Assuming you mean adding dimple die type gusseting there are no plans for that currently. This cage is being built so tight to the chassis that there will be several tie in points directly from the cage to the A/B pillars and roof. It can always be added down the road though.

 

I am signed up for the event and hoping the cage is completed in time. It's a month away so I am confident I will make it to HHR. See you there! Should be fun learning a new track.

 

what is the big advantage to dimple die type gussetting? does it add that much strength to the cage?

 

Its typically used to add additional support to the front hoop or the front side hoops on a vehicle with a large door opening or long A pillars.

 

awesome!!! It seems like there's not a lot of ppl that road race their Z's. Or at least as much as I thought there would be.

 

I was at Putnam Park all day today and there were 3 others...

 

Don't forget the dry ice trick

 

The cage looks great! The hardest part of our cage was getting the A pillar arm bent. The radius on the Z is so wide no one had the tooling to bend it. We had to find an aerospace manufacturer to bend the bars on our cars.

I also like how the did the 'coffin boxes' at the base of the main hoop and A arm bars that Impact Engineering did on our cars. Nicely done.

If you can, try tieing the cage to the frame's suspension mounts. I think Impact Engineering has some photos on their website. If not, I can post some. Fun project. Good luck and let me know if we can help at all.

-Rich

 

The only thing that worked well removing the sound deading was a torch and scrapper. We then used an organe 'citrius cleaner' that picked up all the gooey mess left behind. We tried dry ice, chisel, heat guns, etc. The torch wsa the best. Just have to watch the wires!
-Rich

 

Got a few more pics from SPL of the cage progress. All of the upper welds were done prior to setting the cage on the baseplates making them easy to reach. Welds look great and it is tying into the body structure nicely. Need to decide what color to paint it.

 

Very nice cage, how close are you to coming to play? And are you Texas?

 

looking VERY nice!!

 

Cage will take another week or two I am guessing and yes I am in Texas. Austin to be exact. I hope to run my first door to door race the beginning of August and hopefully a DE or two before that just to get used to the car, cage, HANS and harness.

 

How come you didn't remove all the brackets for the speakers and gloce compartment??? Looks like a bunch of dead weight to me. As well as the rear strut bar to replace with tubing?

 

Very cool! We often have tx's come beat us up at Road Atlanta, mostly cmc and ai-x guys. Maybe next year, since we have so many z being built, we should all gang up for the Nationals.


mpowers

 

Those structures stiffen the unibody... with their large cross section, we felt that it was better to leave them in than remove it and try to make up the stiffness with tubing, since the tubing will be of much smaller cross section. ie. the stock strut bar will be stiffer than a single 1.75" diameter tube bracing/between the strut towers.

 

I'd love to go to Nationals sometime. I considered it this year for Time Trials but the current cost of gas would kill me financially. Been an expensive year prepping the car and buying all the safety gear. Maybe next year though. I hear Road Atlanta is a blast to drive-how do you like it?

 

Fantastic Track, you won't regret fuel & time spent to get there!

 

More pics. Welding is done, in the process of painting it now.
Very happy with the craftsmanship and how well it's tied into the chassis.
I was able to get most of the sound deadening material out with a heat gun and WD-40.

 

you're not kidding re: tied in to the body. can't wait to see the finished product!