I build roll cages

[Chilezen]

Not sure if tour would ever consider a half cage for a street car, with the objective of making the chassis more rigid?

This is up for debate, but most bolt-in roll bars for this chassis will absolutely do nothing to increase rigidity. They tend to bolt down to weak parts of the car, and don't have a very tight fit because they accommodate for the trim/headliner.
As for a half cage that is tied to structural members of the car (and not just the same as a bolt-in that got welded in), then, no, still no. For it to make a difference, the cage needs to reach both ends of the car. A half cage will just brace the back to the middle, which does more to add weight than it does to tighten up the flex between the front and rear shock towers.

The main gripe I have about "street" cars having full cages is that it's unsafe for the occupants who aren't wearing helmets. Which in a street car, will be 99% of the time. If the car gets hit on the street or the guy drives over a canyon, he's at risk of hitting his head on the bars above him due to the elongation of the neck and potential looseness of the stock seat belt. The point of the helmet is to cushion the blow when, not if, you get hit. The purpose of getting a cage installed in a car is because you acknowledge the reality that you will get into trouble; it's only a matter of when. So a helmet is always paired with that stipulation.

Long story short, a cage is designed to protect the car from cumbling in on itself. It is not designed to cushion the fleshbag inside of it. The fleshbag must be secured inside the car with the right equipment, or the cage itself will pose its own danger to the fleshbag.

[Maxhouse97]

Not sure if tour would ever consider a half cage for a street car, with the objective of making the chassis more rigid?

[f2892704]

Cool

[Digitalwave]

Nice work, nice photos too!

[Chilezen]

[Chilezen]

[Chilezen]

Personally, I'm not a fan of this type of door bars, but this is what the customer wanted, and we delivered. Making the large taco gussets for the doors was a chore, because our die/press isn't wide enough to make that as one piece, so it was built as two halves. In a production sense, incredibly time consuming to weld and blend the halves, four times.

Credit due to the welder who welded all of this. Wasn't me, I just design the cages now. This guy comes in any time we have an in-house build.

[Chilezen]

I've been slackin'. I'm ready to post some more builds!

[Chilezen]

I feel the pain with seat position. We have a trend here to install the main roll bar very far to towards tail of the car to allow more leg room. That way you could also perhaps use straight tubes which is structurally always superior to bent ones.

Totally understand. The top priority in building a cage is first to locate the best possible mounting solution for the main hoop. In the Corevette's case, there's no way to push it back any further, given the significant compromises that would have to be made in cutting away the car. So a bent harness bar will have to do.

Man, that C5 cage looks great!

Love how far the door bars are kicked out to maximize the driver's space.

Thanks! They really are, it's funny how hollow the doors are without windows. This is one of those cars where you vastly notice the difference between getting in and out between the X-style and Nascar style bars.

[Panici]

Man, that C5 cage looks great!

Love how far the door bars are kicked out to maximize the driver's space.

[hasa]

I feel the pain with seat position. We have a trend here to install the main roll bar very far to towards tail of the car to allow more leg room. That way you could also perhaps use straight tubes which is structurally always superior to bent ones.

[Chilezen]

Nice job as always. I'd reconsider the tube design behind driver seat if you want to wrap seat belts over it.

Thanks. I know your concern, that the belts will slip on the bends. Some drivers use clamps on the sides of the belts, others use zip ties. We also offer a welded-on retaining rod by request. Of all the dozens and dozens of cars we've built, we haven't heard of an issue with belts slipping.
The tube design is necessary to achieve a seat position that is far enough back for tall drivers. The seats you see pictured aren't in their final position.

Local/regional rules dictate that this bar design is legal, and required; I know European countries have the harness bar way back in the rear down bars/kickers, but that's not legal here. So curving the driver's harness bar back is the only way.

[hasa]

Nice job as always. I'd reconsider the tube design behind driver seat if you want to wrap seat belts over it.

[Chilezen]

[Chilezen]

This set of photos hopefully shows you more of what the previous set didn't.





There, in the bottom left, you can clearly see the cutout in the body where the Main Hoop terminates. It sits directly on top of the frame.

I could show you what other cages in this car look like, but I'm not here to disrespect other builder's designs.