Blackbird Fabworx 12-point custom-ness
10-18-2011, 07:18 PM
#1
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Blackbird Fabworx 12-point custom-ness
Just got my car back from it's most recent "Race Prep" so I thought I'd share 
The details:
-Ties into the chassis in 12 points
-Full door bars that extend to the front firewall main gusset
-Rear legs tie in practically on top of the rear shock mounts
-Forward post location and mounting points designed with upgrading to a full cage down the road in mind
-Only 71 lbs
-Custom seat mount for lowness and dead-on centering - cut/welded transmission tunnel, integrated harness mounts. I now have a mile of headroom.
Bottom line, Moti at Blackbird Fabworx is an artist and tailors things exactly to the needs of each person, and I could not be happier with the results.
-Ryan
The details:
-Ties into the chassis in 12 points
-Full door bars that extend to the front firewall main gusset
-Rear legs tie in practically on top of the rear shock mounts
-Forward post location and mounting points designed with upgrading to a full cage down the road in mind
-Only 71 lbs
-Custom seat mount for lowness and dead-on centering - cut/welded transmission tunnel, integrated harness mounts. I now have a mile of headroom.
Bottom line, Moti at Blackbird Fabworx is an artist and tailors things exactly to the needs of each person, and I could not be happier with the results.
-Ryan
Last edited by ThePass; 10-20-2011 at 05:19 PM.
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10-18-2011, 09:58 PM
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I thought he's mentioned something else. That's one hell of a DD. Seems like a custom welded in cage could easily be modified to be a full cage later on, I'm sure that's in the back of his head.
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10-19-2011, 12:42 AM
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I don't trailer this thing to events. I drive it 200 miles to some tracks, drive to every autox, drive up to LA for miata meets, etc.
So, a cage is not a smart idea. As extreme as the car might be, I can still drive it around on the street with 100% confidence in my safety - something nobody driving around with a full cage can say. That is the main reason for the choice to not have the bar by my head.
This was designed to provide the most chassis rigidity and racetrack safety possible while still being safe to drive on the road.
-Ryan
Last edited by ThePass; 10-19-2011 at 04:26 AM.
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10-19-2011, 02:43 AM
#9
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Looks very nice! Great idea to make a "half-cage" like that to stiffen up the chassi and improve safety. Once this has spread a bit (on MT.net for example), I am sure others will follow this route for their street cars.
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10-19-2011, 06:28 AM
#10
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As extreme as the car might be, I can still drive it around on the street with 100% confidence in my safety - something nobody driving around with a full cage can say. That is the main reason for the choice to not have the bar by my head.
This was designed to provide the most chassis rigidity and racetrack safety possible while still being safe to drive on the road.
This was designed to provide the most chassis rigidity and racetrack safety possible while still being safe to drive on the road.
I've been pondering the safety concern of roll structure near the head for a while - I opted to go with a different design in my car. It's nearly a full cage, without door bars. I also drive the car to some events and on the street from time to time. I think that a round roll bar near the head is not that different than the metal frame of the soft top.
A friend of mine was just t-boned at an intersection in her stock '99 and received a pretty severe laceration in her head from the soft top frame. Lots of blood, and a mild concussion. She's going to be fine - the car not so much.
The point being, we're all doing this sport with the goal of being as safe as possible, and all we can do is minimize certain types of risk, but always with the challenge of increasing others.
FWIW, here's my cage design:
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10-19-2011, 12:10 PM
#13
I like the gussets on the main up the go to the door sill. If you are gusseting the A pillar bars dont you have to worry about cracking the windshield? I thought about doing that but people said no because it cracks the windshield, I would have to put a lexan one in. Looks really cool, I like the way it looks through the back window.
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10-19-2011, 02:09 PM
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Very nice looking installation!
I've been pondering the safety concern of roll structure near the head for a while - I opted to go with a different design in my car. It's nearly a full cage, without door bars. I also drive the car to some events and on the street from time to time. I think that a round roll bar near the head is not that different than the metal frame of the soft top.
A friend of mine was just t-boned at an intersection in her stock '99 and received a pretty severe laceration in her head from the soft top frame. Lots of blood, and a mild concussion. She's going to be fine - the car not so much.
The point being, we're all doing this sport with the goal of being as safe as possible, and all we can do is minimize certain types of risk, but always with the challenge of increasing others.
FWIW, here's my cage design:
I've been pondering the safety concern of roll structure near the head for a while - I opted to go with a different design in my car. It's nearly a full cage, without door bars. I also drive the car to some events and on the street from time to time. I think that a round roll bar near the head is not that different than the metal frame of the soft top.
A friend of mine was just t-boned at an intersection in her stock '99 and received a pretty severe laceration in her head from the soft top frame. Lots of blood, and a mild concussion. She's going to be fine - the car not so much.
The point being, we're all doing this sport with the goal of being as safe as possible, and all we can do is minimize certain types of risk, but always with the challenge of increasing others.
FWIW, here's my cage design:
I'm going to have to agree to disagree with you on that
The soft top frame is quite flexible if you really put force on it (like the forces of an accident) - it will give some if you hit it with your head. I'd suggest that that would be like being hit in the head with a metal ruler...
The cage bar is like being hit in the head with a baseball bat. The only thing that will flex is your skull. Major concussion possibilities at the very least.
Moti at Blackbird was actually just telling me that they recently released "soft tissue" SFI rated roll bar padding - different from the normal stuff that's intended to be hit by a helmet. I would say at a minimum wrap that bar by your head with some of that stuff.
-Ryan
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10-19-2011, 02:12 PM
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I like the gussets on the main up the go to the door sill. If you are gusseting the A pillar bars dont you have to worry about cracking the windshield? I thought about doing that but people said no because it cracks the windshield, I would have to put a lexan one in. Looks really cool, I like the way it looks through the back window.
-Ryan
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10-19-2011, 10:44 PM
#19
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Here you go, dual-durometer SFI rated roll bar padding. **** aint cheap, but you can get away with using 2 units (6" total). Great for street AND track driven cars with cages.
http://www.ogracing.com/catalog/2-Ca...LL-BAR-PADDING
http://www.ogracing.com/catalog/2-Ca...LL-BAR-PADDING
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10-19-2011, 11:03 PM
#20
Haven't heard of this before, is the risk from doing the welding near the window during the fab process, or is it while driving? While driving, seeing as how the roll cage would be more rigid than the chassis, I would imagine that A-pillar gussets could only help the windshield frame to flex around less, so I'd think it would be the opposite.
-Ryan
-Ryan
-Ryan
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