Custom cage installation

[steve91tt]

I've been doing 1 or 2 track days a month for the past year in my 1971 240Z. Starting next month I plan to start bracket racing at our local track so in order to pass the tech inspection I need a cage, racing seats, harnesses etc. The car started as non-running barn find last April.

http://www.classiczcars.com/forums/showthread.php?42156-New-240Z-build&highlight=1971

Since then I've upgraded the suspension and added a Rebello L30 and an oil accumulator system.

I stripped the interior and rolled the car into the cage builder 2 weeks ago. Lots of good progress so far.

To my admittedly untrained eye, the bends look great and the bars are tucked up against the body nicely. The guy putting the cage together really has nice attention to detail. The floor mounts for the main supports are beautiful.

There is still a bunch of work to do but with any luck it will be back on the track at Texas World Speedway on March 3rd. Fingers crossed!

[d240zx2]

Lookin' good Steve.

[Marty Rogan]

It has come a long way and is looking really good. Don't forget to have a harness bar installed for both seats, if you intend to carry passengers.

I have the Ultra-Shield Aluminum seat and like it a lot.

Marty

[steve91tt]

The harness and dash bars are going in this week along with the rear hoop support. I went with the Cobra Monaco seat with Schroth harness. Hopefully that will keep my butt planted better than the 40 year old stock equipment has.

[jmortensen]

Do you have to pop the hood and open the accusump to activate it, then close and drive, then pop the hood again to close it before you turn the motor off? I understand that having a couple quarts of 200 degree oil in the cabin is less than ideal but having it in the engine compartment appears to be a bit of a hassle too.

I like the cage work, but I'll warn you that I had people tell me that my cage had to hit the floor to be legal. Stupid requirement, considering the relative strength of the rocker as compared to the floor, but that's what I was told, so I added little boxes underneath the tubes that connected to the floors.

[steve91tt]

The accusump is a bit of a pain but not too bad. I may put a remote electric valve on it in the future. I thought about mounting it in the cabin but I'd rather keep it as close to the oil filter as possible. I installed a 85 dB buzzer in the cabin that goes off when the oil pressure drops below 20psi. I've never heard it go off so I guess the system is doing its job. I'll talk to my cage guy about the floor mounts. Thanks for the heads up.

[jmortensen]

From what I've read the mechanical valve is the way to go on the Accusump. Something about the electrical one not reacting as fast. I believe I read about it on Canton's website.

[steve91tt]

I found this in the SCCA rule book...

Improved Touring, Showroom Stock, Spec Miata, B-Spec AND Touring classes–The roll cage must attach to the vehicle structure (floor pan/ rocker boxes/ sills) within the passenger compartment in a minimum of 6 points and a maximum of 8 points as specified in these rules.

I believe that means that cage mounts on the sills should be fine.

[Marty Rogan]

The harness and dash bars are going in this week along with the rear hoop support. I went with the Cobra Monaco seat with Schroth harness. Hopefully that will keep my butt planted better than the 40 year old stock equipment has.

A good race seat makes a huge difference. It's much better to be using your efforts to steer the car than to keep you butt in the seat. Saves on all those black and blue knees, from bracing yourself against the door.

[steve91tt]

Agreed, my left knee is usually bleeding after a day at the track with stock seats.

[John Coffey]

The cage mounting points do not have to hit the floor pan for SCCA but NASA tech might require it based on:

15.6.13 Mounting Points

The roll cage shall be mounted to the floor area of the car in six, seven, or eight points.

The cage shall not go through the firewall. The seventh and eighth points must attach to

the firewall or front fender wells. All cage attachment points must be mounted to plates

or a mounting box (plinth).

Generally its a good idea to tie the mounting plates into two different panels on the car.`Your cage builder makes a nice cage and the mounting plate he built will work just fine in a rollover. Below is only my opinion and not a criticism of the cage or the builder:

IMHO, I would extend the mounting plate on the rocker panel to the floor. This ties in an additional panel in the monocoque and may help with a side impact.

[Marty Rogan]

Are you putting the stock dash back in, or going with a fabricated dash? Are you going with door bars on the cage?