Roll cages

[beejay]

I have an 86 Mayfair that I'm slowly rebuilding and have been thinking of putting in a rollcage since day one. I'm not planning on competing in it but hopefully will get it on the occasional track day, some piece of mind that I've got some protection if it all goes wrong would be nice

Anyway, the Safety Devices kit from MiniSpares/MiniSport would do the job nicely but the cost adds up quickly. Are there any other suppliers who might be worth looking at? I'm looking at a 6-point setup. Will be fitting harnesses so a harness bar would be useful too.

Would a dash bar be useful or will it get in the way of the dash clocks? Was thinking I could hang the steering column off it.

[DanGT]

There are some good other company, I got my cage second hand to save money just check it comes with all the parts you require (floor mounting plates etc). The dash bar is good but a pane to fit in a road car. Also get the correct padding for the cage were your head may hit. I hope you will never need it but at minimum it will stop you scratching your helmet on track days. Dont just put on pipe laging its not up to the job if it all gose wrong.

When you fit the cage, to get the back part in, put a rope in a loop round the back to bars, then a pice of wood between the rope and twist (like the cartoon way out of bending jail bars). Dont over do it but it worked for me.

[baller11]

I got mine from huddersfield spares, not as good as safety devices but still good enough. I used a ratchet strap to tighten the back half in to squeeze it into the rear of the car. Another tip is to remove the rear windows, 30 second job and will save the headache if you do some damage to one when putting the cage in.

Dave

[Robert C]

I have a Rover Cooper and I have a Safety Devices roll cage in mine. I certianally didn't have to do anything to the rear bins to get it fixed. Mind you I opted for the removable diagonal which probably helped the fitting.

I installed a rear cage then at a later date added the front cage. You really have to remove as much as you can from the interior of the car to make installation "easier"

If I was doing it again it would fit both the rear and front cage at the same time, allows for a better fitment. Personally what I would also do is get the cage in the car but not bolt in down right away, drive the car around so the cage settles in. Then bolt it in.

What happened when I did it. I thought I had got the rear cage in perfectly straight, but when it came to fit the front cage sometime later, I hadn't got it quite square as a consequence the fitment at the front against the dash is not as perfect as it could be. The fitment of the front cage highlighted the fact the rear cage was not quite straight.

Hope that helps!

Robert

[guru_1071]

dont forget that a roll cage made by saftey devices, roll centre etc is a saftey roll cage, with all the correct paper work to prove that its safe and suitable for use in motorsport,

cheap tube 'cages' are just a vanity item, and will probably just give the fire brigade something to practice on in the event of a serious accident!

you cannot compare the quality (or price) of a proper item against the cheaper copy stuff thats avalible

[rufusruffcutt]

I agree with what's been said in the posts above.

Just make sure the cage comes with the strengthening plates that need to be welded to the shell. (You can always manufacture these yourself from some thick steel plate.) These are needed in addition to the "feet" on the cage's mounting points. Its stops the cage punching through the shell in a hard roll -God forbid!.

Four tips for you:

Bolt the cage down through the shell & strengthen plates whilst you weld them to the shell. This keeps everything lined up and enables the bolts to come out again!

When your welding the plates on have a mate keep an eye out for fire as there is usually a lot of Waxoil or underseal where the plates need to be attached!

Put plenty of grease on all the bolts, especially those in the rear arches to keep the dreaded rust at bay.

Don't forget to tell your insurance company (which I know is a pain in the a##), they are very fussy about roll cages.

[beejay]

Thanks for the comments
The RollCentre cages look good and I've found lots of good things about them so will have a chat with them tomorrow!

Car is a bare shell and rear pockets have been removed so hopefully installation will be a little easier!

One thing I have heard (possibly on here) is the body flexing and knocking the cage around the screen. Is there any way of preventing this apart from welding gussets between body and cage?

One possibly silly question: can the rear diagonal interfere with the harness on the passenger side? I'll be anchoring them ideally to a harness bar or the rear parcel shelf.

[guru_1071]

use a harness bar if your fitting harnesses, the diagonal wont affect the passenger side one, but you will need to either weld a pair of belt holder hoops (or attach them using jubaliee clips)

dont attach the harness to the parcels shelf UNLESS the parcel shelf has been correctly strengthed and you accept that you will be making serious compromises with belt angles

ive seen a few accidents where drivers where seriously injured due to poor mounting of harness belts........