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Old 11-15-2012, 07:45 AM
  #21  
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Originally Posted by ThePass

I have personally seen this happen.

And wouldn't you feel the fool (assuming you survived the incident) to be the guy who intentionally did his cage in a way that doesn't protect you in a rollover, when that's the primary point of a cage, if you're unlucky enough to have to find out how bad your design is?

-Ryan
Agreed, but my point was closer to, "I'm not going to worry about NASCAR bars nearly as much as chassis rigidity. If I was going to take the car on track, it would be completely the opposite"

Close to what I'm imagining for my bar:
Attached Thumbnails building my cage-2007-05-13_001427_cox_dp_miata_at_atwater.jpg  
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Old 11-15-2012, 09:05 AM
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Originally Posted by toppertee
No Dents, in my skull yet, finger crossed:

That looks like flammable pipe insulation (or pool noodles) and not SFI approved roll bar padding. One will catch on fire, melt, drip on your skin and get stuck to you as a melting blob of plastic burning your skin off, the other one is SFI approved roll bar padding.
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Old 11-15-2012, 11:20 AM
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Originally Posted by ThePass
Woah woah woah, I posted the above then read the rest of the thread and noticed you are not building a cage you're building a roll bar.

BIG DIFFERENCE - not just "blah blah, same thing" - not at all.

A roll bar should be 1.75" tubing.

1.5" Should ONLY be used in a roll cage

If you're looking at an SCCA rulebook you should already know this.



Just about every cage in miatas are done in 1.5", and this is absolutely acceptable. For a roll bar though, the only ones that meet NASA/SCCA are 1.75"

On the subject of thickness, I would agree that that is adequate, but SCCA requires .120 for roll bars, so which rule book you're following changes things.

-Ryan
My car is a former spec miata and it has a 1.75 inch cage.
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Old 11-15-2012, 11:40 AM
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Originally Posted by toppertee
No Dents, in my skull yet, finger crossed:

That plumbing insulation is better than HD roll cage foam.
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Old 11-15-2012, 12:32 PM
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Originally Posted by wannafbody
My car is a former spec miata and it has a 1.75 inch cage.
SCCA allows 1.75x.095 in cages, but NASA doesn't. 1.75x.095 is lighter than 1.50x.120.
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Old 11-15-2012, 09:33 PM
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Man, I wish we could have re manufactured seat belt mount points in our cars like the blackbird one pictured on page 1.

Our Sactioning body won't let them on the street unless the OEM setbelt points remain.

I have had to remove seatbelts and run harness on the street. Sometimes VERY annoying.

I might borrow that picture and submit it for consideration......
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Old 11-15-2012, 11:33 PM
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Originally Posted by Leafy
That looks like flammable pipe insulation (or pool noodles) and not SFI approved roll bar padding. One will catch on fire, melt, drip on your skin and get stuck to you as a melting blob of plastic burning your skin off, the other one is SFI approved roll bar padding.
Yes but SFI padding is soooo expensive, plus the padding is only there to cover my welds. I found I was blowing holes in my tubes with my arc welder, so I just tacked the tubes in place and sealed the gaps with filler and put plenty of paint on the joints. Job done.
So if I don't crash or set my car on fire, I should be o.k.
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Old 11-15-2012, 11:46 PM
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Originally Posted by toppertee
Yes but SFI padding is soooo expensive, plus the padding is only there to cover my welds. I found I was blowing holes in my tubes with my arc welder, so I just tacked the tubes in place and sealed the gaps with filler and put plenty of paint on the joints. Job done.
So if I don't crash or set my car on fire, I should be o.k.
I have no words.
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Old 11-16-2012, 12:02 AM
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Not sure if.....
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Old 11-16-2012, 12:14 AM
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There is no way you could be serious. That was a joke right.
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Old 11-16-2012, 04:19 AM
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Oh my god.. this thread just went south fast.



