garrett376

Hi Guys - time to get the car ready for action! The next step is having a cage made.

I wanted to know, from the guys who have done this on a 996 based-car before, are there any difficulties, preferred areas of attachment, etc., that you discovered in the process? I am hoping to retain as much of the interior as possible, and provide as much room to get in and out as possible (I'm 6'3").

I will be having AutoPower custom make the cage in the car, and am hoping to retain the dash, as well as the original door panels. Is this even possible? Pics of your setup and its relationship to the dash/side vents and chassis attachment points would be very helpful.

Thank you.

mooty

PM JimB, he was one of the first to race 996's.

garrett376

A more direct question... is it possible to run the stock door panels AND have a cage installed with door bars? What kind of covers do people run on the doors? I'd love to keep a lot of the interior intact...

mglobe

I would HIGHLY recommend that you build something as close as possible to a cup car cage. I doubt very much that you'll be able to keep most of the interior.

garrett376

Mike, can you post, or send me some pics of your cage? Love to see what you came up with. Thanks

mglobe

I'm out of town right now, but will post a few when I get home.

onefastviking

Safety first ! Then figure out a way to make it look pretty.

jrgordonsenior

Garrett,

Jim Pierce, who has built almost all the spec boxster cages here in So Cal, has also recently completed a few spec 996's. You should contact him and ask his advise or better yet, send your car to him. He's very reasonable. Are you building a 996 spec?

http://www.advanceoffroad.com/

mglobe

These were taken before I had the cage painted. It looks much better with paint on it. Sorry they are not better pictures. I really like the X configuration. It's hard to tell from the photos, but the X is sort of a pyramid shape, with the point sticking out into the door. It makes for a very strong sidebar. Also, the X makes ingress/egress a bit easier in my opinion. I also like that the cage is tucked up tight to the roofline, that the knee bar is way up away from you and hidden by the dash, and the way it ties in to the rear shock tower. Cage was built by Todd Oppermann of Topp Racing.

garrett376

Thanks Mike, for the pics. Where is your dash bar? If you have any other pics that might show where the driver's side bars meet the floor, that would be great - and any others showing how it goes through the dash. Interesting method- and looks like it gives you a lot more room than coming in front of the dash vents. Thanks again.

mglobe

The dash bar is WAY up under the front dash. You can't see it without sticking your head under the dash. I won't be able to photograph the front tie points for a couple of weeks, as the car is currently in Todd's shop having some work done on it. If you still want pictures in a couple of weeks, remind me and I'll put them up there.