AkumaNoZeta Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Of all the time I've been on this site I've seen tons of photos of people with full interior, without any kind of roll cage, sometimes with a simple roll bar, but I can't recall any photos of cars with a full cage and donning anything but a stripped out. Has anyone ever seen a S30 with full interior cleanly mated to a full cage with a halo and down bars? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rturbo 930 Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 A full cage is really for dedicated race/track cars only, and not really advisable for street use. I doubt you'll see many like you describe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkumaNoZeta Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 I see them all the time with muscle cars. Especially in the high dollar drag cars, but also in the pro touring and autocross. The only reason I've reasoned against a cage in my car is because I want a full, clean interior....because I never owned a car with one before. lol. I already heavily reinforced the unibody, including triangulated front strut tower bracing, made all new subframes for the front half of the car and currently working on welding in the rear strut brace so I feel better about replacing the subframes in the rear. I was just hoping to see some photos of people putting a plush interior around some caging. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 I think if you want to have both a cage and an interior you should have a bolt in cage. That way you could put your interior in first then add the cage. If you have it welded while the interior is in you will have burn marks and paint overspray all over the place. Most fully bolt in cages won't pass racing tech, so they are really just trim pieces to make you feel cool or "race inspired." They make a custom car look cool, but the only reason to have an interior in a race car is if it is required by the racing classification. To fit a cage well in a tiny z, you really need to gut the doors, which means no door glass, so you either keep the car inside a trailer or it gets full of rain on the tow or while parked outside the hotel. With no interior you can just towel it dry for the race. But with an interior you have a soggy mess and a wet butt. And classic z-car rotten floor boards. It's just an awkward combination for practical reasons. Hope that helps. I'm learning this stuff the hard way. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 As an aside, why didnt the Z just have wooden floorboards so we could just cut new ones every 20 years or so? Imagine how many zs would still be on the road if a carpenter could replace the floors! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xnke Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 It really is not practical to put in a roll cage and street drive a Z. There is no point to having a full interior when you have to wear a helmet and gloves every time you drive the car. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Muscle car interiors have more room then a S30, Porsche 911, etc. The issue with a full cage is that the door hoops will turn a minor accident into a concussion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gareth. J. Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) My cage is bolt in. The rear section was welded in place with most of the interior stripped out, so I'm not sure how removable it will be. I'm 6ft3" tall and I had to remove the seat rails to get enough head clearance on the side. Edited March 20, 2014 by Gareth. J. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimZ Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 (edited) It really is not practical to put in a roll cage and street drive a Z. There is no point to having a full interior when you have to wear a helmet and gloves every time you drive the car. Exactly. Just to put a finer point on it - racing cages are intended and designed to be used in a racing environment, where the driver is held securely in place with a mulitpoint, non-retractable harness and is wearing a helmet. Using all of this safety equipment as a system is what makes you safer in a caged race car. If you you try to use a full cage on the street, outside of the environment it was designed for and without the supporting safety equipment (multipoint harness, helmet, etc), then you are NOT "safer" in that vehicle and will likely turn what would have been a minor accident into a major one when your head inevitably hits the cage. Hard. Frankly I think setups like this on muscle cars are just as dumb - a few years back one of my test vehicles was an Expedition (yes, the full-size SUV) that had been modified with a professionally built welded-in cage because it was intended for limit handling tests. When transporting that beast to and from the track I would regularly smack my head on that frickin cage when driving it on the street. If anyone thinks they can design a full cage that they won't hit their head on in a Z, they are completely delusional. Edited March 20, 2014 by TimZ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 20, 2014 Share Posted March 20, 2014 Dan McGrath has the solution here. No A pillar bars and no halo on his car, it's more like a cage that you would see in a convertible. There are pics in his album, 74_5.0L_Z is his username. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkumaNoZeta Posted March 20, 2014 Author Share Posted March 20, 2014 I ask because I already triangulated my front tower with two welded in legs, the bar going across removable for obvious reasons, all using hefty size tie-in plates of 1/8" plate. I'm working on the back ones currently, already have the hefty sized tie-in plates made and installed and will make the bar this weekend. Even though all my subframes are new tubing, I was wanting a cage to tie it all together. Having a nice, plush interior is more important to me though since I've never owned a car with perfect interior before. I realize there's size constraints and other considerations, but I figure there's gotta be people with deep pockets and big enough wills to find a way. I do like Gareth's set-up and I always liked 74_5.0L_Z's car. I think if I were to do it I would have to have it bent so close that you can take 1" wide strips of sheet metal to make nice gussets to weld attach it to the unibody across the whole thing, sticking close to the A-pillar to a bar behind the dash that will have branches coming off to meet the welded up strut braces in the engine bay. Obviously a lot of vinyl won't be able to be used, or larger pieces made that cover the whole thing, and a little cutting up of the dash and won't be able to any HVAC, but that only means you can only drive it on nice days. Then again, like everyone here is saying, I'm not building an all-out race car. One day I will but a different car and after this one is done. I need to stop wasting everyone's time here and go without the cage idea. Sorry for the ranting everybody. