Roll Cage questions

[Laurence Gibbs]

Sorry guys i know i have asked this before. Does anyone have any recommendations for who to use to have one made ? I have emailed a couple of firms but i guess they prefer the good old fashioned phone. Somewhere south east ideally . What sort of reception do you get from your insurers when you tell them your going to fit one? Questions are for those who have had a cage fitted rather than you cs folk.[8D]
I will be if at all possible going for a design that is similar to that fitted to the C4 lightweight see March 2002 911& PW for piccys of such cage!

 

[carreraboy]

The 9M Fencemeister, would be No 1 Choice surely.

 

[clubsport]

Laurence, it may take a few attempts with mock ups, but how difficult would it be to make one yourself?......I am sure Des would oblige with measurements or templates from his Mintywagen which could be used for 90% of your requirements.

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

Des Cheshire was'nt south east last time i looked! [] Nice idea Paul and not out of the realms of possibility. There are a few hurdles though. Finding somewhere that will do mandrel bends and notch them . Transferring said parts once bent ! Finding a good quality mobile welder to weld them together (i would not want to do it!) getting all the bits together in timely fashion. And then there is getting it painted etc etc etc. Granted the cost would be a fair bit cheaper. The cds or T45 or whatever would be the cheapest part of the whole equation!

 

[Ian964]

When I looked into putting a cage into my previous C2, my insurers, A Manning, were fine with it. They did want a £50 premium increase, and it was on condition that the cage was fitted by a 'recognised specialist' , e.g. a motorsport garage (Parr, Jaz etc).

 

[clubsport]

I doubt it will be that difficult once you start to look into it, caged should be able to help with the materials I would expect.....
I needed some specialist folding on the edge of some metal Morgan wings a few years ago and found quite a few specialist metalworkers between Dartford and plumstead.
If you search on Rennlist, there is a guy who built and installed a cage in a 993 himself, every detail of painting and welding is covered.You may be able to get some of the corner joints sent over from the US and add the straight bits yourself? I appreciate the 964 is different at the rear suspension mounts, but you could obviously make templates etc....
Maybe even get a whole cage kit from the US? £/$ is still around 1.986.

With respect to factory painting of matter cages,I reckon I could do a better job with spray cans from Halfords [] It doesn't have to look great and everything is hidden by the tints anyhow.

 

[smallspeed]

i still have access to e-coating at very reasonable costs, and was considering doing something similar myself.. last time i had something e-coated at work it was a mini rear subframe for a friend; it was acid etched (already been sandblasted elsewhere) e-coated and top coated in medium gloss black, total cost was £35.. Things have changed at work now, and the paint company is now part of the main business rather than a stand alone branch, but we still do work for outside companies, so I guess getting things done is a possibility still

Im not really looking for extra stiffness from a cage, just somewhere to mount a camera and the looks (how vain! ).. Im more interested in doing a 1/2 cage than a harness guide bar thought which was the other alternative, but I dont have any reference to start from; i might have to take some measurements in spa when people have their backs turned []

I think the way to go is to do a bolt in design similar to the heigo picking up on existing points and make it sectional, so other than the main hoop everything else just bolts on whith the hoop already installed into the car..

I know its a way off yet, but if i do get around to measuring up and putting this out to someone to do the welding/bending (I have lots of contacts in that industry) i can always post the measurements and drawings for others to use.. i want to state now though that it will not be a safety device and it will not be put into production; i can do without all that sort of legal BS!..

ben

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

did some basic sums not sure how they add up but 20m (apprx allowing for wasteage) 12g 38mm cds @ £17/m (merlin motorsport price) =£340 guess this could be bought much cheaper than that, bending and notching to templates £100 ? welding £150 ? plate work £50 paint £35. Grand total £675 at a very rough guess. I am going on labour rates of around £30-40/hr and guessing the rough man hours for each job. Of course you could easily mess up on the templates and then the cost goes up!! I have not included transportation costs either. I think Keith Calder had his cage done by Custom cages for around £850-900

 

[clubsport]

Fitted and painted for £850-900 sounds very good......I have seen excellent cages fitted by a company down in hampshire and they were nearer £3k...they did look factory fitted though!

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

Fairly certain that price did not include paint!

