rithsleeper

Guys this summer i plan on taking an welding course at the tech college here in town. After my success with building my 10ft ramps im confident in basic stuff. However for safety concerns i want to make sure its 100%.

Will a manual pipe bender from harbor freight (16 ton), basic band saw, and drill press along with my welder be what i need to complete the task?

Im planning on a 6 point bar in my 89 for 5 point harness on track days and then begin working on an e30 that i will eventually drop an ls1 in as a dedicated race car.

I figure it may take time but anything is better than paying 2k for someone else to do it, and since im a teacher, summers are mine to do what i please. Time is in abundance, but money is extremely short supply.

On a side note, if i wanted to extend the cage to a full one in my 89, anyone have a pic of that in either a c4 or c5 with all interior intact and a legal race cage?

davidfarmer

don't know what hydraulic benders cost, but this $500 bender is a good deal and it is fine for simple roll bars. The hard part for me is notching the ends, not sure the best tool for doing that. Sometimes I use a grinder, sometimes the plasma cutter, but it's always slow and messy.

http://www.lowbucktools.com/hydbender.html

JDIllon

?? Why would you want a full cage in street legal car?? Most cages only have a few inches of room between the halo and the drivers head, therefore you would have to wear a helmet when on the street or a minor crash could kill you from the impact with the roll cage. Also 5 and 6 point harnesses are not legal on the street. JD

c4cruiser

You will also need a tubing notcher. HF has one but it's fairly sloppy in terms of holding a hole saw in place so that the notches line up right without having to file them to fit. I used one to build a tire rack for my trailer using 1-1/2" exhaust pipe.

Summit Racing has the Woodward Fab notcher and the Ol' Joint Jigger notchers. They are both supposed to be decent. Also look at the one in the Eastwood catalog. The trick is to make sure the hole saw is always sharp.

One thing you may run into is having to have your multi-point bar or cage inspected/approved by a sanctioning body. Make sure you use the correct tubing that will be required for approval. I would think they will look at the welds, the material in terms of diameter and thickness, and specific dimensions.

Installing a full cage will be a big job for a street car with an interior. I would expect that a near-complete gutting of the interior will be necessary and then re-install everything with lots of cutting and trimming of the interior pieces to get things back in.

rithsleeper

The full cage in the vette is way further down the line. First thing i would do would be a track bar setup like exotic muscle sells so i can run time trial events with my vette. I have a pair of seats i will be switching out for track days and maintaing my 3 pt for street.

As for the 5pt not being street legal, you are technically correct but her in sc they dont give a crap about anything. There is also a law here that is basically a get out of dumb laws clause and it has held up in court according to the 5pt harness. I know about the fact 5 points can be dangerous in a wreck without a helmet because of not letting neck move, they make special break away 5 points for street use that act like a 3pt in the event of a crash, but keep you snug and in place during track events.

fatbillybob

NO! wrong bender! You need the lowbuck bender or a JD2 bender. These are the proper mandrel bending tubes for smooth legal safe bends for rollcages. Read the SCCA or NASA GCR for rules on legal rollcages that will be legal for just about any group you race with in the US.

http://www.jd2.com/

http://www.scca.com/clubracing/content.cfm?cid=44472

rithsleeper

At $300 from jd2 that still seems more than worth it. Even if i buy a notcher it would pay for itself after the cage in the e30 and harness bar in my corvette.

I was just gathering info, i will definately get a build book from nasa before i start building my next car.

kabluie

I took a long look at making my own roll bars and cages several years ago for another car. The biggest problem I found was maintaining the correct tube diameter with out any deformation at the curve points of the bars. They suggested that I fill the bar with sand or some similar substance so the the bar wouldn't deform during the bending process. I suggest that you purchase some extra material and practice making bends and welds before you tackle your roll cage. In the end I decided that it would be cheaper and easier to just buy the roll cage and stuff it into the car. In general, race cars usually do not make nice street cars. I do not recommend making your street car into a race car that you will drive on the street.

As far as the roll cage hurting you during an accident - you can put padding on the bar to help with the bumps, but that is likely to take away the extra room you have for movement. I see the jeep guys doing that quite often.

You would be surprise at how far you body can stretch during a violent accident. Be careful about providing room for your body to move around in the cockpit.

Good luck with it.

1991Z07

I'm with kabluie...I looked at getting the equipment and found that after the investment, I was almost at the total cost it would be for a reputable shop to build one.

Not trying to discourage you...but sometimes it is worth it letting professionals do what they are good at doing. It'll be done faster, will be perfect and you don't pay for any botched bends.

Han Solo

I don't think that price includes the die set.

TriplBlk

Wolferacecraft.com

DOUG @ ECS

Years ago I tried making a cage with the type of bender you listed in the first post and well... I wasted a lot of metal before I found they do not work well.
After some of my fabricating buddies laughed at me, I bought a used mandrel bender and a Bridgeport to hold the notching equipment. For one cage I would just pay someone to do it in my personal opinion, but of course the satisfaction of building yourself is not there then.

ZedO6

I've been through this as well. I'm a skilled MIG and TIG welder but that is only part of it. An experienced pro will do a much better job of fitting the tubes to the car...with minimal bend angles, proper triangulation, and tight joints from proper notching. A well done cage adds value to a race car where a "home made" "first try" cage will turn folks away when you finally decide to sell your car.

rithsleeper

Although i see the logic in paying to have it done, i gain nothing from it. At most i would add the same value i paid to the car. Building it myself i would gain a lot of knowledge. Being as i am on a tight budget, and i am very young 26... i doubt this will be the last cage i would build. I think in the long run even if i spent 1500 getting tools and metal it would be an investment for many years to come. Even if i only do 2 more cages in the next 30 years it alreay paid for itself 2x over.