Roll cage fitment

[osdecar]

Hi guys,

I am looking for a roll cage for my E46, and I am shocked by the quotes that some shops are giving for the fitment labour costs.

my car is already stripped down, and I'm after a bolt-in roll cage, and they're quoting me around £800 - £900 just in labour for the base plate welding.

I know the quality of the work needs to be good, and you get what you pay for and all that. But still, shouldn't be more than a day work, and £800 seems ludicrous. What have you guys paid for this kind of work?

I'm trying to find a competent welder somewhere local, to take the cage to him/her. But it's difficult to judge the quality of their work from a webpage. Is this a good idea, or it really requires someone that really knows about roll cages?

Do you know anyone in the B'ham/worcestershire/warwickshire area?


Thanks

[CouncilFerrari]

I had a 6 point cage welded into my car for £420 a few years ago.

I can happily put you in touch with the company did it. Custom cages fabricated the cage. I should add, I removed the windscreen, dash, fuel tank etc before it went for fitting. Are they adding that to your price?

Edited by CouncilFerrari on Wednesday 14th April 10:01

[FNG]

There used to be a motorsport prep company in Daventry that did a decent job of a full weld-in cage, triangulated to the strut tops, for c.1200 quid but I can't find them now.

Edit: It was WT Motorsport, but a look at their facebook page suggests they're tarting up steering wheels these days, not fabricating stuff any more.

I also seem to remember seeing that nickson motorsport (very, very highly recommended, but not in west midlands) could do a similar full cage to your spec for similar money.

I'd personally rather go that route than buy a full cage for 600 quid and have someone take another 400 for trimming and welding in six pre-supplied feet, let alone the 800+ you were quoted.

It shouldn't take more than a day if the car's already stripped down - and that day's work would include removing the tank and refitting it - if the tank's out and they just need to offer up the cage, trim the fitting feet and weld it in, anyone who knows what they're doing ought to be able to do it inside a day easily.

Edited by FNG on Wednesday 14th April 10:13

[osdecar]

CouncilFerrari said:

I had a 6 point cage welded into my car for £420 a few years ago.

I can happily put you in touch with the company did it. Custom cages fabricated the cage. I should add, I removed the windscreen, dash, fuel tank etc before it went for fitting. Are they adding that to your price?

Thank you very much, It'd be great if you can send me some contact details, please.

FNG said:

There used to be a motorsport prep company in Daventry that did a decent job of a full weld-in cage, triangulated to the strut tops, for c.1200 quid but I can't find them now.

Edit: It was WT Motorsport, but a look at their facebook page suggests they're tarting up steering wheels these days, not fabricating stuff any more.

I also seem to remember seeing that nickson motorsport (very, very highly recommended, but not in west midlands) could do a similar full cage to your spec for similar money.

I'd personally rather go that route than buy a full cage for 600 quid and have someone take another 400 for trimming and welding in six pre-supplied feet, let alone the 800+ you were quoted.

It shouldn't take more than a day if the car's already stripped down - and that day's work would include removing the tank and refitting it - if the tank's out and they just need to offer up the cage, trim the fitting feet and weld it in, anyone who knows what they're doing ought to be able to do it inside a day easily.

Thank you as well. I have found a couple of companies that do their own roll cages from scratch. I thought it would be a more expensive route. But I'll give it a go. See what quotes they give me.

[CouncilFerrari]

osdecar said:

Thank you very much, It'd be great if you can send me some contact details, please.

ADT Motorsport in Skipton. http://adtmotorsport.co.uk/

As mentioned, I bought the cage from Custom Cages (a kit of parts) and Dan welded it together and installed it into the car.

[osdecar]

CouncilFerrari said:

ADT Motorsport in Skipton. http://adtmotorsport.co.uk/

As mentioned, I bought the cage from Custom Cages (a kit of parts) and Dan welded it together and installed it into the car.

Too far from my place, unfortunately, but thanks

[geeks]

osdecar said:

Hi guys,

I am looking for a roll cage for my E46, and I am shocked by the quotes that some shops are giving for the fitment labour costs.

my car is already stripped down, and I'm after a bolt-in roll cage, and they're quoting me around £800 - £900 just in labour for the base plate welding.

I know the quality of the work needs to be good, and you get what you pay for and all that. But still, shouldn't be more than a day work, and £800 seems ludicrous. What have you guys paid for this kind of work?

