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Big thanks to Justin L for giving me the encouragement & advice to proceed.
You sure you're thanking the right person. I do encourage and give advice, but I don't think my post was especially deserving of thanks.
anyways, you can do it! And check rule books for cage regulations, it makes the car way more resellable.
Sorry for the confusion or mis-representation, specifically your advice was basically over building is better than under building and your encouragement was more a case of leading by example.
Sorry for the confusion or mis-representation, specifically your advice was basically over building is better than under building and your encouragement was more a case of leading by example.
That extra cross bar on the hoop, triangulating the horizontal that supports the rear seat vertical tube is a good idea.
Regardless whether the seat (s) are in date or not, please make a seat back brace from the hoop to minimize the chances that your head doesn't get split if you back this car into something immovable.
I hope for your sake too, you have a pre-printed liability waiver for passengers to sign before entry or you will lose everything you have and/or be in prison when somebody gets hurt in this thing.
No street......, not even to the corner grocery. And helmets only.
Maybe it's just that I come from more of a background in the off-road and 4x4 community where everything is caged, but why is it so bad to drive a caged vehicle on the street?
Almost all of the vehicles I have owned have been fully caged, properly padded and have always kept me safe including one rollover accident (the cage saved my life).
I guess it all comes down to the amount of risk you are willing to take on your outings with your car in the madness that public roads can be.
The transmission tunnel at the rear seat panel is probably the single strongest part of the 944 body; it has everything going for it: multiple planes, multiple layers of material and great angles without compromise and it's also got the Torque tube underneath as a safety net! It's an overlooked strong feature in my humble opinion.
It may very well be the strongest part of the car but that doesn't mean much if it isn't being used.
From a top or side impact that beam takes very little load as far as I can see.
That beam seems most efficient to take up load from an impact underneath, where the force goes up the beam and is then divided into the top parts of the X brace.
Again, there could be something I'm not seeing but I don't see the significant load it takes up.
It's probably not hurting anything, unless you're really worried about 4 pounds. But I guess the point of my argument is that just welding things randomly around doesn't make for an efficient cage.
I've said it before; I think the wisest thing is to consult a structural engineer if building your own cage. I am not someone with structural knowledge, all I can do is question things I cannot provide any definitive statements.
Additionally, if driven on the street you need to consider heavy duty, two (or more) stage foam padding to simulate the factory applied pieces. The foam needs to now be thicker because it is closer. The roof X brace would be especially dangerous unpadded, even over a small pothole.
Regardless whether the seat (s) are in date or not, please make a seat back brace from the hoop to minimize the chances that your head doesn't get split if you back this car into something immovable.
[QUOTE=RoyaleWithCheese;14273012]Maybe it's just that I come from more of a background in the off-road and 4x4 community where everything is caged, but why is it so bad to drive a caged vehicle on the street?
QUOTE]
That makes 2 of us with this type of background.
Glad that cage saved your life! Got any pics?
It may very well be the strongest part of the car but that doesn't mean much if it isn't being used.
From a top or side impact that beam takes very little load as far as I can see.
That beam seems most efficient to take up load from an impact underneath, where the force goes up the beam and is then divided into the top parts of the X brace.
Again, there could be something I'm not seeing but I don't see the significant load it takes up.
It's probably not hurting anything, unless you're really worried about 4 pounds. But I guess the point of my argument is that just welding things randomly around doesn't make for an efficient cage.
I've said it before; I think the wisest thing is to consult a structural engineer if building your own cage. I am not someone with structural knowledge, all I can do is question things I cannot provide any definitive statements.
Additionally, if driven on the street you need to consider heavy duty, two (or more) stage foam padding to simulate the factory applied pieces. The foam needs to now be thicker because it is closer. The roof X brace would be especially dangerous unpadded, even over a small pothole.
I don't know what to say except:
I do put a lot of thought and reference into the cage. Even if it looks like I am tacking tubes on anywhere just for giggles.
I disagree with your tunnel observations being better at taking force from the bottom up. but it is what it is and maybe one day it'll make sense. If you research more you'll see it's done like this on various builds.
I don't understand people's comments about the tunnel tube being weak in areas other than up and down. Ummm, maybe that is true but the rest of the cage really helps out for the other forces. Could it be better and beefed up for those other forces? SURE! LETS DO IT!
Started working on the cage again. Realized I need to get this done before anything else.
After reviewing cage rules and dealing with my goals & present design, I will make a dash bar with 2 bends and run it on top of the dash but below the top of the peak of the instrument cluster.
Additionally after seeing how thin the sill steel is, I built these 1/16" thick body reinforcements. And over these will be 1/8" plates. Please ignore the expanding foam... that was done in a rush to keep dust accumulation to a dull roar when I was driving a lot on gravel roads.
Test Fit your cluster if you are going to run it with that bar just below the peak it MIGHT give you some trouble.. When I built mine I just went off the rules and what people have been building for years and Safety committees have scrutinized. I did not want to re-invent the wheel, my goal was to make it proper, to the rules and as tight, out of the way as possible, and retain the ability to take things apart e-z, especially the dash.
Dude, that build is SICK. I hope he gets good money for it. LOVE IT! my type of car for sure. Thanks for the link!! Nice smooth driving too in the tarmac rally... maybe one day I will have the opportunity to take part, but it's waaaaaaay across Canada. It's the only tarmac rally that I'm aware of in Canada, sadly
Test Fit your cluster if you are going to run it with that bar just below the peak it MIGHT give you some trouble.. When I built mine I just went off the rules and what people have been building for years and Safety committees have scrutinized. I did not want to re-invent the wheel, my goal was to make it proper, to the rules and as tight, out of the way as possible, and retain the ability to take things apart e-z, especially the dash.
I really like your dash bar. It seems pretty darn perfect! Well done mate:
The following 3 pics are from Hanksville's HotRods mail order cages for the type of balance I'm trying to achieve.
06-22-2017, 02:26 AM
