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Jon's 2 year roll cage saga...


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I remembered a couple more things I wanted to get done before I painted... gussets and the coping across the deck. So those things got done today. I ran 4 sets of gussets. 2 at the base of the A pillar, 2 at the front of the halo, 2 at the main hoop to the area where the hatch bolts on, and 2 on the sides of the main hoop to the sides of the car. All are 3" wide by 2.5" or so long, except the ones on the sides of the main hoop, which are 5" long. They're all .060" thick sheet, and I bent the end that welded to the chassis in some cases where the gusset hit at a very perpendicular angle. I figured the angle would be stronger. I also used 2 of my tiny gussets where the hoop met the halo. They just slipped right on and welded right up. I didn't want to put another bar there because I thought it might be right in the way of a helmeted driver trying to exit the vehicle.

 

So that's pretty much it I think, except for door bars which will get done after the move...

 

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  • 4 months later...

I didn't read any of the other posts, so I apologize if this has already been mentioned. I builts my cage on little boxes that are about 3 or 4 inches of the floor of the car, I fitted and built the boxes, then tacked them in, and fitted and tacked in the cage onto the boxes. Then I knocked the boxes out. This allowed me quite a bit of movement to get to those hard to reach welds on top. Once the tops were all welded, I tacked the boxes back in place and final welded everything. No holes were cut in anything.

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No, since I bought my house I've probably spent 4 hours in the garage. Hopefully things will calm down in a bit and I'll get back into it soon. Good news this year is I have a really awesome garage heater so I don't have to freeze my butt off in the winter.

 

I did start stripping the paint and found that the car has two skim coats on it and 3 coats of primer and paint. I haven't found a really good way to strip it off yet, I've tried the chemicals and a paint removal pad on a 4.5" grinder. If anyone has any other suggestions I'd love to hear them...

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There are cleaning wheels for drills and grinders that look like a sponge, but are coated with abrasive. The holes and channels in the "sponge" prevent the pad from loading up at all... and you can get pretty aggressive with them too. The only ones we carry at work are made by Walter, but I am sure there are other sources as well. I like them because they are pretty fast without the risk of ruining a pad to load-up, but don't add much scratch to your metal once you reach it, saving you unnecessary additional time "repairing" once you have the paint removed.

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There are cleaning wheels for drills and grinders that look like a sponge, but are coated with abrasive. The holes and channels in the "sponge" prevent the pad from loading up at all... and you can get pretty aggressive with them too. The only ones we carry at work are made by Walter, but I am sure there are other sources as well. I like them because they are pretty fast without the risk of ruining a pad to load-up, but don't add much scratch to your metal once you reach it, saving you unnecessary additional time "repairing" once you have the paint removed.

I tried using one of these: http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/ctaf/displayitem.taf?Itemnumber=94017 and it didn't go very far before all the abrasive was worn off. When it got down to metal the scratches it put into it looked a little deep to me, but I followed up with a quick once over with a die grinder and a scotch brite pad and that seemed to work.

 

I could do the media blasting now, since I can roll the car around again, but I always felt like that was a sure way to get sand or whatever media into all the crevices and bearings and everything else. I did just recently get the 40 gal sandblaster from HF, so if that could be used with an appropriate media that might be a good option. Anyone know if this combo would work?

 

Tried the Klean Strip stuff. It works marginally in my experience, and this car has a lot of bondo, so I don't know if that would work.

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  • 1 month later...

Took a page out of the Herb Adams Chassis Engineering book and added a couple more bars. After being torn a new ******* over at cornercarvers.com I decided this was actually a good idea. The drivers side bar to the diagonal will be done tomorrow. Ran out of patience tonight.

 

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Jon,

 

I watched in horror as the guys over there "critiqued your work." That why I only lurk there.

 

I have a question though: Why didn't you route your new bar going forward from one of the existing X's (The one in the main hoop or the one that ties you strut towers to the main hoop. I don't mean to be a critic. I think you are doing a great job.

 

Dan

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I watched in horror as the guys over there "critiqued your work." That why I only lurk there.

It really was pretty ridiculous. A lot of "No, that won't work" with no explanation. Still, the Norm guy sounds knowledgeable, and was willing to converse with me and actually had what I felt were some decent ideas.

I have a question though: Why didn't you route your new bar going forward from one of the existing X's (The one in the main hoop or the one that ties you strut towers to the main hoop. I don't mean to be a critic. I think you are doing a great job.

Not sure what you mean Dan. I don't have an X in the main hoop. There is the X that ties the strut towers down at the bottom rear of the rocker panel. I could have added this bar to that spot, but that would completely eliminate any possibility of taking passengers for rides. I also could have done a bar from the top of the hoop, but I don't have a very good load path there, unless it tied right into where the halo bar hits the hoop, and there is a little gusset right there. That also would have nixed taking passengers.

 

This seemed like the easiest way to go.

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By the X in the main hoop, I meant where the horizontal and diagonal intersect. The other X is the low one behind your drive shaft tunnel. But again, I will not push my ideas as right and yours as wrong like some on other sites seem so apt to do.

 

And yes, there are some very knowledgable guys over there. Unfortunately, you have to wade through the flames to get an answer to any question.

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By the X in the main hoop, I meant where the horizontal and diagonal intersect. The other X is the low one behind your drive shaft tunnel. But again, I will not push my ideas as right and yours as wrong like some on other sites seem so apt to do.

I never thought of that as an X, I guess it is though. There are two reasons why I didn't run the tube to where the horizontal and diagonal intersect. It's pretty far off to the passenger side for one so it might be impossible to fit a passenger seat in the car, and there's still no load path from there back except for the main hoop supports that go to the rear strut towers. So the thought is that the main hoop and diagonal would flex fairly easily by comparison to what I'm working on. By tying into the rear strut towers the load path is completed from the front struts to the rear struts.

 

The reason the center tube hits where it does on the diagonal is because the tube is centered in the car.

 

Don't worry about pushing your ideas as right. I'd love to hear your ideas and I'm still very thankful to you for posting your main hoop diagram.

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ah ha. it sounded like that is what they were yelling at you to do but was unsure if i was right or not. dam. i still would like to take someone with me a few times. i bought 2 seats for it, i am going to put 2 seats in it. i thought that they were trying to get you to install a diagonal in the halo bar as well to make a pair of rigid triangles in the roof section. from the front drivers a pillar / halo intersection to the back passengers b pillar / halo intersection. that would definetly keep any one from riding with you unless they were a midget(little people?). keep it coming.

 

jimbo

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