 

[Stewart H]

Ben. I've just fitted a Brey Krause harness guide bar in mine for the purpose of mounting a camera. It is a seriously well made piece of kit and doesn't involve cutting any carpets and welding in mounting points. It is also completely removably without leaving any marks.

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

whilst on the subject of camera mounts i dug this out of the old posts section
Thought you might be interested in seeing my "el cheapo" camera mount and bar. The mount is simply two pieces of 1"1/2 steel angle welded together to form an L as in the pic then simply drill holes to accept a exhaust clamp for the chosen dia of the bar you are using. dril a hole in the top so you can thread a bolt of the chosen size to corespond to the one on your camcorder. for extra stabilty weld a small steel dowel or thread to help locate the camera. It works and the whole thing costs next to nothing. Only minor downside is that it's a bit fiddly getting the bolt into the camcoder. You could make a T section which would make things a dodle.

The bar and end pieces are made from some scrap i had lying around there is a flat plate at each end welded to a smaller diameter tube the bigger diameter bar that has the mount attached is slipped over the smaller tubes at each end and bolted in place then the hole lot is bolted to the seat belt point (like the brey krauss design)

 

[mike2]

ORIGINAL: Laurence Gibbs

Sorry guys i know i have asked this before. Does anyone have any recommendations for who to use to have one made ? I have emailed a couple of firms but i guess they prefer the good old fashioned phone. Somewhere south east ideally . What sort of reception do you get from your insurers when you tell them your going to fit one? Questions are for those who have had a cage fitted rather than you cs folk.[8D]
I will be if at all possible going for a design that is similar to that fitted to the C4 lightweight see March 2002 911& PW for piccys of such cage!

I would take a Heigo-Rollcage. It's most common in Germany and has good quality. Your local specialist should do the fitting.

edit: http://heigo.de/ASP/index.asp => 827 € = ca. £ 630 new or used: http://www.elferteam.de/Forums/index.php?showtopic=23546 = 550 € incl. shipping (to UK?) = ca. £ 420 => sold!

 

[tat]

I fitted a Heigo half cage. Absolutely no issue with insurers - just noted as a modification.

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

The heigo cage is indeed a nice piece of kit. But my car has already had a cage in the past and I want to connect the new cage to the exisiting mounting plates. If at all possible! Which is why i want a bespoke design. The cage that matches closest to the design that was in my car is one that was made by Matter for the C4 lightweight and that's what I want to go back in!
I have had one quote so far and now i'm just waiting for the other company to come back to me. Biggest trouble at mo is both companies are 300mile round trip which adds to the cost of the cage considerably petrol being what it is!

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

Just so you can see what i have in mind. Not sure i want the tie ins but never say never

 

[clubsport]

Pictures!?...I thought you would have it done by now laurence....stop messng about with the SkodAlfa []

It will be interesting to hear your thoughts on the run up to oulton in a stripped out & caged car?

Will you paint the cage lemon yella or leave it black,,,I think the 64 RS/4 cage was black??...Thomas has a real one in, wonder if he would oblige with photos?...surely worth a cheeky email.[]

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

These places book up well in advance my sole quote so far can book me in for 14th April ! .Painting depends on cost and what to do with carpet, strip or keep undecided at mo. Not playing with the skoda (now back with original engine!! modded of course) no mostly tiling and more tiling and more tiling. I should be there now[]

 

[BlueNGT]

ORIGINAL: carreraboy

The 9M Fencemeister, would be No 1 Choice surely.

Des is right - 9M have all the measurements etc from the guy who used to work for Matter. I have seen one of their 9M Clubsports Mid Build and the cage is exactly the same as that in a Factory Clubsport but stronger as the they use the latest metals etc.

Gotta be worth a trip to get the job done right!?

 

[Laurence Gibbs]

Colins chaps I am sure would do a fine Job But he gets booked up months in advance and I get the impression that whilst the quote i have so far is about par for the course (still a bit rich for me) Colins might make my eyes water[] never the less i may at least give him the benifit of the doubt with a quote. The other prob agin is the distance it's a 4/5 hour drive and i'd have to go twice probably with two cars one to get me there the other to get me back. I know 300-400 quid to some of you is small change but it ain't for me!