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ktm Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 I would not say you are wasting anyone's time, they don't want to see you make a serious mistake and render your car basically undriveable on the street (or at least make it less safe for street use). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RebekahsZ Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 You are't wasting anybody's time-to me, these kinds of questions are what this forum is for, so ask away! (I have nagged the forum about roll cages pretty steadily for 2 years or more). I have ridden in a few race cars where you couldn't sit up straight and had a crick in your neck after driving/riding in it. The top of the roof in a Z is pretty narrow, so that brings the a-pillar bars really in toward the center of the car, so there they are for you to smack your head on. With no overhead bars and no a-pillar bars, my head touches the ceiling of the car with my helmet on in my current seating height. Now, add a bar-that takes away basically 2 inches of height when I didn't have any to give in the first place! I plan to lower my seat an additional inch, and I think I can do that without cutting out my stock seat mounts. I'm gonna run it that way with only a rear hoop and door bars. If for some reason I HAVE to have the forward part of a cage in the future, then I'm gonna have to cut all the seat mounts out and basically put the seat on the floor (or maybe create a recessed seat pan-which steals ground clearance) in order to have adequate head room. You have to do all your testing with a helmet on, which makes you effectively 2" taller! Sitting on the floor may not be enough-may have to recline the seat way back.... Its a problem of available space, which creates a collision of your head and a steel bar. In my current configuration, the car can't take a bump without my roof trading paint with my helmet. My buddy has a 67 Chevy II, which is real square and boxy. Hes got enough room in that car for a cage-and a refridgerator. If you are doing it really just for looks-consider a rear bar good enough-most civilians don't know the difference between a bar and a cage, anyway. I'm kind of dreading climbing over my door bars-I see swing-out or removeable door bars in my near future. But I won't judge you for doing exactly what you aspire to-it's your car and your fun to have. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnc Posted March 21, 2014 Share Posted March 21, 2014 We're worried about your head, not our time. Have your buddies take a baseball bat, wrap it in foam, and then have them hit you in the head as hard as they can. That is the best case scenario. Worst case: take a 1.5" OD steel tube and have your buddies do the same thing, without the padding. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AkumaNoZeta Posted March 22, 2014 Author Share Posted March 22, 2014 I'm going to forget about the cage idea. I'm just looking for a really nice street car anyways. I was thinking 10 years from now, when I finish the Z, I'll tear down my foxbody and turn that into the race car. I like the style of the car, just not all the Ford engineering in it so I think it's a prime candidate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDgoods Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I'm going to forget about the cage idea. I'm just looking for a really nice street car anyways. I was thinking 10 years from now, when I finish the Z, I'll tear down my foxbody and turn that into the race car. I like the style of the car, just not all the Ford engineering in it so I think it's a prime candidate. Why not get the best of both worlds and buy or build a quality roll bar? This is my Custom 100% bolt in bar. It does require 8 holes to be drilled through the rear fender wells, but it can come out at any time. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m1ghtymaxXx Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 (edited) ^ I'd go that route. We did install as much of the interior as possible in our Evo III Targa Newfoundland Rally car. This included the carpet, center console, door panels (trimmed to fit door X's), and a bumpin sound system. The reason was that Targa involves basically living in the race car all day every day for a week. My only concern (aside from a bit of added weight) is the additional flammable materials in the cockpit. Unfortunately we ended up a losing the motor in the very first prologue stage and spent an all nighter prepping my teamates old AE86 rally car which was completely stripped and loud as hell (but carried us to 3rd place in Open divivsion!). Definitely made us appreciate the "Cadillac of Race Cars" Evo we'd put together. Here's an interior shot taken right after we had it back together, racing buckets, harnesses, rally computer, comms, and roll cage padding was not yet installed: https://flic.kr/p/fpo6wz Edited March 28, 2014 by m1ghtymaxXx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SUNNY Z Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Why not get the best of both worlds and buy or build a quality roll bar? This is my Custom 100% bolt in bar. It does require 8 holes to be drilled through the rear fender wells, but it can come out at any time. What seat is this? Cost? Source? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mal_tiempo Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Why not get the best of both worlds and buy or build a quality roll bar? This is my Custom 100% bolt in bar. It does require 8 holes to be drilled through the rear fender wells, but it can come out at any time. This is exactly what I want, but are harnesses still "safe" attached to a bolt-in cage? Also, that looks like a Bride Zeta Type S, or an Exas III. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SDgoods Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 What seat is this? Cost? Source? As he said^^ , Bride exas III. I got it used off a miata forum for $600, new theyre around $1000 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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