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Small update, drivers side a pillar mount complete. Installed cage into car and mocked up A-pillar bars, hoping to get enough time tomorrow to bend them up!
Small update, drivers side a pillar mount complete. Installed cage into car and mocked up A-pillar bars, hoping to get enough time tomorrow to bend them up!
Thx dude, to be honest the welding early on kind of discouraged me and then I got sidetracked and lost drive... now that I've got that down its just a time constraint.
Still not sure if I want to go asymmetric and do simple x-brace on passenger side and pushed out nascar style on drivers side, or spend the time and effort to do nascar style on both sides.... thoughts?
Last edited by Dblock55; Mar 23, 2017 at 08:26 AM.
Thx dude, to be honest the welding early on kind of discouraged me and then I got sidetracked and lost drive... now that I've got that down its just a time constraint.
Still not sure if I want to go asymmetric and do simple x-brace on passenger side and pushed out nascar style on drivers side, or spend the time and effort to do nascar style on both sides.... thoughts?
That area of the cage has been my biggest dilemma. The NASCAR style door bars are probably the safest. FIA typically use the X style with an A pillar of support, so I assume those are not a bad choice as well.
Unfortunately, you will never know how your cage will need to protect you. You can't build the perfect cage. You will need to look for the best compromise for the intended use.
The final decision I made for my cage is a hybrid between the NASCAR style and the X style. Where the X intersects, there will be no notch. Instead the tubes will bend away from each other and there will be a significant gusset the 1 instead the tubes will bend away from each other and there will be a significant gusset and stitch welded plates. This hybrid X will also not be in one geometric plane but, rather it will curve out torwards the door.
In addition to the hybrid in addition to the hybrid X brace, I will be inserting a large impact foam in the door.
That area of the cage has been my biggest dilemma. The NASCAR style door bars are probably the safest. FIA typically use the X style with an A pillar of support, so I assume those are not a bad choice as well.
Unfortunately, you will never know how your cage will need to protect you. You can't build the perfect cage. You will need to look for the best compromise for the intended use.
The final decision I made for my cage is a hybrid between the NASCAR style and the X style. Where the X intersects, there will be no notch. Instead the tubes will bend away from each other and there will be a significant gusset the 1 instead the tubes will bend away from each other and there will be a significant gusset and stitch welded plates. This hybrid X will also not be in one geometric plane but, rather it will curve out torwards the door.
In addition to the hybrid in addition to the hybrid X brace, I will be inserting a large impact foam in the door.
I just did this with talk text, you will have accept the errors. Lol
I just did this with talk text, you will have accept the errors. Lol
I like the idea of packing the door with foam, lightweight but very effective at absorbing energy. Bent the a pillar bar... not sure if I'm going to stick to it or scrap it... upper part could have been longer to get closer to a pillar...
Oh man. I know you won't like this but, it's best to scrap that A-pillar. You need to have it as close to the body as possible. Set that on aside, you could probably use the material somewhere else.
Try laying out the A-pillar on the floor with tape and check it as you go. Leave the end sections longer than you need them so you can cut them to length.
Hmm 🤔 My concern here is now you just gave it another section where it could give and buckle...
Im not sure if that's acceptable.
Rules state each tube can have a maximum of 4 bends in it so technically it is acceptable. I will also be doing a fia type down tube from the roof bar down to the footing... this will help the main hoop support the load in case of a rollover, although even without it I don't think this design would fail... it will be gussetred to the a-pillar. On a side note 350zs had the best rollover rating of its time due to not having a door sill, engineers really reinforced the a-pillar, so overall I feel pretty confident about it.
Also the rules state you can have 8 chassis mou y points, #7 and #8 have to be to the firewall... is there a lot of benefit to be had fromthese? I'm guessing they would really protect you in case of a high speed front end impact. What's the best place for these? Drivers side seems pretty limited with the fuse box and pedals talong up that would side... thoughts?
Roof bar in!!!! Thought id b able to wiggle it out to weld it up but its not having it... sigh. Itd b a lot more convenient to weld in gussets as well. Anyways, almost complete!!
Anyone in the Michigan area thatd b willing to let me use your car scales? Time to corner weigh the car but dont have access to the scales i did previously
Apart from a few regular updates from the autocross guys this forum seems to be kapput, don't you think? It would be great to have a global forum section somewhere or a Facebook group purely dedicated to track prepped Zeds!
