Are you welding in the spreader plates? Let me know how you get on - and take lots of photos please, got to fit mine soon and haven't a clue!
Are you welding in the spreader plates? Let me know how you get on - and take lots of photos please, got to fit mine soon and haven't a clue!
Been a blooming long wait so one way or another its going in this weekend.Originally Posted by Lord Clive
Yes, I will be welding in the plates. Believe they all sit inside the vehicle. Will find out tomorrow. I'll try to take as many pics as possible.
looks really mean dude, love it
Thank you.looks really mean dude, love it
Best of luck mate!
Just went through the full build man and this is one serious car. Fair play I look forward to more updates
After a long weekend the Fabricage is in…and I have to say it was worth the wait
The good:
It fits together very well. I assembled the cage outside of the car to make sure it all went together and everything was there. It went together fine and after figuring out what door bar went on what side I marked them to make it easier for next time. In the car it’s a squeeze but then I’ve kept my roof lining, pillar trims and carpet. It does all go together though and no straps or presses or cars were required to get it to fit. It’s made spot on so once you’ve got it all together and the base plates are welded in you just need to drill through and bolt down. There are plenty of cap head bolts, nuts and washers supplied and they’re stainless. The passenger side leg it a bit tricky to fit but the easiest way is to cut the end of the cross car beam and then rejoin after the legs in place.
The not so good:
Note to self, never assume anything. I assumed that the door bars were made to fit with the door cards in, wrong. The door bars fail on the cards. I’m going speak to Fabricage and see if they do different bars but if not I’ll bastardize the door cards like I did the dash.
One bolt on each foot is too short. Now this might be because I’ve sandwiched the carpet under the feet but the carpets only about 3mm thick so the bolts aren’t excessively long. No biggy, just means I need to buy four 40mm cap heads.
I stabbed myself with a screwdriver and pinched a big chunk of skin off my finger. Fitting cages is dangerous business
Also, it took me a day to remove the sound deadening from the rear bench and two days to fit the cage. Anyone that thinks it’s a five minute job is deluded. There were two of us (sorry Ricky) at a unit with all the tools and gear and it still took a whole weekend to do. It’s not that’s it’s difficult it’s just time consuming. Taking the interior, seats, centre console and dash out takes an hour or so, cutting the dash takes a while to get right… I’m happy with it though. There are a few bits to tidy up but I think it’s a fairly neat install.
Big thanks to Ross Gregory for helping me this weekend. He owns a unit in Hockley with Rick Emery and while they aren’t a full time buisness they are willing to help folk out with anything really. They have all the tools and welding equipment and a spray booth. Top lads. And a super big thanks to my other half as she put up with me spending the whole weekend doing car stuff even on fathers day.
Some piccies:
Sorry about the crap pics. I'll get some better ones of it installed when I have a few minutes. I still need to add the door bars and make up a bracket to hold my AVCR to the A pillar bar.
Should of definitely cut squares in the carpet and bolted cage DIRECTLY to floor!
looks great dude. i had the same problem with door cards as well. due my car being track focused door cards went in the bin same as carpet. I dont see any problem bolting over the carpet. as long as the bolts are torqued correctly and used loctite on the threads cant see 2mm of soft carpet that compresses being an issue. cage looks great in black. i would recommend if it isn't fully bolted in yet feed wiring loom as you see fit around the legs. Its not an issue if it is bolted in and you want to move it as there is conenctors in boot for both wiring looms just means removing the plastics to do it.
keep up the progress dude looks great.
Good effort.
Funnily enough, when I assembled mine in the garden, I thought I was short three or four 40mm bolts too. I assumed the long bolts went for mounting to the car and short ones were for fixing the cage bars together.
Interested to see what you've done with the dash cross-bar.
I'd read that you should never fit a cage through carpet. I think the way it's supposed to work is that the torqued bolts clamp the leg to the plate, and the resulting friction between plate and leg base stops lateral movement of the cage. Bolts are generally designed to take load in tension, not shear; put carpet in between and the shear strength of the bolt shank (or, weaker still, buckling of the edges of the plate / floorpan holes) is the only thing stopping lateral movement in a big smash.
If nothing else, if you're hoping to gain structural rigidty, having a layer of fabric between cage and car won't help. It might seem like the amount of possible additional compresssion is small once torqued down, but the forces that make the car body flex are pretty big - the car isn't exactly made of rubber in the first place.
Could be wrong but that's my take as an engineer (marine/nuclear/aerospace and not automotive, however...).
yer i was just wondering as im also an engineer for a aerospace and motorsport (F1, Moto Gp....) :-)
Car feels stiff as a stiff thing on the road now. I personally don't see carpet being an issue. All the calculations in the world won't work out what happens to what in a crash. The possibilities are infinite. If you can show me s link to someone who got fecked because of carpet I'll happily eat my PJ's though.
Got some other little bits sorted today and removed the door cards to fit the door bars. Going to trim some neat notches into them when I find the time. Got a flexi welded into the wastegate return pipe. Managed to get the remaining cage bolts on as well. Thanks Stevecrc. Avcr's mounted onto the a pillar cage bar. Was all set for Brands tomorrow, just, but my boys a sick puppy so I'm giving it a miss. They'll be other days.
Better pics to follow.
I withdraw my previous statment. Was tired last night and wasn't thinking straight. Now that I've had time to think about it and reread the comments I totally agree with what you're saying Daveyboydave. I will cut the carpet out under the feet. Also need to cut the door cards, tidy up the dash and fit some roll cage padding. I didn't go to Bands today so the car will be totally ready for the 2nd July.
Good decision on the carpet dude, does seem a little straight but we all do strange things when tired.
As for the door bars, just keep shutting the door. The card will plastically deform before long.
Not sure it'll give that much mate. The bar interferes by about 2". A neat slot should do the job.
Crikey, that is a lot. I guess it's conceivable that the cage design has changed slightly. Next time we bump into each other we can compare. In the meantime, slotting the card sounds a winner.
Glad you see sense with the carpet
I would rather the cage went out into the door cards, nothing worse then a intrusive cage!
There wouldn't be much room for a seat if the door bar came in any more so I'll make what I have work.
Tidied so took some pics.
Didn't Hoover though
Looks good, no way I could deal with getting my fat arse through that gap every time mind.
1998 Nissan 200sx s14a , 2000 std 5 speed with nismo supercoppermix clutch bn6 Sapphire Blue
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote
