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Cusco door bar on a Autopower cage?

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Old Dec 21, 2009 | 03:22 PM
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Default Cusco door bar on a Autopower cage?

Since i getting CF doors i will need a full roll cage,

Today i have a roll bar from Autopower so the best option for me is to get the bolt on part that makes my roll bar a full cage



but since it isnt streetlegal here in sweden to have anything by the doors then ill need something that i can remove when i need it to..

Like theese bars from Cusco


so my question is. does anybody now if they will fit on a Autopower cage?

just from looking at some pics, it looks like Autopower is thicker.

other suggestions?
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Old Dec 21, 2009 | 03:31 PM
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Take the cage to someone that knows what they are doing. Your best bet is to have a cage builder weld something up for you that is removable with custom brackets. Cusco cages are garbage for safety anyways.
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Old Dec 21, 2009 | 03:37 PM
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are they? why?

the thing is that since the Z33 is very rare here it would cost me 3 times as mutch, take a F long time and probobly still not be better then the U weld from Autopower


but Autopower´s material is HEAVY! i would like something lighter.
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Old Dec 21, 2009 | 03:45 PM
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Your best bet is to find the measurement for the Autopower piping and the measurement for the Cusco cage piping and see if they are very close.

I have Safety21 door bars like that on my Safety21 cage and they are wonderful.

Many people who don't have firsthand experience with the topic will tell you that Cusco/Safety21 cages are garbage. This is far from the truth.

I have personally seen a car flip with a cusco cage and everything was just fine.

Enjoy!
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Old Dec 21, 2009 | 03:47 PM
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Safety21 ia a cusco model `?

pics?
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Old Dec 21, 2009 | 06:20 PM
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Safety21 is going to look exactly the same as Cusco, but it's black rather than the blue.

Also, the door bars (steel) are black. The ones you posted, the silver one are aluminum. Not the best for a door bar.
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Old Dec 21, 2009 | 08:36 PM
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Yea.. cusco and garbage in the same sentence = noob.
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Old Dec 21, 2009 | 09:10 PM
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Originally Posted by Hydralisk
Yea.. cusco and garbage in the same sentence = noob.
not really.....
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Old Dec 21, 2009 | 10:08 PM
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Originally Posted by Hydralisk
Yea.. cusco and garbage in the same sentence = noob.
that "noob" has been a member on these forums 5 years longer than you and knows a thing about how a proper rollcage should look, so do yourself a favor and just go away or better yet next time you have a thought and are hovering over the submit button....just don't

Last edited by Row2K; Dec 21, 2009 at 10:12 PM.
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 02:38 AM
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yes and alu wouldnt work , i dont think i can weld alu on steel.. the rollbar i have today is steel
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 03:33 AM
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Originally Posted by SIR_pierre
are they? why?

the thing is that since the Z33 is very rare here it would cost me 3 times as mutch, take a F long time and probobly still not be better then the U weld from Autopower


but Autopower´s material is HEAVY! i would like something lighter.
Look at the dash escape front bars. Those bends alone are detrimental to the structural strength of the cage. Autopower is heavier probably because they use a thicker mild steel, which is not really a bad thing. As stated before, it is better to just get someone local that has the ability to make something custom for you. Ask around and make sure you get good recommendations because a good welder/cage builder is not easy to come by. I've seen a lot of crappy cages.

Last edited by Rickdogg; Dec 22, 2009 at 03:56 AM.
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 03:51 AM
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Originally Posted by Brian@VeilSide
Your best bet is to find the measurement for the Autopower piping and the measurement for the Cusco cage piping and see if they are very close.

I have Safety21 door bars like that on my Safety21 cage and they are wonderful.

Many people who don't have firsthand experience with the topic will tell you that Cusco/Safety21 cages are garbage. This is far from the truth.

I have personally seen a car flip with a cusco cage and everything was just fine.

Enjoy!
Just because you've seen a car flip with a cusco cage in it doesn't mean that it is something that should be suggested as an ideal safety item to install in to our cars. It's like Chris Rock said, "You can drive a car with your feet if you want to...it doesn't mean it's a good F'n idea." Your example of a car rolling over with a cusco cage is just as bad as suggesting someone to go ride a motorcycle without a helmet just because a few guys came out "okay" from lucky accidents.

So you mean to tell me that if you had a choice between the following items in an accident that you would go with a safety 21/cusco?

