Pics of my roll cage

[svt_coupe]

Well... the car isn't done and the cage isn't painted. But people have been asking for pics. So, here's a few to look over. I'll explain all about the cage shortly. Too busy now though. ;) Suffice it to say, I got a really nice end product.

Walt Puckett is a master fabricator. I'm very impressed with his work.

Here's a rear shot of the drivers door bars:

[svt_coupe]

Lots of room for the driver...

[svt_coupe]

Good shot of how high the door bars come. Lot's of side protection.

[svt_coupe]

Passenger door bars. The "X" increases chassis rigidity tremendously. In the previous pics of the drivers door bars, they too are triangulated to resist the twisting forces of road racing. These bars are supposed to be stronger than the NASCAR style "ladder" door bars for a road racing application.

[svt_coupe]

Firewall attachment. Come off of the A-pillar bar and goes foward to firewall. The knee bar attaches between these two bars and is located in away from the legs (safety) and allows the mounting of a new steering column/dash in the future. Ah... budget racing. :D

[svt_coupe]

In this pic, it shows the main hoop. It is of such close tolerance that is actually is resting against the roof. Note the bar added above the "passenger's head." This travels back to the driver side shock tower - this increases resistence to structural twisting forces. Also note the low bar that travels just above the tranny tunnel in front of the rear seat bulkhead. This increases safety and stength for side impacts. The idea is the the impact will be transferred across and larger area which will hopefully save the car... and diminish impact forces from being in one area.

[svt_coupe]

Good shot of the pads used for the main hoop. Very beefy and very strong attachment point.

[svt_coupe]

Drivers side shock tower mount. Large pads used. Bar runs between the shock towers.

[svt_coupe]

Head bar moved up and far away from driver. A lot of care was taken to move the cage as far away from the driver as possible.

There are a lot of details in the cage that I don't have pics of yet. Like the seat mount (designed to shift with the roll cage so the cage in a bad wreck) and the gussets and the welding to the B-, A-pillars, and the tranny tunnel... and the super tight tolerances. The cage was put in by Walt Puckett of Delta Group Motorsports. I'm VERY VERY happy with the end results and for lack of time won't go into more details for now. But, here's some pics for the time being!!!

[Cobra-R]

Looks great, Bryan. Let's just hope you never need any of that stuff. :thumbsup: :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[98banana]

Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!

I can't wait to see it this weekend. I hope you and Walt let me "borrow" some of those ideas when and if I build another car.

[SIUNARA]

Wow!! Very nice...can't wait to see it up close this weekend!! :D

[justagt]

Sooooo, you are NOT going to put the radio back in, right?:D

Very nice.

[kevin]

very good looking bryan.

now that you'll have this you won't need it (insurance).

is that a fia legal seat?

[kevin]

Originally posted by 98banana
Excellent! Excellent! Excellent!

I can't wait to see it this weekend. I hope you and Walt let me "borrow" some of those ideas when and if I build another car.


what's this IF???:doubt:

[svt_coupe]

Originally posted by kevin
is that a fia legal seat?

Yes it is (it better be for how much it cost). How come you ask?

[svt_coupe]

Originally posted by justagt
Sooooo, you are NOT going to put the radio back in, right?:D

Very nice.


Nah.... not sure where to mount it in the doors... he he he... (they're gutted)

[kevin]

Originally posted by svt_coupe
Yes it is (it better be for how much it cost). How come you ask?

i have a fia legal in the r and much prefer it's supposed safety for my back over theback stiffened standard seat of the past. and yea, they aren't cheap are they:eek:

[98banana]

Originally posted by svt_coupe
Yes it is (it better be for how much it cost). How come you ask?

Is that the same seat you had before, or did you get another one? I know your last one was legal too... just curious.

EDIT: Speaking of which, I have an FIA legal seat for sale if enybody is interested. I'm done carying passengers...

[svt_coupe]

It's the same seat Tom.

Kevin - I much prefer them too. TO ME (note... mileage may vary) there seems to be something wrong with attaching the back of the seat to the cage. I don't know why it wigs me out. Having a seat back break would pretty much suck too, but I like the flex that the FIA seats provide. Disclaimer: That's doesn't mean I'm right!!!!!

