Guest Anonymous Posted May 30, 2001 Share Posted May 30, 2001 I just bought a 74 260 to bolt up to a rotisserie in the near future. I couldn't believe how anemic the frame rails are as compared to my current 77 280. I have been reading the posts about cages, and looking at all the pics, with much interest. Please keep in mind that I have no plans to race or go to the strip. This car will be a frequent driver for sunny days and road trips. It will eventually have a turbo'd L28. I want/need my room and do not want the door bars or bars running along inside floor area. My feet take up enough room as it is (size 14 EE). I just want to stiffen the chassis a bit and make it a little safer. I want to know what everyone thinks about a tubular cage that installs in the hatch area and then goes through the floorboard, just behind each seat (in front of the deck riser), where the new rails then run alongside (or in place of) the current frame rails and eventually become a part of the frame in the engine bay? I will also add some type of bracing in the door for added side impact protection. Am I naive here? Won't this achieve my particular goals? Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted May 30, 2001 Share Posted May 30, 2001 Craig, is this what you're looking for: I went through something like this. Take a look at: http://members.home.net/pparaska/structuralmods.htm I also added a roll bar with tubes tied to the strut towers, the header in front of the hatch opening, and the tunnel. I also went without door bars, so I think what I did may line up with what you're thinking. HTH, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 31, 2001 Share Posted May 31, 2001 Pete, Yes, it is. For some reason I thought you had followed up with a full cage as well, though, and just didn't have pics up yet. The rails and floors on my car are in EXCELLENT shape as best I can tell without having yet stripped it. I just think they are anemic. I was thinking of using round tubing due to the ease of bending to the desired shape but I also realize more strength can be had with the rectangular stuff. I guess it will be pretty easy with a rotisserie, anyway. I guess I have found it kind of hard to see lots of detail on your site. I need to turn my resolution to 800x600 to get bigger pics. I really have no need to cut anything out, as you did, and don't want to. What's do you think about round tubing? Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted May 31, 2001 Share Posted May 31, 2001 In a few weeks or a month when my car gets back from painting, I'll shoot a ton of pics and put them on my site, including the roll bar install. Round tube should work, but I pie cut the rectangular tube, bent one wall, and welded it back together, using double plates at the cut. Easier than bending round stuff if you don't have a bender. Actually, it would be structurally better to have the 3" wall vertical, but that would take away precious ground clearance and/or foot room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 31, 2001 Share Posted May 31, 2001 Good point, Pete! Dummy me hadn't thought far enough ahead to realize I could do the pie-cut method and make things a lot easier. Ground clearance is a very precious thing. I will definitely be contacting you when I actually get started. I have a lot to learn and think about. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 31, 2001 Share Posted May 31, 2001 i was following along until the pie cut thing.......what is that? I was hoping to do a removal of my stock framerails in my floor and replace with 1x2 steel box tube....thought this would be enough and maintain clearance too, but what about the pie cut? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Anonymous Posted May 31, 2001 Share Posted May 31, 2001 I am pretty sure that Pete means that you make the fitted rail out of one piece of pipe. Instead of cutting different pieces at an angle and then butt-welding them together you just take the same piece of pipe, cut a wedge out of it where you want to bend and then bend it. The wedge removal, or pie cut, makes bending easy and keeps the kinks out. My feeble mind also says that it would make it much easier to duplicate the correct angles of the floorboard. Craig Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pparaska Posted June 1, 2001 Share Posted June 1, 2001 Craig, you've got it. Cut three sides of the tube but leave the forth side intact. The sides that are adjacent to the uncut side get a triangular piece removed, and the side opposite the uncut side gets a rectangle removed, as wide as the triangle. Bend the uncut side to make the angle correct, and weld it up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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