Mk1 Golf Multi-point step-by-step Weld-in Rollcage installation ** PIC HEAVY! **

Only just had chance to read through this thread Gurds. Fantastic!!!!

Congrats to both you and Chris for the hard work on this one. You can see why CC charge a premium for installation, when they have already done all the hard work and built up the knowledge required to make the process as fast as possible.

Cant wait to see it.

 

wow what a thread , great work

 

i have to agree this is a great thread and sheds alot of light on how involved a cage install is an how much effort is required to do it properly and neatly.

well done guys

 

Great write up, something I've wanted to do for a while. Don't know if the thread helps me achieve this by being such an excellent guide - or hinders by demonstrating the amount of work involved!

 

excellent read and final result , full weld ins are a work of art
bravo, i doth my cap

 

Good Work, Should be made a Sticky, As a How to fit Custom Cages kits.

I put a Custom Cages kit in my mk2 about a month ago. was hard work and took long enough to do without taking pics for a thread.
If only you'd done it a few months earlier, would have saved me hours having to work out how to fit the damm thing.

For anybody who's thinking of doing a mk2 kit:
You wont go far wrong following the procedure shown here, as the cage is pretty much the same.

Here's some other issues / differances with the mk2 kit:

The foot plates supplied are designed for the tubes to be profiled to sit half on the inner sill which can take ages to get right.

The main hoop is not only tight but is also too tall so expect to have to cut a few inches off the bottom along with attacking the B-Posts with a hammer.

If you fit the main hoop as high as possible (with no sunroof tray) then the a post bars may come up short, so youll need to build a box for them to sit on once cut off at inner sill height.

The A post bars seem to be bent slightly too much on its two bends, so the lower part (between dash bar and floor) doesnt sit verticaly (kicks towards the back at the bottom), I had force the bar back forwards to get it straight and make the door bars fit.

Hope that helps anyone whos thinking of fitting a kit.

 

This should definately be a sticky. Great write up & pics.

After seeing this I cut the windows in my inner wings & welded the bits round the back of the bars that the 'custom cages certifed' welder missed!

 

Stickied.

 

Gud un Gurds!

 

Awsome write up mate!

 

I never actually got round to saying, 'Glad you liked it folks'. I really do hope it helps out others when attempting similar.

Glad it helped you out Ali

Gurds

 

Very nice documentation. I need to do the same for my Mk2 that I'm building for road racing over here across the pond.

 

It appears I haven`t commented on this thread before !

I have read it, several times. We will be fitting a CC 6-point into Matt`s E36 over the winter, so this really has been invaluable. I know how much time taking photos adds to these jobs so MANY thanks for doing so Gurds

 

No problem Nige. I had a hell of a lot of help from Chris Eyre which included the job of photographer. There are so many details that get forgotten during a write up and the extra effort to take those vital snaps pays off as you well know with your documentation of your work.

The difference the cage made was night and day. I'm sure you and Matt are going to enjoy doing the e36.


Gurds

 

We certainly have !

I`ll add a few photos here that are relevant to most cage installed. If you don`t have the `box` to lift the feet off the floor, access to be able to get to the top of the weld is almost impossible. Hope that`s OK.


We`d spent quite some time looking at cages and choosing the best compromise between weight and safety. Its tempting to go for a full multipoint, turret triangulation and multiple bars, but the whole project has been about performance on a budget. Adding more weight than needed didn`t really follow that thought process. Having to move the fusebox, ECU etc means a lot more work on an E36.

Apologies about some of the photos being out of sequence, I only realised we hadn`t taken them when it came to typing this up.


As the cage would sit on the floor, we hole-sawed into the floor (after checking nothing was on the underneath !). This allowed us to lower the cage through the floor to get full access to weld around the tubes.


Once everything was tacked in place, the feet were removed and the cage lowered so we could weld the top.





The feet of the cage were pulled away from the shell with ratchet straps so we could weld round the back of the doorbars.


The B Hoop was cut vertically to allow a much longer weld, along the height of the tube in the photo below. It`s also welded around the top, where you can still see the full circle of the tube. As always, welding near seams is a pain, the seam sealer starts bubbling out when hot, affecting the weld


We were able to get a weld all the way around the tube where it sat onto the sill & 3mm plate


We are able to tie the cage to the shell easily.


A-Pillar bars fitted well, needed a little modification to the inner roof skin above the doors to be able to get a close fit. ie, a hammer and angle grinder...


Rear footplates were fitted as close to the top-mount as possible to help to strengthen the suspension pickup.


Laying on my back meant I could get a nice long bead on the underside of the tube


Once the A pillar footplate was in position, it was welded to the floor and the tube welded to the plate. (sown here after first coat of etch primer)


Car masked and etch-primered after much prep, including rubbing down the entire interior, cleaning off the weld `splatter`, wrapping the wiring loom and then panel-wipe everywhere.


Welded to the A-Pillar


We added a single roof bar rather than a diagonal. This IS allowed in the blue book and means it won`t be in the way of a helmet. I`ve sat in E36`s with this configuration and a diagonal and preferred the single straight bar.


Door bars with added `Y` to protect the hip area, but still give easy access. If we`d triangulated to the turrets, these would have been `X` bars to tie it together, but the missing X isn`t needed on our setup.


Cage needs another coat of primer then we can paint the interior. Pretty pleased with how its going, still need to get a move on, Donington is only a month away.

Very happy with the install, these things take time and several of the tubes needed the profile `tweaking`. The cage is as close to the shell as we could possible do it.

 

Just had a read of this and I do remember when this part was fitted and the shear determination of Gurds to get it finished right to the very end, including the effort to tidy up with a bit presentation.

Threads like these make this place.

I will share this link to the Facebook audience.

 

Thread restoration!

Since the advent of Photobucket killing off pics for money, I have managed to re-host nearly all the pictures and have managed to bring the thread back to life! Hope it can be of use once again.

Regards,

Gurds

 

Excellent work dude!

Glad to see folks still using the forum.

You are showing me up!

The thread was well received this morning on our Club GTI FB group page, when I shared some of it's highlights.

Thanks for selflessly bringing it back alive again.



Now where is that "Der Ankor" thread I never finished