Roll Bar/Cage Kit?

[Badsunbird]

Okay Everyone,
Need a little feedback here, I am getting ready to order my roll bar/cage kit and want to know who has the best designed kit and "bang for the buck" kit on the market? So far my choices have been Jeg's, Summit, S&W Race Cars, and Competition Engineering. Am I forgetting anyone or is there another manufacturer that is superior to the ones that I have listed at a comparable price as well?
As far as whether I am going with an 8 or 10 point, I'm not quite sure. Let me get this correct though; As long as I have a stock/OEM firewall and floor and do not run faster than 135 mph or 9.99 e.t., I can run a 8 point cage. But if I have a modified firewall or floor and/or run faster than 135 mph or 10.99 I have to have a 10 point cage?
Maybe I should just buy the 10 point cage and then I won't have to worry about any of that!
Help me out here a little Everyone, let me know "Watz Up"! Let me know what your experiences were/are and some of the Pro's & Con's of this modification.

BadSunbird

[goldboattail455]

This should be a good resource, I too need to know who manufactures the best cage kit.

http://www.nhra.com/contacts/tech_faq.html Will tell you what you need for what speeds your running. Im planning on an 8pt cage for my car. That will be good to 8.50 seconds. However Im modifiying my firewall so I a full roll cage is required beginning at 10.99. Im not sure how fast my combo will be.

What drivetrain are you planning for your sunbird?

[Badsunbird]

Hey Thanks,
I do have that article and have went over it many times, and think that I have the "gist" of everything stated, but different interpretations from different people make it rather confusing sometimes!
I just basically want to make sure that " I " am understanding EVERYTHING correctly, before I make a costly mistake!
"Order It Once, Get It Right The First Time" !

To start out with I am just going to run the stock 10 bolt with 3.73 gears with a mini-spool, TH350 in front of it and a 2700-3000 stall converter. I do however have a 28 1/2" wide Mopar 8 3/4" narrowed rearend for when I "back-half" the car a couple years down the road. I Will probably switch over to a 2 speed PG then and jump up to a 5000 rpm stall converter with either 4.11 or 4.56 gears. Depends on how well the motor likes it.

BadSunbird

[Sirshredalot]

Competition engineering is a good company that makes a good product.

I got my cage from them and even after being gouged by the local speed shop i felt that the price was reasonable.

Mine was an 8 point cage....But I have not installed nor do i own it anymore...It was canibalized for another project but seemed to be very good quality.

God bless
-Shred

[Badsunbird]

Thanks Shred,

So how about this,

Has anyone installed one of these roll bar/cage kits from any of the above manufacturers/suppliers? If so, how was the installation, and were there any problems involved? Are the kits pretty straight forward & simple? (Did it fit together well?)

BadSunbird

[DEMON Precision]

s&w , they also make a rear frame kit as well

[heinz057]

i used the s&w kit( then srd) many years ago. check out car in my garage section. all these kits need to be fitted . a little cutting and grinding is required

[Sirshredalot]

I never installed my C/E cage, but I did test fit it a few times and it was a very snug fit....in a good way.

All the bars needed to be trimmed a bit because they give you a little extra material to work with. It was made in such a way that you could make the cage so snug in the car that youd never see it from the outside and hardly notice it (hardly) from the inside.

It came with a full gusset kit as well as all the mounting plates for the down bars and main hoop.

Other than that all i would have had to do was weld it in while it was test fitted but the welding is probably the easier part of it.

God bless
-Shred

[Stivan]

I'm working on my fith Monza right now. . ..all Drag Cars. I have tried Alston. . . .it was OK, but had to do a lot of hand to hand combat...

I tried a Jegster kit. . . .it was terrible. . . nothing fit!!

I built a Vega Wagon, the customer bought a Comp Kit. . . was easy to work with, but they sent me the wrong front hoop. . . took a lot of time for them to make it right. . . However, all the other stuff that they sell, like rear suspension stuff, is "top notch". . . First Class. . . . I would highly recommend them.

The last two. . . .. I bought me a High $$$ tubing bender. . . . and that, for me, is the only way to go. . .. However, I also found, that you can "buy" a kit for a lot less than you can build one. Especially chromoly. . . . ..

That's the way I've found it so far. . . .. .

[Badsunbird]

Thanks Everyone for all the info.,

I have contacted Alston Racing, Competition Engineering about 8 point roll bar kits. Alston is a little high priced and their freight charges are unbelievably steep, not to mention C.O.D., Competition Engineering will not sell to me direct, I have to go through one of their dealers and the closest one is 150 miles away, Bummer! And after the statement that was made about the Jeg's kit, well I'm leaning away from them as well now.
I think that I am going to go with the S&W kit, It is in my price range and the shipping is fairly reasonable also. I think that as long as I take my time and pre-fit everything to my liking and according to the rules, it will go as well as any.
One thing I didn't hear, was if anybody had tried using the kit that Summit sells. That was also another choice on my list of suppliers. I'm still going to do a little more research into this, so I'm not actually dead set on anything yet, but I am narrowing it down.
Thanks Again, would still like to hear from someone who may have possibly used the Summit kit if there is anyone out there.

BadSunbird

[custom101]

Hello everyone.

I have done lots of rollcages, both moly and mild steel.

For a person that has basic welding equipment, and a decent tubing notcher this is not a big deal.

Most chassis shops will make you a cage to your measurements, the first ones I did before I started making my own was to have Art Morrison bend them up to my measurements, Art Morrison and others will send you a form where you fill in the information.

Depending on where you are located, there are many good chassis shops around the US.

If you are near PA, contact Vanishing point racecars, they will do this for you and they are an outstanding company with competitive prices.

http://www.vpracecars.com/

http://www.artmorrison.com/

Hope this helps.

Jon

[76Nomad]

I was looking at the kit on Summit's website and that is the Competition Engineering. From what I am reading here that is what I will go with. Not too badly priced either.

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetai ... toview=sku

[BigTruckDriver]

What am I missing here why is the price cheap? http://www.go-fast-parts.com/5709255.html

Who makes a 1 5/8" x .118 cage? Most I see are .134

[Fasterthansome]

Check shipping charges............

Most tubing in cage kits are thicker than rules require so it will not 'thin' to less than .118" anywhere, either from manufacturing or bending.

[Badsunbird]

Alston Racing contacted me again this week and changed their shipping rates on the roll bar kit that I had inquired about. At a base cost of $195.00 for the kit, they now say that they can ship it via UPS at a cost of $44.00 verses the $118.00 by truck that they had quoted me before. That is also to my door and not a "pick up at terminal" as before. In comparison to Jegs & Summit that makes their price very comparable and worth a second look. After looking at Caveman's "73 Vega Roll Cage" tread, the kit from Jegs looks to be a quality product as well. I myself like the curved cross bar design because I am of tall stature also. I don't think that I would have to move the main hoop back as much as he did to achieve the proper seat position that I would need.
Now the question for me is whether or not the Alston & C/E kits come with a curved cross bar also. That would just make a few more things a little easier for final ride positioning. I have seen several other racers with the curved cross bar in their cars also, so I know that it is NHRA and IHRA legal.
I think that most of the kits that are on the market out there are of good quality and craftsmanship. It just comes down to the installer and his skills as to how well it fits and final installation quality. If your welding and Metal fabricating skills are not up to par, than chances are you should let someone else that has a little more experience perform the installation to insure that it will pass tech and perform its
safety and security measures properly.

I guess that if I had my eyes open when I was looking at the ad in Summit I to would have noticed that it was a C/E kit!
"Way To Go Dumb A@#"


BadSunbird