He's joking right?
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Old 11-16-2012, 06:05 AM
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Originally Posted by mx5-kiwi
Man, I wish we could have re manufactured seat belt mount points in our cars like the blackbird one pictured on page 1.

Our Sactioning body won't let them on the street unless the OEM setbelt points remain.

I have had to remove seatbelts and run harness on the street. Sometimes VERY annoying.

I might borrow that picture and submit it for consideration......
I welded two metal 20mm slugs through the vertical bar on the main hoop. Then drilled and tapped the slug and fitted aftermarket belts.
Have a look at the almac kit car that is sold in new Zealand and check what standard they used to pass the M.O.T for there belt set up.
Over here in austraila when we are not riding kangaroos to work we use cars, due to the laws we are not allowed to run harness on the street, as there is no standard approvals in Australia for harnesses. I'm pretty sure the standard is the same in nz as we share the same standards. So as a guess you should be able to get cert for the belt as I did.
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Old 11-16-2012, 07:18 AM
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Originally Posted by toppertee
Yes but SFI padding is soooo expensive, plus the padding is only there to cover my welds. I found I was blowing holes in my tubes with my arc welder, so I just tacked the tubes in place and sealed the gaps with filler and put plenty of paint on the joints. Job done.
So if I don't crash or set my car on fire, I should be o.k.

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Old 11-16-2012, 07:54 AM
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Attached Thumbnails building my cage-pjmea9rrreiwdci7pvq7eq2.jpg  
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Old 11-16-2012, 09:40 AM
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Meh, I used the smaller diameter pool noodles held in place by wires to get the basic shape I wanted. Then I carefully wrapped that in fiberglass matting and added the resin. It took three layers of matting to get the thickness and strength I wanted. After the resin hardened I cut off the suspension wires flush with the surface. Then I sanded it down and smoothed it with body filler (Bondo) to make it look smooth like metal. Several coats of gloss black Krylon and then some rollbar padding over it to complete the look and you are done. Add some decals to keep people from looking to closely and you have got it made. And I saved having to spend $500 on a Hard Dog DD.
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Old 11-16-2012, 12:29 PM
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Attached Thumbnails building my cage-anchorman-well-escalated-quickly.jpg  
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Old 11-16-2012, 03:34 PM
  #37  
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Originally Posted by sixshooter
Meh, I used the smaller diameter pool noodles held in place by wires to get the basic shape I wanted. Then I carefully wrapped that in fiberglass matting and added the resin. It took three layers of matting to get the thickness and strength I wanted. After the resin hardened I cut off the suspension wires flush with the surface. Then I sanded it down and smoothed it with body filler (Bondo) to make it look smooth like metal. Several coats of gloss black Krylon and then some rollbar padding over it to complete the look and you are done. Add some decals to keep people from looking to closely and you have got it made. And I saved having to spend $500 on a Hard Dog DD.
Two thumbs up, heaps lighter as well. Super work there, by thinking out side the box, well done champ.
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Old 11-17-2012, 02:16 PM
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Originally Posted by sixshooter
Meh, I used the smaller diameter pool noodles held in place by wires to get the basic shape I wanted. Then I carefully wrapped that in fiberglass matting and added the resin. It took three layers of matting to get the thickness and strength I wanted. After the resin hardened I cut off the suspension wires flush with the surface. Then I sanded it down and smoothed it with body filler (Bondo) to make it look smooth like metal. Several coats of gloss black Krylon and then some rollbar padding over it to complete the look and you are done. Add some decals to keep people from looking to closely and you have got it made. And I saved having to spend $500 on a Hard Dog DD.
That does it. I'm tearing this heavy cage out of my car and saving some weight. I'm thinking of some PVC tube filled with expanding foam for strength. Home Depot Motorsports saves at least 70 pounds! Win!
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Old 11-17-2012, 11:40 PM
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I have no idea where this thread is heading all of a sudden !! BUT thanks Toppertee, I will look in to that.

The MANZ rules seem to have gone a bit crazy here of late, it doesn't look too good at this point...
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