Roll Cage Components kit?

[Fraser]

Anyone using one of these?

http://www.rollcagecomponents.com/bmw-e30-roll-cage-kit/

Pretty good price if the fit is decent. Trying to get our car set for Rally America specs by next spring, hopefully on some sort of budget.

[TobyB]

I'm not sure I could buy the tubing for that...

which begs the questions:
DOM tubing?
prebent tubes?
already fishmouthed for welding?
Floor boxes precut?

etc...

I have been far happier with GodSpeed Fab's custom cage than anything
prebuilt/prebent that I've had.
And I did eventually pay off the credit card,
but the cage still makes me happy every time I climb into the car...

It's the one place I really would spend the money and not think twice.
Almost everything else on a race car's negotiable. Yes, even the brakes...

All that said, their example pictures look really good. Curious to see if anyone's tried 'em, too.


t

[djjerme]

Ask around. Chances are you can find a reasonably priced alternative.

Unless you are a skilled welder, the cost of materials is minor when compared to the work of fitting and welding up the cage in the car.

It's the one thing in the car you only want to do once, and not have to worry about it.

To sort of reiterate what Toby said - How much is your life worth? And if you aren't the one driving, how much money do you have set aside for a lawsuit?

[e30_302]

It's what's in our Lemons/Chump car. If you feel comfortable welding and fitting, but it. Jim will spec it however you need.

[Fraser]

Thanks for the responses! Kind of what I expected. My codriver and I could probably weld and fit it, but I would definitely have more confidence in paying a pro to do it. I'll have to keep shopping around our local cagebuilders.

I imagine the Lemons/Chump safety rules are fairly comprehensive? I.E. a cage that passes tech with Lemons would also pass tech with RA?

[kronus]

Yes, lemons cage rules are some of the most comprehensive I've seen.

Having fit a prebent cage before, it'll take a lot of work to get it to install. this lets you shortcut the cage design, tube measuring and bending, which all take a good bit of time and experience to do correctly. You'll still need to do a lot of final fitting and adjustment, but nothing that can't be done with an angle grinder and a proper MIG welder by a skilled person.

[e30_302]

^ right. It's not shove it in and weld it, there is fitting involved still.

[Axxe]

Installing an RCC kit right now, first build that I'm doing myself, and the pre-bent saves lots of time but that said the next car I build if I don't have time constraints I will be buying a bender and making the entire cage with a few things I've observed and would like to do differently on the current build. Mainly A-pillar bar to main hoop vs Halo + windshield posts (RCC uses the 2nd one because of packaging and it's easier to bend).

[irish44j]

We have it in our Chump e30 as well. Jim actually built it on-site for us (we had the car totally stripped). I forget how much it cost, but it was shockingly inexpensive. It's a well-built cage that fits well. Not quite as well as the Rally America cage I built myself in the other e30, but pretty close.

Only thing I don't like about the Chumpcar cage was that it mounts to the floor and rear wheel well. I prefer plinth boxes and mount to the rear shock towers on the backstays.

[Fraser]

Irish, what was a ballpark cost on your Rally America cage? Did you do it entirely yourself?

[Axxe]

We have it in our Chump e30 as well. Jim actually built it on-site for us (we had the car totally stripped). I forget how much it cost, but it was shockingly inexpensive. It's a well-built cage that fits well. Not quite as well as the Rally America cage I built myself in the other e30, but pretty close.

Only thing I don't like about the Chumpcar cage was that it mounts to the floor and rear wheel well. I prefer plinth boxes and mount to the rear shock towers on the backstays.

Can easily make plinth boxes yourself if you want to. As for the rear stays, its' possible to request the rear down stays to be long to go to the shock, and he gives you longer bars and just fitup as you like.

[ForcedFirebird]

There's a lot of notching and tweaking that needs to be done, but that kit is nice for the bends for a DIY. I prefer to make mine from scratch, but haven't said no to a kit install so far.

[bataangpinoy]

We prefer to make our cages from scratch as well. So many variables. Even just the variances between rule books.. we'd waste more time making a pre bent kit work. Nice thing about the e30's is the amount of room there is.

[ForcedFirebird]

Well, most club rule books follow the same pattern with slight differences at least (in the 6pt or 6+2 configuration). Most classes don't allow strut tie in without penalty. I just found with the kits that not a single notch lined up and didn't like some of the placement of the bars which was cut too short to re-use, but as I said, the bends is what you want from them in a DIY situation anyways. Just expect to either grind the notches, or purchase a tubing notcher. I installed a few of their kits, have nothing bad to say about the company, or service, but I prefer to make them. If you ask, they will also just provide the bent bars and you can configure to suit on the straight portions.

[JGood]

We used a roll cage components kit. Lots of pics here:

http://www.r3vlimited.com/board/showthread.php?t=347201

I'll echo everyone elses comments. The kit is a GREAT start, but it still requires a lot of work. It's worth the money for sure, especially if you can do the install yourself. But just dropping your car off at a shop and having them do the work may also be a good use of your time/money, depending on your skills/tools.