I TIG welded a cage. Once. berkeley that. I bought a MIG welder for the next one.
I see overkill. Not sure if this is the vehicle, but I would live to trailer out and do the Silver State RR, or the Big Bend Texas Race or ??? Those look like my kinda fun.
So thinking about a Road Race in the back of my mind..... I still have lots of bars to add. In my youth I tried to race go karts and I was really fast for a while 'til I wrecked, blew up, or wrecked. Oh Yes!, I could wreck mutiple times in one race if given the chance. I never won 1 race, and there is no telling the amount of time and money I spent trying to. Too much left foot, not nearly enough right foot.
Primus "Jerry Was a Race Car Driver" pops in my head when I think about my sucky driving ability.
Jerry was a racecar driver,
And he drove so g-damn fast.
He never did win no checkered flag,
But he never did come in last.
Not much has changed and I can see myself stuffing this Jimmy. Sadly, lotsa bars are my friend.
At this current amount of bars point, I holesaw 3" holes in the floor and drop it thru to weld completely the tops. Need to X the doors, the main hoop supports, thru the firewall to the front a-arms, kicker bars, some gusseting.....thinking it will end up 14 point? May add rocker bars and kicker off for the seats?
Love it. I so hope to see this in person.
You must get great deals on tubing to fit all that cage in budget.
DILYSI Dave wrote: I TIG welded a cage. Once. berkeley that. I bought a MIG welder for the next one.
I am by no means a welding pro. I have to sit behind a desk and push paper for a living. I need ALL the help I can get when welding, so I have 2 torches: the standard remote foot control and another torch with thumb control.
Trying to work a foot control between your knees in some awkward position is impossible. Thumb control makes welding a cage pretty sweet. I have a (too nice for me) Miller MIG also, but like the TIG, the more I use it. TIGging it also won't hurt if I have it certified, which I plan to. If it was a Moly cage it would have to be TIGged.
MrJoshua wrote: You must get great deals on tubing to fit all that cage in budget.
I hord tubing. (Evil laugh).
Tubing is easy and cheap if you spend the effort.
This is what I do:
I am using 3 different sizes: 1 5/8, 1 1/4, and 1". SFI rules allow smaller ( cheaper/lighter) tubing in specific areas. I bought the SFI spec build book.
Buy economically. Last order I placed was for 1,000 feet. I sell friends, extra if they need help.
Be willing to buy odd lengths for big savings. Some are as small as 10 feet and as long as 30 feet.
I have piggy backed on my Companies volume discounts. In the past gotten to know a 4X4/Chassis race shop and added mine to their order. I have a friend and we place a volume order together. Also, call the Steel Supply house and ask if they have a big customer you can add your order to. Nothing ventured nothing gained.
Become buddies with the Salesmen at Steelmart and they call with me with mild rust deals. Big discount for slightly rusty surface. Anyone can get the same deal, you have to spend the effort. I am helping them and they are helping me.
I have driven from Atlanta to Birmingham (Iron City) and can always save at least $1.00 a foot.
I did 3 cages last year and helped out on a couple more. I will try to take a picture of part of my tubing supply. I hope this helps.
$10 Swap Meet cell for parts
Ready for welding back up
MIG'ed new spring perches on the Ford 8.8.
Another excellent candidate for the new build threads section!
Where'd all the pictures go?
Yeah what happened here? Did the Jimmy go poof?
updates?
I'm pretty sure he found a now challenge appropriate car for this drivetrain.
You'll need to log in to post.