I'm trying to find a competent welder somewhere local, to take the cage to him/her. But it's difficult to judge the quality of their work from a webpage. Is this a good idea, or it really requires someone that really knows about roll cages?

Do you know anyone in the B'ham/worcestershire/warwickshire area?


Thanks

Are you sure that's a quote for them to weld in just the plates and not to fit the cage for you as well? I had my feet welded in for £150 the guy then helped me fit the cage as he had not alot else on and liked the cage I was fitting (Safety Devices) into an E36 Compact. Sadly the guy has retired or I would recommend him.

[osdecar]

geeks said:

Are you sure that's a quote for them to weld in just the plates and not to fit the cage for you as well? I had my feet welded in for £150 the guy then helped me fit the cage as he had not alot else on and liked the cage I was fitting (Safety Devices) into an E36 Compact. Sadly the guy has retired or I would recommend him.

I asked the guy this question and his answer was "we can't really weld the baseplates properly without assembling the cage before". So, yes it's for both, but can't be otherwise, apparently.

At least in that specific shop. Hence why I'm looking elsewhere

[Nurburgsingh]

EMC in Saltly Bham they mainly do Porsche but have built a couple of BMW e36 and compact race cars in the past.

[geeks]

osdecar said:

geeks said:

Are you sure that's a quote for them to weld in just the plates and not to fit the cage for you as well? I had my feet welded in for £150 the guy then helped me fit the cage as he had not alot else on and liked the cage I was fitting (Safety Devices) into an E36 Compact. Sadly the guy has retired or I would recommend him.

I asked the guy this question and his answer was "we can't really weld the baseplates properly without assembling the cage before". So, yes it's for both, but can't be otherwise, apparently.

At least in that specific shop. Hence why I'm looking elsewhere

Ah that's different then, its not a ridiculous price. I had already assembled the cage in the car so all that had to be done was mark up and remove and I was quite happy to take it all home reassemble and fit myself.

[MOTK]

Nurburgsingh said:

EMC in Saltly Bham they mainly do Porsche but have built a couple of BMW e36 and compact race cars in the past.

EMC

[osdecar]

I've finally found a decent quote.

£1800 welded 6 points roll cage, (including door cross bar + roof cross bars) done in CDS tube

Although being the best offer I've found, it doesn't sound too good to be true. So I hope it'll turn out OK.

The place is called tube-bender.co.uk in Rugby.

Anyone knows about it?

[1781cc]

Have you contacted JP Cages for a quote? a lot of guys in. the TT group use them and their work is excellent

[osdecar]

1781cc said:

Have you contacted JP Cages for a quote? a lot of guys in. the TT group use them and their work is excellent

Unfortunately, it seems like they only do half cages for the E46. I'm looking for a full cage.

[FNG]

Have you spoken to them? As if they only do a rear at the moment, they may be quite happy to use your car to develop a front cage - everybody wins.

Re tube-bender, I only knew of them via ebay as they've been selling tube on there for years. Website suggests they mostly do off road cages.

Nothing wrong with that but I wouldn't mind seeing some of their products and how they've made and welded in the cage feet, just be sure it's done in a similar way to circuit racing stuff.

[944 Man]

I’d ask EMC in Birmingham for a quote. I would probably speak to Alex.

Nickson Motorsport are also very good, but quite expensive. Nick is a Gartrac apprenticed fabricator though.

Edited by 944 Man on Tuesday 27th April 10:26

[Nurburgsingh]

944 Man said:

I’d ask EMC in Birmingham for a quote. I would probably speak to Alex.

Edited by 944 Man on Tuesday 27th April 10:26

Because Kevin is giving up smoking again and is a bit sweary? Lol

[944 Man]

Kev uses being a c*** to weed out the fools he doesn’t have time for, but Alex is friendlier.

[osdecar]

Just talked to EMC as you guys suggested, and again, same standard quote as any other: £2.5k .

And that wasn't for a bespoke cage built by themselves, that's just for off the shelf cage + fitment.


The more I think about this rugby guy the more doubts I had as I can't seem to find any reference either bad or good about his job.


What do you guys think about buying a bolt-in and having some mobile welder do the baseplates in my driveway?

Edited by osdecar on Tuesday 27th April 13:04

[944 Man]

I was quoted £400-50 for a 6pt. into a 944.