Looks like your mind is made up but I say cage it man. Im doing one in my T.a, no door bars tho just because my car is more of nasty street car then a track car, and i think they look cleaner IMO

And **** dont knock the PVC roll bars, they are a cheap easy way to mock up a roll bar design, Heat the tubes up and they bend really easy, cut it up, take it out and bend the real deal.

A/c just like what everybody else says, if your gonna keep the car, who cares? My car was well still is a real Formula WS6, and when i painted it i could have kept it stock but i made it my own. As rare as it is, it will always be mine and now its only 1 of 1 lol. I love your and stealthformuals car, and i really want to find another one but leave it as a formy of course

 

I would buy another v8 Fbody and gut it then put the full cage and chassis under it, mini tubs the whole anchilada and not mess up your current car. In my case I'm only going to run my car at test n tune nights and I'm not removing any creature comforts because I have a 7 yr old son who "loves to ride with daddy". So for me I'll buy another Z28 somewhere down the road and make a racecar out of it even paint them both the same color.

 

Sorry Mike, I meant 10.0, cages aren't smart for the street, that halo even with padding isn't some thing you want to hit your head on with out a helmet

 

i only read pieces of this but it sounds like you dont wanna put a cage cuz your car could be worth alot. then read your plannin to go through the rear panels. i think that you have the bug too bad to ever put this car back to factory and sell it. and a rare car usually is only worth alot with the kinda miles it has now or less. lik said before safety is the most important thing and sacrifices need to be made in all sports. through my build ive made alot of sacrifices. just remember once you start cuttin and weldin **** inside the car there's usually no turnin back. good luck.

 

It took me about 2.5 months to get mine bar from Wolfe...which was installed after the shootout. LOL

If your doing the install like I did...in my garage then get the bar that bolts into the rear wheel wells...no welding, just some drilling needed.

If you have the means I would suggest Burkhardt and have them weld in a CM bar...about the same price as wolfs bar by iteslf.

 

I was trying to remeber if you gots yours in b4 the shootout. Ill give Burkhardt a call also, thanks for the suggestion.
Ive decided screw value of the car. 6 point will be going in and more weight will be coming out. Im also gonna pick up some of the Burkhardt bumper supports. Now I just need money to do it all. Ill be taking donations via paypal. Thanks.

 

For sure, i had a perfect new simpson helmet, foam on the cage and i was still knocked out after the 2nd roll side over side along the rail then a gentle end over end to finsh..needless to say i will have a 10-12 pt done in my z pictured in avitar by April long before the motor is done

 

Mike make sure when you buy the harness to check the cert date on them. Don't let them sell you some old **** because they are only certified for 2 years and tech at GLD will bust you out. They gave me a warning that last day of the year don't come back until I get some new one's.

 

Jeff I know you can have belts re-certified......I think you might have to go down to 66 when they do the cage certs, or you have to send the back to the manufacturer. I also don't remember what they charge, it's been so long. Either way it's a viable option to replacing them, just because they're 2 yrs old.

 

I know there was one company doing it maybe simpson I don't remember but I don't know if they all do it.

 

biznatch brings up an excellent point about hitting your head on the bars during an accident, you really have to figure out your ultimate goal with the car. Ive worked on tons of Street driven weekend driver car/ occosional track cars, mostly porsche/ bmw, and ill tell you i have put in full cages with door bars, only to take them out because sometimes for street cars i think less is more and the bars DO get in the way most times. If you plan on tracking the hell out of the car, and rarely street drive it, you gotta cage it.

I do custom paint and autobody for a living and over the years worked on probably 1000+ racecars, and like alot of other guys have said, cages can really save your life, and ive seen people walk away from race cars that otherwise would have been killed without a cage, and the OP car has the HP to turn some high MPH times at the track, and by the looks of the threads ive been seeing from him make hes onlt gonna build it faster, so a cage if definatly a good idea

 

In the long long run I want to go 8s or faster in the car. Most of the street driving is done on the way to the track or to the local car show. Not to worried about the street.

 

a 6 banger formula 4th gen? i don't think so

 

it would be called a firebird. lol????? Pretty sure thats what he meant.

 

AChotrod,

if thats your car in your sig, you have a nice looking car..

You look like you might be a little picky/proud of your ride and you should be..

