the side. I used 1 1/4 PVC pipe as a template for my bends. I have the tuff bends done and fitted. I have to bend and fit the dash bar. I have to bend it towards the fire wall to make room for the factory dash. I am using 1 5/8 for it because I plan on the front J bars coming off it.
I am finding the toughest thing is notching to tubes. It is hard to get the right measurement so I have to sneak up on it. Really hard going notch to notch. Had to scrap a couple CM tubes so far.
While the body was off I reinforce the rear control arm mounts.

Need a little more practice tig welding before I tackle welding it up.

[Scott Stoneburg]

Nice job on the fit. I have thought about adding the halo and J bars to mine. But how are you welding the top bars? I can't see how I will be able to weld around the joints at the roof level.

[charlie66]

Looking good!

Hows that frame notch working out. Does it seem to be holding up strength wise?

I think im going to attempt that ..



Good luck ..

[Mike S]

I did the frame notch while the body was up. Seems to be plenty strong. I will tie a coupe bars off the rear down bars to the frame to add strength ( like a truss).
The body is just setting on the frame. I will raise the body up to make room to weld the top bars.

If there is interest I will keep posting progress pictures and comments. I think building headers was a little easier than this cage.

[blaktopr]

Mike. Looks good. To be sure there is no contamination in the weld use lacquer thinner or acetone to clean the tube outside and inside. If you don't get the inside of the tube clean you can pull junk into the weld.

[charlie66]

Originally Posted by Mike S

I did the frame notch while the body was up. Seems to be plenty strong. I will tie a coupe bars off the rear down bars to the frame to add strength ( like a truss).
The body is just setting on the frame. I will raise the body up to make room to weld the top bars.

If there is interest I will keep posting progress pictures and comments. I think building headers was a little easier than this cage.

Thanks for the pictures.. Im curious, why did you weld a plate inside the frame?
Sorry for taking this off topic.. I like what you're doing with the roll bar as well.

[charlie66]

Originally Posted by blaktopr

Mike. Looks good. To be sure there is no contamination in the weld use lacquer thinner or acetone to clean the tube outside and inside. If you don't get the inside of the tube clean you can pull junk into the weld.

I didnt know about cleaning the inside . Never did understand why it got contaminated inside . Thanks for posting that..

[Mike S]

The frame went in (towards the outside) for clearance of the factor springs. The notch would have cut into the part of the frame it went in. Leaving no frame at all right there. I am currently using coil over springs so don't need the room. That was a lot of work for 2".
I am going to lay out for coil over shocks and put them in at a later date.

[Mike S]

thanks for the tip of cleaning the inside of the tube.. You will get a kick out of this. Here is the bender I am using, I modified the shoe to work with 1 5/8 tubing.
It is a hydraulic bend us electricians use to bend 1 1/4 - 2" conduit.

[charlie66]

Originally Posted by Mike S

thanks for the tip of cleaning the inside of the tube.. You will get a kick out of this. Here is the bender I am using, I modified the shoe to work with 1 5/8 tubing.
It is a hydraulic bend us electricians use to bend 1 1/4 - 2" conduit.

Is that a Greenlee??

Hay whatever works man.. lol

[charlie66]

Thanks for the pics..

[Mike S]

some up dates.
Cage is done and welded. I like how the tig came out on the top of the tubes but the bottom welding upside down was a challenging and did not come out as good.
I raised the body up to weld the top of the cage.
I ended up cutting more of the rear floor than I wanted to add bracing.
Rewiring the car while the dash is out. You can tell by the pic it needed it.

[Mike S]

Window net installed

[Mike S]

Tin work is almost done. Ended up making a brake out of angle iron and hinges. It work out pretty good. I will be putting carpet where the back seat use to be.

[slowbird]

Nice work

[Dragncar]

I love it, all the work by yourself. Thanks for the pictures. It really helps those of us who are contemplating the same thing.

[Mike S]

I built the car in 1999 to go 10.90's. After 20 years it was time to redo it. I should have did the cage when I built the car but never thought I would be going 9's.

All this work is like building the car all over again. It sure is a lot of work. I would not want to do cages for a living. Can't tell you how many times I had to change tungsten's. Learned real quick to keep 5 sharp one by your side.

next winter I will tackle the paint. Looking at pearl white.

[Dragncar]

On those top welds,I know it is now against NHRA rules to stick weld cages. It should not be but there are very good rods available for Cro Mo steel that would get that top part very easily.
They make stick rod to weld just about anything. I have some 125,000 psi stuff. Its not breaking.
I guess NHRA thinks you can not control the heat good enough with stick welding. Pure bu!!$h!t.
Its a LOT easier to get your heat wrong with a wire feed. Look great but weak with no penetration
It does not look as nice most of the time,but it is every bit as strong.

[mysticmissle]

looks great

[69Goat1]

Looks great Mike! Here is my 69...we made new rear frame rails and moved it over a git. 17.5 from fender lip to frame. Since my car sees a lot of street and cruising I went with steel tubs and kept the factory trunk floor...




Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk