Rollbar / Rollcage for a 2wd Blazer

[Wasted Income]

Hey guys,

When I finally get around to doing my build, I will be installing a 6 point rollbar (at a minimum) into the truck.

The reason is twofold:
1) I will be carrying my family in this truck a LOT, with an without the top, and I want protection for them.

2) It should be a mid-high 11 second truck once it's all buttoned up, and I don't want to be getting kicked off the track for not having a bar...or worse case, not let on the track at all.

I talked to my local chassis / cage builder, who has a 9 second convertible camaro, and I love the way his looks.







We talked about putting a removable cross bar (behind the front seats) and removable door bars for track use.

MY QUESTION: Has anybody seen a rollbar / roll cage in a 2wd blazer, preferrably a slammed one? Did it look good? I have seen full rollcages in lifted 4x4 Blazers, and they look great in those, but the same cage on a Blazer street rod would look dumb IMO. Does anybody have an pics or ideas of what might look good, and function well??

[OARNGESI]

There was a old thread with a yellow 2wd blazer it didnt look all that great to me but if its necessary you may need it maybe make it removable where you can easily unbolt it

[airsierra]

Here is mine its 2WD.....That car cage is "OK' ...Question why is the back bolted together?

[vtblazer]

Maybe if you minic the drag racer 'stlye' when you build it, it would look alright.

They start to look really big if you cover the bed area too.

What about just covering back to the rear seat, give it a cock-pit sorta feel, could make it look smaller and more fitting to a street/race cage.

[Tom Vogel]

I guess this is the best shots I have right now. Truck is bagged up all the way in the primered shot for clearance. The door kickouts arent in these pics either. I didnt go eight point because I didnt like the looks... but its legal to 11 flat with the top off anyway. Its way safer than no bar, and it ties the frame together front to back. The stock rear seat WONT be going back in, no room. We figured a couple of buckets turned backwards in the bed would work

[14U2NV]

There was an old copy of "Truckin'" magizine that had one on the cover and a full story. It was when Pro Street was really popular. I have it in the magazine "library". I'll see if I can locate and scan it. And to think the wife though it has been a waste of time and space to save all those old magazines.

Chad

[14U2NV]

OK, I found it. Looks like it is from the Jan 1995 issue of Truckin'.





The pictures are not that great of the cage, but you get the idea. Looks like he had to go sans the rear seat too.

Chad

[Wasted Income]

Originally Posted by airsierra

Here is mine its 2WD.....That car cage is "OK' ...Question why is the back bolted together?

Thanks for the pics of your cage! It looks great in your truck, for sure!
The camaro cage is bolted together, because it comes out in a matter of minutes. It's easily removable.

Originally Posted by Tom Vogel

I guess this is the best shots I have right now. Truck is bagged up all the way in the primered shot for clearance. The door kickouts arent in these pics either. I didnt go eight point because I didnt like the looks... but its legal to 11 flat with the top off anyway. Its way safer than no bar, and it ties the frame together front to back. The stock rear seat WONT be going back in, no room. We figured a couple of buckets turned backwards in the bed would work

Tom, that cage looks great! I'd love to see some more pics of the truck Not having a rear seat is a dealbreaker for me though. Though the cage looks better than I expected it to. Might have to get creative with the design to still allow a rear seat.

Originally Posted by 14U2NV

There was an old copy of "Truckin'" magizine that had one on the cover and a full story. It was when Pro Street was really popular. I have it in the magazine "library". I'll see if I can locate and scan it. And to think the wife though it has been a waste of time and space to save all those old magazines.

Chad

Chad, that is freakin' awesome that you went to the trouble to find and scan that magazine article!! Thank you so much I do recall seeing that issue of Truckin' back in the day, now that I see it again. I might even still have it in my stash in the basement, lol. I like that cage, too....but again with no rear seat.

Thanks for the ideas thus far, guys. Keep 'em coming

[TonyJohnson]

There's some pics of mine here:
http://www.coloradoz06.com/indexblazer.html

[IwantaK5]

Does having the a-pillar bars bolted to the floor opposed to being tied into the windshield cowl help with the trucks body flex? I am looking for a way to be able to consistently open and shut my doors. I am sick of the truck decided weather or not it wants the doors to open nicely.

[IwantaK5]

I was thinking of building some type of structure to mimic the strength of the truck having a cab like the pickups. But i don't know much about cages and i don't want to take the flex out of the doors but direct it to another part of the truck, like cracked windshields.

[Wasted Income]

Haha, holy back from the dead thread!

Still valid though....anyone have any good ideas?

[fxdxharley]

i think if you were to tie the bars into the windshield frame the flex would still be there and transfer into the glass hence breaking it. but a combination of the two, to the floor and windshield frame may work. but probably the best bet would be to tie the front bars to a frame work inplace of the rockers like in this thread. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=551959
the flex would probably be eliminated.

[IwantaK5]

Originally Posted by fxdxharley

i think if you were to tie the bars into the windshield frame the flex would still be there and transfer into the glass hence breaking it. but a combination of the two, to the floor and windshield frame may work. but probably the best bet would be to tie the front bars to a frame work inplace of the rockers like in this thread. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=551959
the flex would probably be eliminated.

Thanks for the advice. That does sound like a better idea.

[floyd]

I think to pull off a good looking cage in a 2wd blazer you are gonna need to think out of the box and build it with an A to C pillar design....not the side to side bent hoops like in all the pics above.....





But instead of the sharp down angle behind the B pillar just continue to the rear and follow the look of the blazer top...

Ill take a few measurements off of my blazer and draw what I mean in Bend Tech pro tonight and post a screen shot...

[Wasted Income]

That would be great, floyd. I'm looking forward to the pics of your idea. I can't quite envision it yet.

[floyd]

Originally Posted by Wasted Income

That would be great, floyd. I'm looking forward to the pics of your idea. I can't quite envision it yet.

Im pretty sure it took me longer to figure out how to convert the file and get it onto photobucket than actually took to measure it and make the drawing...

this is pretty basic all 1.75 DOM .120 wall and would need more tie-ins and X over the driver.....


<----thats the front

The side tubes that run the length are a single piece of tube with 4 bends... B pillars are pieces with a single bend to match the contour of the top. Since I measured my blazer with the roof on this should easily fit under it and still have plenty of head room.... and it would virtually disappear when the top is on the truck...so long as you didnt get too crazy with alot of big giant Xs and 14 points tied into it.

I like a cage with some design flow...still plenty strong for the first and only time its gonna get used....(its not like your building a rock crawler.... )

[Wasted Income]

Interesting. I might have to photochop that into a topless K/5 2wd to see how it would look.

The local chassis/cage builder here has a pretty sweet cage in his 4th gen 'vert. I think it flows great with the lines of the car.