I can tell you from experience, your going to be better off going with more cage than you need, its called planning ahead... I use to put cages in cars for side money/ did it for 4 years. i have done alot of cars in my area.. you get alot more for what you pay for if you get someone to custom build your cage, you need to find a chassis builder thats not full of crap and goes the extra mile. If you have a chassis builder in mind, find his customers, talk to his customers not the chassis builder, the customers will tell you the truth, a builder is going to tell you what you want to hear to get your business. if the guys good your gonna know it from the first couple customers you talk to.

for instance: if someone would bring me a car wanting a 6 point cage, he got it, plus he got gussets on the main hoop to the crossbar, plus a rocker bar, and an x-brace in the back if i felt it needed it... i always gusseted the crossbar on the main hoop on every cage i did.. I always got more business with every cage i did, and i had repeat customers when they switched rides, or built another car or truck.

when i use to do cages i charged a flat rate of $100 per point using dom tubing.. example: 6 point-$600, it covered material and i made decent money doing it. the thing with bought kits is you have to pay to have it installed and most chassis builders dont like installing the kits, usually they will charge you more to install them, to the point where you would be better off just having them do the whole cage. my thinking of this is why have a high dollar tubing bender if your not going to use it, and most chassis builders think the same thing.

if a car was brought to me with interior out i could install the 6pt. cage in 2 days, with me custom bending the bars, i made roughly $400 in 2 relatively easy days of work, so i loved doing cage work, its specialy work so you make good money doing it..

also think of quality!!
i used Dom tubing, not the welded seam tubing thats in most kits, thats something else you need to look at... dom is simply better than welded seam, welded seam you have to use .134wall, dom you can use .125 wall as its consistent thickness, the welded seam isnt consistent so you have to go to the heavier wall stuff in turn making your car heavier... dom is also alot stiffer.
you could go real nice and get chromoly, price goes up quite alot, expensive actually.. if i were you and had a real nice car, and was looking to the future i would save my money and go for a tig welded chromoly 6point or 8 point to start with, and tell the builder you will probably add on to the cage at a later date.. the chromoly is alot lighter.. if your just breaking 11.49 i actually wouldnt get a cage, i would jsut slow the car down a tad and wait on the cage. Adding a cage can slow you down, but it can also make you faster. i put a cage in a smallblock s-10 and it went 2 tenths faster, his 60fts were better, half track was also better, guess from the stiffer chassis.


added this with an edit:
noticing your car is a ws6, you might also consider buying another car to start with, put your current car back to stock, and possibly decommission it, if GM goes belly up you might have your retirement package there.. you would be better off gutting a car and building a racer out of it..

later
bruce

 

here is why you need a roll bar....


http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/inde...lbumId=1890541

a local speed shop owner was driving one of his employee's cars at the track. thank god it had a roll bar!

 

I get kinda tired of people whining about hitting your head on the bar in an accident. Anyone ever hear of ROLL BAR PADDING??????????? Good Lord.

With padding on the bar its no harder than anything else in the car you could hit your head on. Put the thick foam padding anywhere your head could get to, done.

How quick was the Mustang above? How fast was it going when the mishap occured? It appears it only had a 6 point in the car.....it did its job.

 

honestly all in all,

i think cages should be mandatory at drag races... i seen a sweet hemi cuda car. man i'm talking this thing was sweet and worth no telling how much.. it was lined up beside a POS early 80's regal, not a turbo car, just a pos with a smallblock might have ran low 9's in the 1/8 if he was lucky.. anyways, the lights drop, the regal takes off an spits an axle out the right side, Hemi does a wheelstand right on top of the tire and axle, then doing about 3 flips off the 60ft pad.. car was completely totaled..

moral to the story: remember its not always about you and your car, think of the other asshat that might be doing stuff halfassed..

 

Words to live by

 

I was in the same boat as you. I debated for two years before finally deciding to do the right/safe thing and have a roll bar installed. After lots of research I felt that the Wolf stuff just didnt fit as nicely as custom stuff. I'm extremely picky when it comes to every detail of my car and I ended up going with Performance Auto Fabrications which is a local shop with a bunch of cars in the 8s. The company specializes in suspensions/chassis, etc and the owner, Tyson, made sure that the roll bar looked great and was actually functional without being too intrusive in the cabin.

I went with a chromoly 6 point with custom swing outs that only required a small 2" nub on the floor to bolt to which means no snagging your ankle on the swing out bracing when the side bars are out. The side bars cut me across the upper arm between the shoulder and elbow which is what is technically required. When the side bars are out it only looks like theres a four point bar in the car. Being custom the main hoop lines up with the B pillars perfectly and is completely invisible from the sides. The rear bars come down as close to the rear shock mounts as possible while still fitting without having the cut any interior pieces for fitment. The whole bar was powdercoated and POR 15'd and looks fantastic!

Basically dont skimp here if you can manage it. I don't regret having mine custom made. Its definitely worth it...

Here's the only photo of mine I can find:

http://www.performanceautofab.com/ou...p?idProduct=24

--Alan