Welding Tips and Tricks

So I got a call from a gentleman about building a race car. We talked he told me what he wanted and sent me a copy of the rule book. After reviewing I decided why not it looked like fun. So here we go the start to the 24 hours of lemons impreza roll cage.

After getting the stock seat out and scraping the junk off the floor. And breaking out the tube bender. And 2 solid days of work things are taking shape. This is day 1

So after a lot of planning measuring more planning and reading the rules to make sure it complies with the rules. And here's day 2 the main cage is bent fit tacked now it's time to add all the braces support doors bars dash bar. So I can get the steering wheel out of the drivers lap.

Check out the Roadkill Youtube channel for how NOT to do 24 hours of lemons.

Yeah I have seen it. They just did the roadkill retreat from moscow that started near my house.

Nice work with the tubing bender.
What material is the main cage made of? 1.75" x 0.120" ?

Can I please ask a massively, massively stupid question?

(Before you slap me, bear in mind I am a motorcycle racer. We don't have roll cages... )

So, you bend and cut your tube, put it inside the car, tack it together...how do you finish a tube weld around the back where the panel steel gets in the way?

Okay. I can hear people all around the world now rolling around the floor laughing. Sorry...

MosquitoMoto wrote:Can I please ask a massively, massively stupid question?

(Before you slap me, bear in mind I am a motorcycle racer. We don't have roll cages... )

So, you bend and cut your tube, put it inside the car, tack it together...how do you finish a tube weld around the back where the panel steel gets in the way?

Okay. I can hear people all around the world now rolling around the floor laughing. Sorry...

Lemons.

Cut any hole you need. You're not getting sponsored by Tide and Google...

Steve S

Otto Nobedder wrote:

MosquitoMoto wrote:Can I please ask a massively, massively stupid question?

(Before you slap me, bear in mind I am a motorcycle racer. We don't have roll cages... )

So, you bend and cut your tube, put it inside the car, tack it together...how do you finish a tube weld around the back where the panel steel gets in the way?

Okay. I can hear people all around the world now rolling around the floor laughing. Sorry...

Lemons.

Cut any hole you need. You're not getting sponsored by Tide and Google...

Steve S

Okay.

How about non-lemons where chopping up panels isn't an option?

MosquitoMoto wrote:Can I please ask a massively, massively stupid question?

(Before you slap me, bear in mind I am a motorcycle racer. We don't have roll cages... )

So, you bend and cut your tube, put it inside the car, tack it together...how do you finish a tube weld around the back where the panel steel gets in the way?

Okay. I can hear people all around the world now rolling around the floor laughing. Sorry...

The only stupid question is the one you don't ask. The way I do it is Jack the car up and put it on stands. Them take the plasma cutter and cut the floor in a small square under the tube. This will allow the cage to drop down then I weld all the seems and push the cage back up weld the floor back up then I place my floor plates sunder the cage and weld them to the floor and the cage to that.

And I'm a bike guy also. I'm pretty much into anything with a motor. This is the last bike I rebuilt. My 1995 cbr900rr with a lot of work and mods.

Okay.

How about non-lemons where chopping up panels isn't an option?[/quote]


Otto is right but I still can't bring myself to do it that way. Lemons is a cheap form of racing. But I treat everybuild the same no matter what. You might be aloud to do it that way but I still do it the way I explained.

Bill w wrote:Okay.

How about non-lemons where chopping up panels isn't an option?

Otto is right but I still can't bring myself to do it that way. Lemons is a cheap form of racing. But I treat everybuild the same no matter what. You might be aloud to do it that way but I still do it the way I explained.[/quote]
Hey Bill...thats' pretty ingenious...does everyone do it your way or did you think that up? I have never done a cage and don't know if I would have thought of that if I did have to do one. I try to learn something new every day and I just did

No I actually had seen this done on a jeep xj years ago. And thought that was a good idea till I had to do one in an xj myself and decided to do it different.

But with an scca car you have to fallow rules and the only way to fallow these rules is to do it this way. Or cut a hole in the roof. And I'm not into that. Remember anytime you take on a project like this you have got to be as professional. This has to pass an inspection and keep the driver safe. Your taking on a big responsibility with a project like this.

This is the pic of the jeep cage I did. No holes in the floor little tight welding but it was built in 3 sections then installed back into the jeep already painted I just had to clean up where I was welding. Then I added the support tubes after it was installed. And it was done.

Bill w wrote:But with an scca car you have to fallow rules and the only way to fallow these rules is to do it this way.

This applies to most sanctioned/regulated race classes.

The organisers or sanctioning body (eg. FIA in europe) usually have quite specific rules about the type of cage/cell and how it has to be constructed and installed in a car/shell for this class.

These rules tends to also specify what can and can not be cut/welded/altered on the original shell of the car.

Fitting these cages/cells while correctly following the regulations set can get quite 'interesting' especially as in various cases the cages/cells can not be 'self built' but you have to buy the cage partially assembled and are only allowed to install it and finish it up.

No modifications or changes in these cases are allowed to the cage or the approval is voided making the car no longer acceptable for the class it needs to compete in. Which was kinda the point of fitting the cage

Bye, Arno.

The only thing worse than building a cage, is painting it lol

Jim FLinchbaugh wrote:The only thing worse than building a cage, is painting it lol

I can imagine, I hate painting to begin with.

Seeing this cage reminded me of the movie Death Proof

"Death Proof is a 2007 American exploitation film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It stars Kurt Russell as a stuntman who murders young women in staged car accidents using his "death-proof" stunt car."

Little update I had to take a little over a week off for some other things. I will have the done by Saturday also have a couple of welds to repair machine started acting funny. Nothing major but I don't like the look of the weld.so here is another pic. Also have a few more tubes to put in. But you guys get the idea.

This one is complete and suppose to be on the track this weekend. But I haven't talked to the owner yet to see if it made it. Last I know it was at the tuner but having problems.

Painted pic

Bill w wrote:Painted pic

with all the traffic here in FL I could use that setup

Rear shot

Shot of the cage before it was completely painted and everything put back in.

LtBadd wrote:

Bill w wrote:Painted pic

with all the traffic here in FL I could use that setup

That's for the guys that just won't move...

LtBadd wrote:

Bill w wrote:Painted pic

with all the traffic here in FL I could use that setup

Id rather have one of these.