I found this out the other day. Did you know that FIA World Ralleye doesn't allow seat back braces? Also, they use those mile-long shoulder harnesses. I'm not sure why they use them - THAT much movement in a restraint kinda scares me. Then on the other end, you have NASCAR which stiffens the heck out of a seat. Seems to me that you can have too much stiffness and too much flex. I'm not sure what the happy medium is. I've heard LOTS of schools of thought about it.

I think that no matter what you choose to use, it has to be properly setup/mounted. My seat used to be mounted to the stock seat bolt locations. Now the mount is welded to the floor pan (thanks Walt). When I hit the trees at Summit, I thought my seat had deformed. It didn't - the MOUNT that was made from 1/4" angle iron did. :( Jack Hidley of MM told me that he has had 2 or 3 (can't remember the # for sure) stock seat bolts come out of the floor pans in his personal Mustangs from hard use.... ouch.

Anyhow... not meant to scare, just food for thought.

[kevin]

Originally posted by svt_coupe
It's the same seat Tom.

Kevin - I much prefer them too. TO ME (note... mileage may vary) there seems to be something wrong with attaching the back of the seat to the cage. I don't know why it wigs me out. Having a seat back break would pretty much suck too, but I like the flex that the FIA seats provide. Disclaimer: That's doesn't mean I'm right!!!!!

I found this out the other day. Did you know that FIA World Ralleye doesn't allow seat back braces? Also, they use those mile-long shoulder harnesses. I'm not sure why they use them - THAT much movement in a restraint kinda scares me. Then on the other end, you have NASCAR which stiffens the heck out of a seat. Seems to me that you can have too much stiffness and too much flex. I'm not sure what the happy medium is. I've heard LOTS of schools of thought about it.

I think that no matter what you choose to use, it has to be properly setup/mounted. My seat used to be mounted to the stock seat bolt locations. Now the mount is welded to the floor pan (thanks Walt). When I hit the trees at Summit, I thought my seat had deformed. It didn't - the MOUNT that was made from 1/4" angle iron did. :( Jack Hidley of MM told me that he has had 2 or 3 (can't remember the # for sure) stock seat bolts come out of the floor pans in his personal Mustangs from hard use.... ouch.

Anyhow... not meant to scare, just food for thought.

my understanding is that the fia seat will absorb some of the impact while a back braced seat will not. therefore, your spine takes more of the impact

[98banana]

You guys probably already know this, but I did some research on the FIA ratings and found out, with NASA's help (Grumpy), that there are a few FIA numbers. One does NOT require the seat back brace and the other does. Bryan's does not and one of mine does not. And yes, my seats are identical, but labeled differently. I am still dealing with Corbeau on that one...

On another subject.... this is my view of safety equipment:

For every crash, there is a perfect setup for the car. But, there are soooooooo many different ways to bend sheetmetal that we can't have the perfect setup. The best we can do is make it as safe as possible for the things we can imagine happening.

[svt_coupe]

Originally posted by 98banana
For every crash, there is a perfect setup for the car. But, there are soooooooo many different ways to bend sheetmetal that we can't have the perfect setup. The best we can do is make it as safe as possible for the things we can imagine happening.

Kinda sucks that this is the case... but I couldn't agree more. See you tonight Tom.

[98banana]

Originally posted by svt_coupe
Kinda sucks that this is the case... but I couldn't agree more. See you tonight Tom.

Yup... I'm hoping to leave Columbia around 5 at the latest. Maybe then I'll miss the bulk of the Charlotte traffic. Anyway, should be there around 9:30 to 10:00.

Save me a parking space if you guys let me park in the AI section. Maybe we can corral a few of the trailers and make a "compound".

[svt_coupe]

Oh I'll save you a spot. You have my bed for tonight!!! LOL!!!

I'll call you later Tom.

[kevin]

Originally posted by svt_coupe
Oh I'll save you a spot. You have my bed for tonight!!! LOL!!!

I'll call you later Tom.

there's just too much fun there on the east coast:(