Guest Adam Boca Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 Good Afternoon! First time poster here! I just completed reading the rules of the forum and attempted to search but that did not provide the results I was looking for.. What are some companies that produce roll cages for the 240? I saw cusco I think, but did not find a website for them. Any help is appreciated! Adam Boca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jaime240z Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 S&W makes a "kit for the 240z http://www.swracecars.com/app_listing.asp Also, Auto power makes a bolt in roll bar http://www.autopowerindustries.com/Roll_Bars.htm You can also hire a local speed shop to custom make a bar/cage for you. This would be my first choice. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Adam Boca Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 Thanks for the advice! I will look into a local speed shop. Are the prices from a local shop generally the same as these kits or more? Thanks! Adam Boca Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 Search for S&W and Autopower and you'll find more info. General consensus is that the S&W doesn't fit very well and uses heavier than necessary tubing. Autopower is pretty common in the road racing world. I think there was a thread making fun of the Cusco cage fairly recently. I think you can do better by having a local shop make your cage for you. Read the rules for the type of racing you'll be doing and search for katman's ITS cage info and you'll find a lot of info to help you understand the differences and what makes one cage better than the other for improving the structure of the Z. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike kZ Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 usually more local. But you have to modify the S&W kit, not sure of the bolt ins. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Adam Boca Posted November 17, 2005 Share Posted November 17, 2005 Thanks folks for the replies.. I will be building this car mainly for HPDEs, some SCCA and solo stuff.. Calling to some local shops and check pricing.. Keep the ideas flowing though. Adam Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedNeckZ Posted November 18, 2005 Share Posted November 18, 2005 You can call Kirk Racing Products at (205) 608-1156 or check out his site at www.KirkRacing.com . He was great at making cages for the Z-car. He is in Alabama. He makes a lot of cages for the SCCA. Good Luck, Rich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bimmerman Posted November 18, 2005 Share Posted November 18, 2005 check here http://www.zcarparts.com/store/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=PIC08 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
240hoke Posted November 18, 2005 Share Posted November 18, 2005 http://www.geocities.com/projectzt/halfcage Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heavy85 Posted November 19, 2005 Share Posted November 19, 2005 You can call Kirk Racing Products at (205) 608-1156 or check out his site at www.KirkRacing.com[/url'] . He was great at making cages for the Z-car. He is in Alabama. He makes a lot of cages for the SCCA. Good Luck, Rich. I tried to start a thread a month or two ago asking if anyone had used a Kirk rollbar but got no replies. Have you used one in a Z and possibly have pictures of the fit? Thanks Cameron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katman Posted November 19, 2005 Share Posted November 19, 2005 Read the rules for the sanctioning body you are going to race with before you spend any money. Then read them again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedNeckZ Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Yes, I had the cage in a car I use to have. But I sold it before I moved back to NC from CO. I don't know if I can find any pictures, but I will try to find some. Had it put in by him, when I was stationed in AL. He did a great job. Right now, I am putting a S&W rollbar into a 1972 Z. We have it tack welded in. Now we have to take it some were and get it arc weld in. Only doing this, because it was cheap to do. He hand fitted everything to the car and he got it back to me in less then one week. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Go here to see a couple of examples of the HPDE track car I'm building... http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z Check in the New Zcar Project Folder. I had an auto power Cage in the car located in the "My Photos" folder of the old white car. It started out as a four point bolt in bar I bought from MSA, and had the front points welded in by a speed shop, and was NOT as good a design. I've also had the S&W 12 point cage kit ( http://www.swracecars.com/ ) and would not recommend it for HPDE or SCCA stuff... After placing my cage pieces in the car and mocking it up, I wasn't happy with the placement of the main hoop and sold the kit at a loss. It also isn't a bolt in design at all, and you must be able to weld and fabricate. What I would recommend is you find a shop within 50-75 miles of you, and you strip the interior out of your car and take it to them to have the cage welded in. I also recommend you print out the SCCA/ NASA or other specs for the club ruling on cage design and come to terms with the shop before you drop the car off... Get them to ballpark the cage cost for you. My cage was going ot be around $2000 and ended up being $2400. It sounds steep, but when you price your own time and the question of if it will be acceptable with club rules, (and what if it isn't ) paying for the work to be done right was the way to go for me! Regardless what avenue you choose, you'll get a lot of "opinions" on the cage you have built. Seems everyone has an opinion on the right cage for the job... Most important thing to do is FIND a shop that specifies in Sports Car Club of America, ALMS, SWC, NASA and other styles of cages for sports cars and NOT NHRA or NASCAR style cages. If you go a drag specific shop, it won't be strong enough for road course and won't pass tech. If you go to a NASCAR shop, it'll be built like a sherman tank and add 400# of material to the car. The going rate in my area was $75 per hour. If you're not concerned with ITS rules or building to ITS ruling, then go crazy and make is SAFE. My cage was built by a shop that builds a LOT of BMW, Mazda and Porsche race cars for SCCA competition. Piper Motorsports cages were in a large number of cars at this year's runoffs. The turn around was one week on the work I had done. Hope this helps! