280zx Roll Cage

[Ben's Tuning]

Ok, while I figure out my power supply, I might as well think about safety.

 

What I am considering for my 280zx is this:

 

Halo Bars

Dash Bar

Harness Bar

Extension Bars (to rear wheelwells)

Cross Bar (to tie the rear suspension upper mounts)

Diagonal Bar (behind driver to passenger side wheelwell) (for some reason I feel torquey)

 

Now, here's where my issue is.

 

Redline Time Attack doesn't let the cage penetrate the firewall for the limited class cars (hot street, street tire class)

What I was thinking... to kinda loophole the rules would be the dash bar being welded to a 4"x4" plate at the corner,

with a 4"x4" plate on the other side of the firewall to meet the front wheelwells, and a small diagonal to where the hood latch is.

 

Think that will be stiff enough to handle a lq9 with a twin turbo setup?

The engine will make conservatively 650hp on pump gas, but will twist the un-reinforced chassis like a pretzel.

Ideas?

Edit: BTW, this is .160 DOM mild steel tubing, cause chromoly will cost 3x as much to save... maybe 20 pounds.

Edited June 12, 2011 by Ben's Tuning

[260DET]

Try searching, I'm sure that this has been discussed before not that long ago.

[johnc]

The dash bar needs to be welded to the front legs of the door hoops (or the down legs from the halo bar). It does not get welded to the chassis in any place, its a front lateral reinforcement for the cage. If the Redline cage rules allow attachment points 7 and 8 then you can run legs from the dash bar to the firewall as you state. If the rules don't allow 8 attachment points for your cage, don't try to outsmart Redline Tech staff them with your little plan. They are a lot smarter then you and have doubtless seen this before.

 

Also, the additional plating on the engine side of the firewall won't be allowed at all, regardless of the number of attachments allowed.

 

And why are you using .160" wall thickness tubing? The thickest I've ever seen specified is .120" wall in 1.5" OD tubing for the weights your 280ZX will likely come in at. More common is 1.75" .095" wall.

 

EDIT: I just checked the Redline cage rules. .160" wall tubing isn't listed. I think you should download the rule book.