okk so im on the hunt for a cage. cheapest one ive found so far is an OMP one at 330 including door bars. however ive just seen a picture of one and im not sure i like now im not sure if its just not nicely fitted or is genuinely a bad fit. only problem ive heard with OMP cages before is the floor plates are designed by stevie wonder, but i dont mind binning them and making my own....
I think OMP are fairly 'cost effective'. Check out Safety Devices also. There are other alternatives (Weichers) but they don't have good UK supplier support, so you in for a load of games getting hold of the things. GVK ran a good thread on putting an SD cage in a Mk2 - with a supplier recommendation also.
Ive got an old Mk2 OMP one- its ok, yeh the foot plates- particually on the B pillar are not as well designed as on an SD cage- which sits futher back & is IMHO a better design as its futher from your head if you are tall. I think the SD jounts for the door bars & front to rear cage comections are far better than OMP tho, double bolted & look far safer- & thats the method professional race car cage builders like Andy Robinsons make too. Tho the single bolt type is FIA approved i guess, so cant be that bad. But OMP are designed for non sunroof cars so mine (when Barney had it) was modifeid to fit Ive just added a proper harness bar beefed up the welds on the door bar attatchments & sprayed it too Oddly tho the diagonal on mine goes the other way from that pic, hmm just looking at that spare wheel well is that image reversed? or is it a Mk1?
other companies worth considering are 2 UK companies http://www.customcages.co.uk/ http://www.rollcentre.co.uk/ I went for custom cage in my 205 Sean
SD 6pt bolt-in is fine, but I wish I'd got a weld-in one now. Also, mine is for a sunroof shell, but I've since ground out the whole sunroof assembly & rivetted an alloy plate to the roof, so the cage isn't as close to the roof as it should be now. Should really remove, sell, refit new one, but just can't be a**ed.
if youd have got a weld in one youd have had to take the roof skin or the sills off to fit it. i have emailed Rollcentre to see if they can help. Custom Cages dont list an off the shelf one for my car.
i've just paid 900 for a custom spec weld in cage for my mk1, double door bars, lots of diagonals, stiched to a,b and c pillars. I'll get some pics up when its done. It works out good value for money if you can't weld like me, and you want something specific (like lowered door diagonals cos i'm a fatty) Ro
To get a weld in fitted, it's all about technique. No roof removal this side of WRC teams. Back half first, then front I believe.
yeh but if you do that, how do you weld the top of the cage to the main hoop all the way round? ive seen alot that are only half welded in the corners. anyway, i'll see what rollcentre have got to say, before i conteplate spending more on a weichers or time making an OMP one fit
You can do most of it, since you've got access from the door aperture and side windows. The hardest one to finish is the A-pillar to B-pillar one across the roof. Anyway, that's what they do.
roof is coming off mine to weld the top of the cage. also because i am going to fit an alloy roof skin. chris is right with the full weld in cages. main hoop floor mounts then work out position of front plates. get main hoop in then get front legs in and build it from there. if a cage and car is to be used for competition the weld must be fully welded or it could fail scrutineering. there's many a pit story told of cuting roofs off to weld up sections of cage found by scrutineers. best welds are achieved by tig weld but mig is generally used as it's a bit easier/cheaper to get hold of a welder. a tig torch is generally easier to get into the hard to reach areas of the cage. whatever you do get the best you can afford!