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Piper Motorsports cages were in a large number of cars at this year's runoffs. Mike: is this the shop that did your cage? (address , number ?) I'm all the way down in florida, I see you are in Va., but would not consider that to far to go for a really good SCCA style cage pro built. Anybody else? I'm pretty sure there are some guys in the Atlanta area that have good reputations. For ITS, a cage built from the right min. size material is really going to effect the center of gravity. It's proper design also will greatly effect chassis stiffness. To me this is something worth spending what ever it takes to be done well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 I'll Search for the number, but it is located in Manassas Virginia and the Name is Piper Motorsports... Mitch and another member of the shop both came from Peter Farrel Supercars when that shop shut down. They started their own shop about 4-5 years ago and have been very successful. Do a search on google and read the various posts from others who've had them do their work. I'm certain that you could find someone in the Atlanta area, and for that matter, I used to know a builder in Daytona Beach. I'll look up his number for you as well, but he may have moved... There are a couple of serious fabricators in the Daytona, Jacksonville and Orlando Areas that could do the work, but I've not personally seen their work... Also, YES I know that my cage would not meet SCCA ITS rules, and my car wasn't built to those specs. My cage would require a waiver from NASA and SCCA tech inspection only because the main hoop has additional bends in it. However, that said, Every car I saw footage of at this year's runoffs had more than the required maximum bends in the main hoop. It seems that more and more builders are trying to get away from the maximum 180degree main hoop bend to fit the cage tighter to the chassis. Will your cage meet acceptance by a ruling club? I don't know, but based on my own findings and questions to both SCCA and NASA, with pics included, The only heartburn either had was with the Plate gussets on the a-pillar and the roof. Again, My car was built for HPDEs only, so I'm less concerned with rules, but the cage could be slightly modified (Remove the Plate Gussets) to make it legal in a number of classes... Of course, the big V8/ Large brakes/ and other mods would clearly not pass rules, so I wasn't concerned with building to a rules spec... Keep that in mind when any of you build your cages or have them built... Providing a copy the rules for your class and club is highly recommended. Also, I chose to NOT go with cromoly, because I weld mild steel, and can now weld my own tabs for window nets and other items. I don't tig weld. So I had the cage constructed of 1.5 DOM of the minimum SCCA required thickness tubing. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Thanks Mike. Yeah I know I can find guys in florida capable of doing the fabrication (I'm pretty damn good with a welder myself), but I want a shop that specializes in cage fabrication and has vast experience in SCCA ITS cages and hopefully Zcars specifically. The rules have change some in the past couple years as to what is legal in ITS, and it looks like more changes could be in store for 06, so I really want somebody who is a scca race shop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 http://www.pipermotorsports.com/ Ask for Mitch. Also, the only reason I point out that my cage is NOT legal, is because I've had a BUNCH of offline emails from people lurking on this site informing me that the cage isn't legal... So I figured I'd head some of that traffic off at the pass! Also. have you contacted Katman? He is in Georgia and has probably got contacts that could assist. I know when I was at Road Atlanta three years ago I ran into a couple of shop owners who were campaigning ITS Zcars. These shops are known in the Zcar community, but the names of the shops slip my mind at the moment... I even sold one of those shops a set of my control arms for a customer... but age and lack of memory are getting me this morning... Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Thanks for the link Mike, I checked out your pictures, that is a nice car! It looks a lot like mine. No I haven't contacted Mr Thomas directly, I think he is in a state of semi-retirerment. When I saw he posted to this thread yesterday, I was really hoping he'd check out my thread about R180s in the drivetrain forum (you remember it, you posted to it) I am aware that there are a few race shops in the Atlanta area. I'm also aware of the fact that the z is still quite popular in ITS. The bimmer is the car to have right now, but you know.... it's just not a Z!!! To me the fact that our thirty year old cars still can be competative is testimony to what a truly great design they were!!! OK... now I'm gushing... god I love my car!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom'sZ Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 Also, YES I know that my cage would not meet SCCA ITS rules, and my car wasn't built to those specs. Hello... huge V8.... DUHHhhhhh people can be so dorky. But what you said about your cage goes a long way toward why I want a shop with ITS experience to do the cage. ITS cage is a very highly specailized animal. If your intentions were anything other then ITS, the cage would not be built the same. I've built NHRA cage before (from kit), this is different. BTW, I love those windshield gussets, they are cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikelly Posted November 20, 2005 Share Posted November 20, 2005 He's been very helpful on the site, and I would be surprised if he didn't answer your questions with lots of good info... Katman challenged a couple of things he saw in my cage and they were good questions to ask... So I called up Piper Motorsports to get the answers. Otherwise, I might have been caught in a situation later where I was at a track, in the tech inspections tent and getting declined to participate in a certain type of event or race... I know what needs to be done now to make the car pass tech. So I'm glad he pointed those things out. Seemed helpful enough to me! Give him a try! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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