I gutted the interior the other night and started welding the plates down. And I started fitting the bars in and getting the angles tight.
I prepainted the bars to make it easier to paint it once it's in.
This is a wolf 6pt CM with swing out doors and through the speaker Rr bars.

I have a friend coming over Saturday to tig the bars in. I hope to be back on the road next week.

 

A few more.

 

Not to be an *******, but keep welding scrap together before you go back to welding to the car. Welding around the bars is about 10 times harder then welding flats. Just don't want to see you waste a CM Wolfe cage.

*HUGE EDIT* just read the post

can't wait to see it tigged in

 

No offense taken. I have been mig welding for 10 plus years. As I am a body man by trade. I have welded tons of panels on cars. And in many difficult places.

 

just FYI SFI requirs a 6x6 plate anywhere the roll bar touches the body of the car. i saw where you cut the one at the main hoop. but more than likely nobody will ever see it.

just a heads up

 

Looking good, I seen the cut plate as well. I do like how you molded the other plates. My friend and I welded mine in, and we also torcched the plates where needed, hammered etc to get the form to the floor/panel all the way around. Prepainting makes it so much easier, good job on that too.

Charlie

 

One bit of advice on your next install. I use clecos to hole the plates where I want them and then weld the bars to the plates. It is going to be a bitch to tig the bars to the plates with them already welded in.

The work you have done is very nice so far.

 

What is clecos? That is a good point. But how do you keep the plates in the right spot so they slide back down in place?
This is the only way I could think of.

And it seems like it would be kinda hard to get the plates a true 6"s in all directions. There would have to be many angles were the main hoop is.

 

Clecos are a removeable rivet. You need special pliers and a bag of clecos. The kit can be bought from alot of racing suppliers for less than $100.00.

 

If your going to weld in a bar, would you not want it to be NHRA aproved? I noticed you welding the bar that comes off the main hoop going to the reer on the rear wheel well. That is only a thin piece of sheet metal. If the car, god forbid, flips over, the bar will push that plate right through the wheel well skin. Should i not go to the fram further toward the center of the car? I know Wolfe makes their cages to bolt in through the rear speakers, but those cages are not NHRA legal. The way this bar is being set up, it would never pass the tracks around here. Maybe the tracks by you are more leninent.

Good Luck

 

Thanks madman.What do they look like? I'm curious how they hold on to the bar and plate.


WS6TransAm01, That's what the steel plates are for. But it should be 6"s all the way around the bar. But that is very hard to do in some cases.
The bar will not push through the wheel wells. I'm sure of it.

 

I think what Madman is talking about is using the clecos to hold the plates to the body while you fit and tack the bars to the plates, then pull them back out and weld the plates to the bars on the bench. Then put them back in the car and use the clecos to ensure you get the plates back in the same spot before you weld the plates in.

 

Out of curiousity what is the average cost to have a shop install one of these roll bars.

 

I would say about 800 bucks. Give or take a little for interior removal.

 

you are correct, the rules say floor or frame,up here they are not allowed on the rear wheel house either[Div 1], we do them to the floor right above the frame after back seat,
when we get cars like that ,that come in for cage conversions the first thing we tell them is car will not cert as the bar install is incorrect and the rear bars have to be changed, now a days you dont see to many on the tubs anymore as the tech depts are getting with the program,
but as you said, some parts of the country tech is still very loose, Bob

 

Some up dated pics from tonight.

 

Remember the movie Days of Thunder, when they showed the car in the barn when they were building it...the car body looked like a porcupine? Those are cleco's....also I think a strong magnet would work, we used earth magnets(VERY STRONG) to hold our mini-tub sheets in place, worked pretty good.


David

 

Welds look nice.

 

Looking good.

 

Here it is with all the interior back in it. It turned out pretty good for a first timer!