Vega roll cage kit

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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby overkillrc » Tue Dec 07, 2010 9:10 pm

LL8 Vega GT wrote:I have the 6x6 plates welded to the rockers, I am going to offset the tubes enough from the kick plate like you said fir welding clearancee, it creates a weird notch but its about my only option for my build.

I agree, the saw is overpriced, but you know in a couple years it will be like $300 when all is said and done, and then it will be worth it lol. It is a variable speed band saw which is nice for cutting various materials and I am sure contributes to the price. besides HEM is proud of their stuff anyway :rolleyes:


yea when i do floor plates i split it (if i can) between the rocker and the floor. most of the cars i do the tubes are welded to tubes under the floor so there are no floor plates.
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby 80 MONZTA » Wed Dec 08, 2010 2:35 am

Speaking of saws, I bought a Harbor Freight variable speed porta-band saw, only 59.99 with the 20% off coupon. From reading up on them, first thing to do is take off the cheapo blade that comes with it, unless you are only cutting wood, then just use the cheapo. Buy the three pack of name-brand blades for 19.99 when you buy the saw (the ones I got are Morse brand). While you are in there changing the blade, take off both the wheels and grease up the drive gear and center bearings. I had to build a stand so I can cut small parts out for my other hobby in the background, scratchbuilding a copy of a Stevens Marksman single shot 22 rifle. I built the stand to mount it verticaly with only two screws holding it in place, so it can easily be portable again. I still need to make a larger table for the work piece to rest on. Just today (first time using saw) I cut some 1" x 2" solid steel, 1 cut off piece can be seen in the foreground of pic. Wow, did it cut nice.
band saw.jpg

With it mounted on a bench like that, it is nice to lock the switch in the on position and use one of those foot switches to turn it on and off with. Funny, the box for that foot switch is in background sitting on the Morse blade box, with the cheapo blade around it. :lol:
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby overkillrc » Wed Dec 08, 2010 12:15 pm

80 MONZTA wrote:Speaking of saws, I bought a Harbor Freight variable speed porta-band saw, only 59.99 with the 20% off coupon. From reading up on them, first thing to do is take off the cheapo blade that comes with it, unless you are only cutting wood, then just use the cheapo. Buy the three pack of name-brand blades for 19.99 when you buy the saw (the ones I got are Morse brand). While you are in there changing the blade, take off both the wheels and grease up the drive gear and center bearings. I had to build a stand so I can cut small parts out for my other hobby in the background, scratchbuilding a copy of a Stevens Marksman single shot 22 rifle. I built the stand to mount it verticaly with only two screws holding it in place, so it can easily be portable again. I still need to make a larger table for the work piece to rest on. Just today (first time using saw) I cut some 1" x 2" solid steel, 1 cut off piece can be seen in the foreground of pic. Wow, did it cut nice.
band saw.jpg

With it mounted on a bench like that, it is nice to lock the switch in the on position and use one of those foot switches to turn it on and off with. Funny, the box for that foot switch is in background sitting on the Morse blade box, with the cheapo blade around it. :lol:


if your cutting metal get bimetal blades for sure.
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby 80 MONZTA » Wed Dec 08, 2010 1:31 pm

overkillrc wrote:if your cutting metal get bimetal blades for sure.

That's right, I have bi-metal 10/14 tpi for cutting the thicker stuff, still looking for higher tpi for some thinner steel I need to cut soon. :th:
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby LL8 Vega GT » Thu Dec 09, 2010 4:44 pm

MonzaTA,
Thanks for sharing this tip, i love the budget tool builds like this I may have to try this out. Maybe you could rig this up with a pivot and make a chopsaw with it.... you could probably compete with HEM and sell it for $500 lol
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby LL8 Vega GT » Wed Dec 15, 2010 11:41 pm

OK guys, i have the cage in to the point I am ready to start cutting the front off (after all the delays), I am real happy with how it is turning out so far, it took a bit but i feel i have a tight fit on the cage...... megavega sent me a link to the pics of the brown vega so I have an idea of how I attack it. There are some gray areas for me so i think i will cut the minimum and then work from there once everything is out of the way.

I have a question for you guys who have done this, how did you reference the front wheel centerline after the front end was gone?
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby megavega » Thu Dec 16, 2010 2:35 am

and wheres the pics?????? no more information without sharin pics....lol :D

are you building the car on a table? if so, you can simply just place a crosstube(box tubing) on the table,drop a plumbob down to table from spindle. tack weld the crosstube to table and then using a carpenters square against the tube stop, you can referance the wheel centerline anytime needed.

if your not building it on a table you can also do this on the floor, but use spray paint on the side of a peice of tubing to give a straight line on the floor, not nearly as accurate but will get you by in a pinch. you can also find a referance point on the car to double check, somewhere on the rockerpanle or whatever, place a tack welded nut,peice of metal to measure from.

obviously you cant move the car during this process or after till you have your front frame rails on and squared.
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby overkillrc » Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:09 pm

is the rearend still in the car? if so mark the rear axle centerline on the floor and measure from there forward whatever your wheelbase is (96" for H-bodies isn't it?) thats if you already have the front suspension removed. whenever i do a car where i'm removing any suspension stuff (cutting it off anyway) i put tape above the rear axle centerline on the 1/4 panel and mark it so no matter what i will have a reference point to work from.
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby LL8 Vega GT » Thu Dec 16, 2010 6:18 pm

LOL, there is nothing interesting yet to look at on the car, It looks like every other vega out there, but once there is something to look at I promise I will surely post it up so everybody can laugh at my rookie handy work. :oops:

Thanks for the tips, I will be doing this on the good ol' cold garage floor ;) Due to space constraint I will have to move the car after I remove the front. So I am thinking I will take a few measurements, I will try to reference the rear clip somewhere and the rear axle. I like the idea to use a reference off the rocker. Once I move the car re-establish the centerline the best I can.

Overkill, the rear suspension is done, it is a standard ford 9 and 4 link with a wishbone and an anti-roll, I finished that up for the most part before starting on the cage. just need some finish welding I stretched the fenders in a similar fashion to what you are doing on that blue car.

I assume you guys pull some cross car dimensions to check for square when installing front clip??
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby overkillrc » Sat Dec 18, 2010 2:34 am

figure out your rear axle centerline and mark it on the floor then take a plumb bob hand it from the 1/4 panel and mark your rear axle centerline there so atleast that way if you have to move the car you can quickly re establish you axle to centerline on the froor to measure from. if you have you rearend square measure from there forward and set your front centerline off of that.
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby LL8 Vega GT » Sun Dec 19, 2010 5:54 pm

Well, its official, the vega got the nose job.... and boy is that thing heavy!! all the suspension/nose weight reduction should account for the weight of the roll cage :lol:
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby overkillrc » Sun Dec 19, 2010 8:32 pm

LL8 Vega GT wrote:Well, its official, the vega got the nose job.... and boy is that thing heavy!! all the suspension/nose weight reduction should account for the weight of the roll cage :lol:



and still..........................................no pics.......WTH?......LOL
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Re: Vega roll cage kit

Postby LL8 Vega GT » Sun Dec 19, 2010 9:53 pm

Now there is really nothing to see :lol: ..... looks like every other vega once all the h-body transgressions are removed ha!
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