Lets talk Roll Cages

[chevy72blu]

My 72 is going to go something to the tune of 11.80's and perhaps low 11's on the bottle. She wont be done here for another couple of months (money permitting) due to a major brake upgrade, a 4 link that im going to build on my own, and a few other safety items.

Due to pressure from my parents and it just being a plain good idea in a street driven vehicle with this much power, I want to cage it.

A good friend of mine recently caged his TJ with a bender than he bought. I have access to industrial welders and the necessary equipment thanks to my fathers company having a machine shop, and with his help, we are going to do this ourselves to NHRA spec using DOM or Schedule 40.

I would love to hear from anyone who has caged a 67-72 cab; what issues you ran into, any advice you can provide- and detailed pictures would be great (frame mounting location, ect). If anyone has tech specs such as rear hoop and front corner radius' that would be even better.

Thanks

[earl87gta]

I had an S&W 10 point in my 72 blazer it was a truck cage modified to use in the blazer. Wish i still had pics of it. I welded it to plate then made braces from the frame to the plate steel so that I could make it bolt in and out. In a truck you may not be able to do that. Ill pm you one one.

[PanelDeland]

Use the DOM since it's lighter.You might want to check the sanctioning body you will run under for their rules.Different E.T.'s require different set-ups.Build at least one step up from your requirements two is better.(Who doesn't want to go faster)

[71Dragtruck]

Here are the NHRA specs, mine is custom built and tied into the frame at 4 points. If you want your truck to look nice also I don't recomend the S&W roll bar I've seen one and it doesn't look or fit that great.

http://www.nhra.com/contacts/tech_faq.html

some pics of mine.

[71Dragtruck]

One more pic from before the rest of the interior was put in. The back bars and the ones behind my seats go through the top of the frame and are welded to the top and bottom of the frame plus boxed in. The side bars plus the outside bars are plated and welded to the cab, this design was ok'd and passed inspection by western canada's head NHRA inspector. Also don't forget all the other little goodies required to run low 11's plus the new rule for single layer fire jacket for NOS. Have fun and remember NOS is like drag racing crack, once you use it it's hard to give it up and you usually end up using more and more. LOL!

[chevy72blu]

Killer pictures! They are a huge help. Im most likely going to build my own as I would like to have the bragging rights. How comfortable are those seats?

Could you take a few pics of the front and rear frame mount locations?

Also, do the side bars just roll down before plating through the floor? I mean, is there a forward bar running the length of the windshield? I assumed there would be, but its not clear in your pics. Sorry - Im not familiar with the correct terminology

[71Dragtruck]

Seats are good for what they are meant for, short trips. They are alright for the track and cruising, would suck on a rough road but not too bad on the street. I don't have any pics of underneath where the bars tie to the frame, there is a hole in the top frame rail and they go through it and then it's all welded and boxed in. I don't have front hoop or front cross bar on mine, that is only required for 9.99 or faster, adds alot of weight and not needed for me. My truck NHRA techs for 10.00 the way it's set up. Mine is actually a roll bar set up not a roll cage to be exact. The side bars just go straight to the floor and attach there where it is angled.

Sorry these pics are a bit dark.

[chevy72blu]

Thanks man. Your pics should be enough to fab up mine. Did you build it yourself?

Im glad to hear that I dont need a frontal hoop. I dont plan on the truck ever breaking into the 9's. lol.

I plan on moving the shift light to the steering column also - though I like my tach mounted on the drivers side.



I am a little upset about loosing my comfy bench seat.. Any ideas as to a pair of comfortable racing buckets? 71DragTruck, what did you pay for yours?

Also, why did you change to the TCI shifter?


edit: forgot to ask. Do you know if I can mount my N20 bottle inside of the cab between the seats (with a blowdown tube, obviously), as opposed to in the bed? Or is this not NHRA legal?

[earl87gta]

The s&W cage is a good cage if you seen one that didnt look good its becuse the instaler welded it as it came. S&W is not a perfect fit from them you have to do some cutting and some bending they dont bend the tubes behind the seat like in yours if you want it that way you have to bend them your self not hard to do but most poeple just throw them in and dont do the extra things to make it look better.

[Slammed70]

Originally Posted by chevy72blu

Also, do the side bars just roll down before plating through the floor? I mean, is there a forward bar running the length of the windshield? I assumed there would be, but its not clear in your pics. Sorry - Im not familiar with the correct terminology

Most people that Ive seen contour the bars to wrap around the dash, but others go the distance and get them as close the that A-pillar as possible and cut a hole in the dash and go straight down from there. Its looks better and shows that you have taste IMO.

I caged my S-10 I had back in the day, and the hardest thing that I ran into was welding....most places I couldnt even see, let alone get a welder up in there. And I also when through the back top of the cab for my down bars instead of going through the window.

Heres a tip....build half of it first, and take measurments on EVERYTHING. Then go off them measurments to build the other side, should save alot of fitting and running back and forth.

Check with the local cops though, I drove through Goddard, Kansas and got pulled over two times in the little town. One cop told me my cage was a safety hazard because it impeeds my view. Then another one pulled me over on my way out of time to tell me that my harness isnt street legal. No one else ever bothered me, I think they were just ****ing with me because Im an out-of-towner though.

[71Dragtruck]

Originally Posted by earl87gta

The s&W cage is a good cage if you seen one that didnt look good its becuse the instaler welded it as it came. S&W is not a perfect fit from them you have to do some cutting and some bending they dont bend the tubes behind the seat like in yours if you want it that way you have to bend them your self not hard to do but most poeple just throw them in and dont do the extra things to make it look better.

Ya, the back hoop didn't fit that great and the side bars were too short on the one I saw. The point I was trying to make was if you want it to fit real tight and look good your going to have to put some work into it either from scratch of reworking a prefab.

