Problems with a brand new cage
 

I dropped off my racecar to a well-regarded fabricator two months ago with a hard due date of March14th. (I'll leave him unnamed for now; he was not only recommended on this forum, but he also builds cage for several well-known shops). That was apparently more than enough time for the fabricator. We talked at length about what I wanted (provided pictures, he showed me his past builds) and he even added a few suggestions - I was impressed and thought we we're both on the same page.

Over the last month, I've reached out to the builder weekly to make sure that everything was on schedule and for pictures to see how the cage was developing - partly because I'm so excited about the cage, and partly to make sure that everything was as agreed. At times he was slow to respond. He let me know that he had some personal issues (which I certainly sympathize with) and apologized for the radio silence - but assured me that everything was on schedule.

We were in regular communication last week, but the day before I was scheduled to pick up the car, he asked for more time and he promised to drop the car off because he knew I would traveling the following two weekends.

As promised, he dropped off the car yesterday - but when I saw the car for the first time, it was immediately apparent that there are several things either wrong, or not as agreed:

- Missing FIA bars
- Door bars are lower than we discussed and are missing gussets
- Missing gussets on main hoop
- Knee bar is 2 inches below the dash
- Driver seat mount was not reinforced
- Missing mounts for window net AND left side net
- Harness bar not as agreed
- Doors won't close for some reason (would they have been taken off and improperly adjusted?

I'm at a bit at a loss, this is exactly what I wanted to make sure didn't happen.

Can the door bars/knee bar be cut out and recreated without replacing the A pillar uprights and the main hoop? Will someone even want to take on this kind of job?

Wow, that really sucks. Sorry to hear about these issues. To answer your question, anything can be redone by a good fabricator. You're in the NY metro area? I know a guy in northern CT who has a good reputation if that's helpful. PM me if you're interested in his contact info.

Scott

I wouldn't have expected you to have any trouble. It's not too big of a deal to cut out door and knee bars and replace. Takes some cutting and grinding, then bending up new tube. We did that on my car when we got it. Besides the harness bar, the rest is just adding stuff. How is the harness bar wrong? That may not be too big of a deal either.

Sorry to hear about this. You did plenty of due diligence on this and him all the material to successfully build what you wanted.

I tell you what this sounds like to me.

Guy kept saying "working on it", realized later on that he couldn't find your notes, since he had been "working on it" he couldn't ask you for guidance, and then proceeded as best as he could remember.

I had something happen to be like this but it was someone designing a website for me. What I got bore no resemblance to the detailed conversations we had had.

The guy should refund any monies it takes to make it right. Hope you had your specs in writing as it makes things a whole lot easier.

Please post some pictures.

I sent him a pretty detailed txt msg and pics after we spoke a little over a week ago. Personally, I think he didn't even didn't start the cage until the weekend it was due. And then in the rush to get it done once he was past the deadline, I think he did what he needed to "finish." That worries me (weld pentration, etc).

Thankfully, I haven't paid him yet. I'm 100% happy to pay the quoted amount for the cage we agreed on. But this is not that cage. I offered him two solutions that I think are fair: (1) the option of coming to NY and finishing the cage this weekend for the quoted amount, (2) having another fabricator finish the cage and deducting that cost from the total.

The harness bar is honestly the least of the issues - not wrong per se, just different from what we discussed. On its own, it wouldn't be an issue. In the context of several other mistakes though ...

I talked with AJ Hartman this morning, I'm going to drop off the car next weekend and he will have a look and address what's needed.

Knee bar was supposed to touching the bottom of the dash, there's a big gap that's easily seen ...
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...ac0113293.jpeg

Door bars are quite low; no FIA bar; no gussets on junctions
https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...5d71a95bb.jpeg

Missing gussets on main hoop brace. The harness bar was supposed to be two separate bars running horizontal at the correct height for the seat (he didn't reinforce the seat mount nor is the seat even mounted). I hope clearances were checked ...

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...da0a89358.jpeg

For reference, these are the door bars we discussed:

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...fc7b499910.png

Adding the additional sill bar and vertical support like this:
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...73e0edfbb.jpeg

I agree:
That knee bar is not ideal. It looks like it's because the front foot of the cage is so slammed forward (and where the last bend is) which forces the knee bar to be where it is.

And the driver side door bars are definitely too low. You have legitimate issues there. Gussets are a plus too, especially if you asked for them.

And not setting you up with a window net mount is bizarre.

The harness bar, though not wrong, is pretty busy too. I think because you asked for the "X" within the main hoop, the builder was looking to avoid more clutter in that plain.

Still looks like that knee bar could've been higher. I like knee bars to avoid lateral compression of the cockpit area in a side accident ... but not so low.

Knee bar and harness bar are a bit low, otherwise it looks good. Window net setup can be done a dozen different ways, tough for that cage guy to guess on what you want, unless you were specific about it I wouldn't sweat it.

I would take that knee bar out before I ran with it that low... that's crazy.. but at least he didn't send it back to you with 4 6" squares cut out of the roof and hack welded back in like another guy I know (assume different "cage guy")..

If I didn't gjve him a spring loaded rod with placement instructions, as well as all the hardware for a Safecraft left side net, I would agree.

I have a test day next Monday that I committed to six weeks ago. I won't be able to mount the seat until this weekend when I'll see just how bad it is. I have another track car I can run in a worst case scenario (past the refund deadline) - but I was hoping to shakedown the car before the LRP club race. I guess I could always cut out the knee bar myself ...

that dash bar looks like it's dangerously low, and might get in the way. Door bars are really low. harness bar could work. I sent my car all the way out to Ohio for a cage and was very happy. good luck getting it sorted by Lime Rock.

Sent from my iPhone using IB AutoGroup

There are a few local shops that do great work that could "fix" what wasn't done to your specifications.... A few come to mind are: JPC Fabrication in East Stroudsburg,PA , Profab in White House,NJ or 47 Industries in Raritan,NJ. This is if your not planning on bringing your car back to who built the cage. In any regards I hope you are able to get the cage how you would like in time for your shake down event.