JustinOlson Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I'm going to be doing a full cage in my car. I was thinking I should weld a tube inside the rockers before I install the cage. I want to make the rockers more rigid for safe reasons mostly. I will likely cut out the sheet metal from the outside to weld a tube inside. Does anyone have any pictures or recommendations how to do this properly? Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Careless Posted March 9, 2008 Share Posted March 9, 2008 I vaguely remember someone posting a picture of a turquoise 510 that was hit pretty badly from the side, and had the rocker bar not been installed with the cage, the driver would have been seriously deformed or killed. so yeah. that's going in my car too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
260DET Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 An alternative is to weld some square section tube along the pinch weld underneath. This can still be tied in to a roll cage and has the added benefit of being a long jacking point. Which can be really handy if you have a low car. Did this on the S30, it worked so well did it on the S130 too. Best to design it into a complete chassis stiffening plan from the outset. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted March 10, 2008 Author Share Posted March 10, 2008 An alternative is to weld some square section tube along the pinch weld underneath. This can still be tied in to a roll cage and has the added benefit of being a long jacking point. Which can be really handy if you have a low car. Did this on the S30, it worked so well did it on the S130 too. Best to design it into a complete chassis stiffening plan from the outset. Do you have any pictures of this? What sized square tubing did you use? Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 viperredls1z had 2x2 square tubes welded into the rockers on the red car. I know there has been some talk about this before, I thought there were pictures of that modification previously. You might see if you can dig through the archives and find it. I think its a really good idea and that the cage should tie directly into the tube inside the rocker if possible, rather than attaching to the floor or a box tied to the floor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted March 10, 2008 Author Share Posted March 10, 2008 Thanks for the lead. I found this picture: http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?&p=3&uid=2927792&gid=14620511&&imgid=219723177#top Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted March 10, 2008 Share Posted March 10, 2008 No problem. Here's a better one: http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?&p=3&uid=2927792&gid=10145811&&imgid=219714571#top There is another one floating around where you can see how they did the back of the tube. It basically protrudes about 1/2" into the wheel well and is welded to a probably 6" x 6" square plate. The plate is welded to the wheel well and the tube is welded to the plate and capped. I can't find it on his site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeK280z Posted March 11, 2008 Share Posted March 11, 2008 http://forums.hybridz.org/showthread.php?t=112581&highlight=tube+rocker&page=2 This thread has a lot of good info. In particular, look at post #10 and #24. #24 describes what Cary - A.K.A. Tube80z did and has a couple of pictures showing the ends of the rockers. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viperredls1z Posted March 12, 2008 Share Posted March 12, 2008 here is the picture John was talking about that shows the rear. and this one shows how the front is tied to the TC box. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted March 12, 2008 Author Share Posted March 12, 2008 I'm just trying to decide between using 1.625 Round tubing (like the rest of the cage will be made from) or doing 2" X 2" Square Tubing for the rockers. What do you all think? Regards, Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdsk8ter Posted March 13, 2008 Share Posted March 13, 2008 I'm just trying to decide between using 1.625 Round tubing (like the rest of the cage will be made from) or doing 2" X 2" Square Tubing for the rockers. What do you all think? Regards, Justin im going to do mine out of the same tube as the rollcage itll make it look all the same that way just my .02 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted March 13, 2008 Author Share Posted March 13, 2008 I guess that will be fine. I would imagine I'm going to have to use 6" X 6" X 0.125" plates to tie the rocker bars into the car. Then I can mount the cage to this and still stay NHRA legal. Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rdsk8ter Posted March 14, 2008 Share Posted March 14, 2008 I guess that will be fine. I would imagine I'm going to have to use 6" X 6" X 0.125" plates to tie the rocker bars into the car. Then I can mount the cage to this and still stay NHRA legal. Justin thanks lol i almost forgot that can someone tell me roughly how think that is 1/8 inch 1/16 etc Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted March 14, 2008 Author Share Posted March 14, 2008 1/8" sheetmetal plate. It needs to be atleast 0.125" so I would use 10 gauge. Regards, Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted April 1, 2008 Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 I'm trying to decided on what thickness 2X2 tubing to use. From my local supplier I can get: 0.065" 0.085" 0.095" 0.125" What do you guys think? Regards, Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JMortensen Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 What size tubing are you using for the cage. I'd go with that size. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonfly Posted April 1, 2008 Share Posted April 1, 2008 Next time I am over at ZRaceProducts if I remember I will climb around Jerry's Z and take pics of how he ran tubes through the rocker panels. Jerry did his in a way that allowed him to connect the tubes into the rest of the cage after exiting out of the front and rear of the rocker panels. He told me that the primary reason he did this was so that in the event of an accident neither the front or rear tires would be able to be pushed into the car (when I get some pictures you will understand what I mean), but basicaly when the tube comes out of the front it goes into the wheelwell and is angled up and across then penetrates the inner fender and is welded to the engine compartment section of the cage, the rear does the same thing but connects to the rear section of the cage. Dragonfly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted April 1, 2008 Author Share Posted April 1, 2008 Well, My cage is going to be 1.625" X 0.083" chromoly tubing. Regards, Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JustinOlson Posted April 11, 2008 Author Share Posted April 11, 2008 Dragonfly, Any chance on you posting those pictures? I'm still debating round vs square tubing. Regards, Justin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonfly Posted April 12, 2008 Share Posted April 12, 2008 Dragonfly, Any chance on you posting those pictures? I'm still debating round vs square tubing. Regards, Justin I'm not sure when I am going to be out his way again but I will call him in the morning and see if he can snap some pics and email them to me. Dragonfly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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