[71Dragtruck]

Originally Posted by chevy72blu

Thanks man. Your pics should be enough to fab up mine. Did you build it yourself?

Im glad to hear that I dont need a frontal hoop. I dont plan on the truck ever breaking into the 9's. lol.

I plan on moving the shift light to the steering column also - though I like my tach mounted on the drivers side.



I am a little upset about loosing my comfy bench seat.. Any ideas as to a pair of comfortable racing buckets? 71DragTruck, what did you pay for yours?

Also, why did you change to the TCI shifter?


edit: forgot to ask. Do you know if I can mount my N20 bottle inside of the cab between the seats (with a blowdown tube, obviously), as opposed to in the bed? Or is this not NHRA legal?

I had mine built by a chassis builder.

Can't remember how much I payed for the seats and covers, Summit and Jeg's has them, other then a full race seat you could go with a auto cross style with the holes in the back for your belts. Whatever seat you go with the back of it has to be attached to your back cross bar.

That's actually a B&M shifter (they build TCI's for them), went to it cause it's a full race shifter, possitive shift forward with stops, and shorter throw. I found that the odd time with my ratchet style that sometimes I was missing shifts with it's rocking motion, and bumping the rev limiter when on the spray isn't good.

And yes you can mount your bottle inside with a down tube.

[71Dragtruck]

Originally Posted by Slammed70

Most people that Ive seen contour the bars to wrap around the dash, but others go the distance and get them as close the that A-pillar as possible and cut a hole in the dash and go straight down from there. Its looks better and shows that you have taste IMO.

I caged my S-10 I had back in the day, and the hardest thing that I ran into was welding....most places I couldnt even see, let alone get a welder up in there. And I also when through the back top of the cab for my down bars instead of going through the window.

Heres a tip....build half of it first, and take measurments on EVERYTHING. Then go off them measurments to build the other side, should save alot of fitting and running back and forth.

Check with the local cops though, I drove through Goddard, Kansas and got pulled over two times in the little town. One cop told me my cage was a safety hazard because it impeeds my view. Then another one pulled me over on my way out of time to tell me that my harness isnt street legal. No one else ever bothered me, I think they were just ****ing with me because Im an out-of-towner though.

Crap like that drives me nuts! Same around where I live, if you have grey hair you can drive around in a old beater dragging exhaust, no tail light, tie rod ends about to break and never be bothered. But if you even dare take a bit of pride in your vehicle and modify it to look or perform better you can't drive a block without being pulled over. Window tint is a major time filler for my local police, they go so far as to dive around and note the parked vehicles with it for later. I've even been pulled over 3 times before cause they thought I was driving kinda slow.

[earl87gta]

Im suprized it was to short Ive used a few of there cages and I aways have alot left over. I concider the pre made cages just a starting point.

[71Dragtruck]

I'm starting to wonder now if they were sent the right one? Either that or they just did a real crappy job putting it in? I only saw it at the track after it was installed. But ya might be something to look into and just tweek it to fit nice instead of starting from scratch.

[chevy72blu]

I really like the location of your switch panel.. If I dont go ahead and build a little sheet metal center console, I may end up stealing your idea.

As for the shifter, my "T" handle has stripped itself slightly and isnt tight in a comfortable position. Its tight in nearly a vertical position I suppose I need to put a ball on it.

I cheaped out about bought a 6A box, rather than getting the one with the rev limiter. The n2o system isnt currently hooked up- Ill swap it out for a 6AL when I install it.

Im running an NX hitman plate system with a 150hp shot with a WOT switch as well as an arming/manual activation system. With my 4 link, I may be able to hook it up off the line on the spray, but im doubting it on DOT slicks. Is there some better system of nitrous timing/activation that I should look in to?

[71Dragtruck]

Ya my t-handle always came loose too, another thing I didn't like. To fix the problem I took off the jam nut and used washers as spacers to shim it so it was tight where I wanted it. Actually I used Moroso bronze oil drain plug washers, work awesome on the plug too I recommend them, come in a pack more then enough for both . I run the same activation system, WOT and thumb switch, I have it wired to use both or just the WOT switch. As far as CDI boxes I like the Crane with timing retard, no chips to set rev limiter, wired to retard timimg when NOS is activated, and they will handle a hotter coil then the 6AL, but that is my prefferance to run all Crane stuff MSD makes all the stuff to set up the same system. As far as hooking up I launch with mine and run DOT slicks, 1.52 60's off the foot brake 4373 lbs. with driver, I have longer nitrous and fuel lines to my plate for a bit softer hit, but I'm going to shorten them up now that I'm building a killer rear end, still too heavy for a trans brake thoe.

[chevy72blu]

Thought Id throw up a few of my buddies cage he just finished, while are on the subject.




^^That is the 350/TH350/NP205 TJ. Hehe... fun project.

Do you think I need a CDI system for my application though? I am running Speed Pro cast pistons with plasma moly nitrous rings (around 10:1) - thus I dont want to go any bigger than a 150 hp shot, maybe a little higher once just for the time slip (on 100 octane). Its a bracket truck, and the bottle wont be used in competition. I suppose a timing retard would be a nice idea... but maybe just one of those incab MSD dials. What do you think?

Back to the subject... Where did you order your glass and how much did you pay?

[earl87gta]

I wish I could find the guys number that bought my blazer he lives in Las Vegas you could go check out the cage it was a S&W truck cage that I change some to work with the back seat of the blazer.

[Mondo]

Does anyone have a pic of rollbar/cage that is all inside the cab. I've been to a few roll overs and the top does not hold up well at all.
I have a couple kids and they will be fortunate enough to drive my 67 when they get of age. Would like a little peice of mind....