-Quality custom roll cage with uninterrupted door bars w/o the dash escape bars in the front
-Cusco/Safety 21 cage
-Autopower

Dash escape front bars, no side impact/crash bars, removable crash and hoop bars, and small diameter thin walled piping are not typical characteristics of a quality cage. Cusco cages do not pass any sort of legit tech inspection because they are in fact garbage. No ifs, ands, or buts.

Originally Posted by Hydralisk
Yea.. cusco and garbage in the same sentence = noob.
Apparently you are the noob if you are naive about this fact. Sometimes it's better to STFU about something you don't know about. Cusco makes some decent products, but definitely not the best. Unfortunately, in the cage game...their products are bottom of the barrel and merely good for looks.

Last edited by Rickdogg; Dec 22, 2009 at 04:00 AM.
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 04:10 AM
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whats Dash escape front bars? pics pics =)
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 05:17 AM
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Dash escape is a Cusco term - means it goes around the dash, dash through means it goes through the dash (requiring you to cut through the dash)

You're not asking for anything particularly special or exotic - it should be very easy to find someone locally to do this for you. Nothing about the Cusco door bars you posted is welded. It uses a collar that clamps around the A and B pillar and then the bar bolts into the clamp. The turnbuckle in the center of the bar is to adjust the length (gives you a few inch movement) to allow it to suit different cars. These bars come in a few different general lengths, again depending on what is required. Nothing about it is welded though.

The thing with all these cages is they are all for different purposes, so it is impossible to draw comparisons between them. The rollbar one uses for a daily driver that might see a few track days a year, is completely different from the welded in cage that someone uses in their race car. A daily driver isn't a race car, and a race car isn't a daily driver.

Cusco and Safety 21 are NOT the same cage. Cusco makes both, but they are not the same. The blue cages you typically see people have are Cusco's D1 legal cage which are chromoly (40mm tubing). The Safety 21 units are more motorsport oriented, and come in a much wider range of configurations and piping is 40mm carbon steel.

If you are at the point with the car where you need door bars, you owe it to yourself to consult with someone who knows cages first hand, locally to you, who can guide you through that you can do to improve what you have.

Last edited by Z1 Performance; Dec 22, 2009 at 06:37 AM.
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 06:15 AM
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very good answer ,

as i understod , The Autopower cage is alltso a "dash escape" model. i really dont want to cut in my dash.

as it is today i use my car mostly on track BUT allso to and from the track. and to be able to do that it have to be street legal of course.

and thats where the tricky part is. "they" dont alow cages. more or less.

so thats why i need the door bar to be removable, but when on place , safe of course.
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 06:33 AM
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Autopower has a number of different configurations - all of them are steel.

The rollbar (mounts all behind the seats) uses DOM mild steel, 1.750 x .120 DOM (44.45mm diameter x 3.08 mm thick).

The rollcages mount behind AND in front of the seats. These are all made to order and to spec, based on what is needed for your particular race series/application. Their basic type yes, goes around the dash in the front. To get an idea where it mounts, on the driver side, the bar runs right behind the turnsignal stalk, down to the floor, just touching the dashboard where it curves underneath.

Last edited by Z1 Performance; Dec 22, 2009 at 01:57 PM.
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 08:19 AM
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Rickdogg - Don't look too far into it. I never said, nor do I think a Cusco/Safety21 cage is better than a "real" cage.



I simply said they are not garbage and they work exactly like they are supposed to.

I have seen with my own eyes a car flip at the track with a Cusco cage and it worked perfectly.
I have seen many other photo/video examples of Cusco/S21 equipped cars flip and they worked great.

My point here is...

Far too many people accuse these cages of being "junk" and suggest they are going to collapse if an accident ever occurs.

The fact is, this is just nonsense and I'm trying to stop the spread of false information to the community.


Enjoy your day.


To original poster - here are mine


They come in various lengths and materials.
Removal for road driving is very easy. All you would need is a 17mm wrench and a (i forget what number) hex key.

Last edited by Brian@VeilSide; Dec 22, 2009 at 11:28 AM.
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 12:49 PM
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Adam comes in to save the day yet again.

Brian, fair enough.
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 01:00 PM
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He could also look into the add-in bars.
They come as pipes and the joints. You could weld the "tabs" onto the Autopower cage and then you weld the joint parts to the bar at whatever desired position you want. This is probably the better route.
The adjustable door bars are nice because you can remove the entire things, but I don't think they are as safe because of the adjuster in the middle.


Like this. (my old car)

Last edited by Brian@VeilSide; Dec 22, 2009 at 01:01 PM.
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Old Dec 22, 2009 | 05:19 PM
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its been a while since a good quality informative thread appeared here... thank you all
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