Roll cage building tips

Rob_Mopar wrote: Wasn't there a much techier roll cage article in the series for the SAAB build a few years ago? Alan, maybe when the SAAB cage build surfaces from the archives it could be linked at the end of the Bar Hopping piece?

The only thing I remember about the SAAB build article was that they tied the cage to the car's body with a LOT of gusset plates.....something like 30 spots. The plates had holes in them for lightness. I once saw the car at an MSCC autocross....looked like fun.

Ranger50 wrote: Or just tack all your tubes into place and fully weld outside the car like this:

That is pretty. How'd you get it back in?

x3 on the survey and more techy tech how to's. If you do a halo hoop you can tilt the main hoop forward and get enough room to get at the top and with windshield out get to the legs - or cut holes in floor, drop the tubes through or chop the roof... oh yeah and why the floor plates/attachment points matter...

Zomby Woof wrote: I've never seen tech at an autocross. I'm OK with that.

I've seen finger-tight lugnuts, batteries with no hold downs and exposed hot leads, oil actively dripping on headers, power steering spraying on front tires, and seats held in with one bolt. All yesterday. A basic tech should be required at all autocrosses, and you're nuts if you think otherwise.

I was chief of tech for SCR-SCCA and man have I seen some crap. How about a back seat held in with zip ties? Batteries held by gravity only are VERY common; I showed one guy where the alternator fan had gouged the battery case and he said something about well, at least it won't come out. The one that spooked me the worst; this guy shows up in his DD for an AX, when the RR tire is shaken there's a godawful clunk noise. He allows as how it's been doing that for a couple of weeks. Turns out all the bolts holding the trailing arm on that side were loose, the arm was literally flopping around. And he had driven the car on the Interstate to get to the site.

Yea, the article we just posted was added on to my Subaru rally article from 06--there was another one in 2008 for the Saab.

Javelin wrote:

Zomby Woof wrote: I've never seen tech at an autocross. I'm OK with that.

I've seen finger-tight lugnuts, batteries with no hold downs and exposed hot leads, oil actively dripping on headers, power steering spraying on front tires, and seats held in with one bolt. All yesterday. A basic tech should be required at all autocrosses, and you're nuts if you think otherwise.

Yeah, unfortunately you can't always trust people to know what's going on with their car, even though you'd think if they're running at an auto-x they SHOULD. I see loose lug nuts frequently- I spot check every wheel with a torque wrench and if one lug is loose, they all get tightened. I keep a roll of black electrical tape in my back pocket for wrapping hot ignition leads- the last auto-x I did NO ONE had their hot posts covered, even though I'd sent out the tech sheet in hard copy and electronic to everyone who was running. Probably 1/4 of the batteries had either bungee cords or no hold downs whatsoever.

I see fire extinguishers held in with vel-cro all the time, loose wheel bearings...the biggest problem I have, though, is that I'm 34 years old, and some 50 or 60 something rolls up in his "racy" car and I flunk him on tech- I've gotten into a few confrontations with guys who think they know more than I do, and how DARE I flunk their racy car. I'm even nice, and fix things (like lug nuts and uncovered hot posts) myself often. You gotta draw the line between being a good tech inspector and being an asshat.

So 200 paper towel rolls and some glue sticks won't pass even if I paint them orange?! I had the paper mache fire extinguisher ready too!