Just bought a new wire-feed! Woohoo! Ought to be fun--after all I have heard about their ease of use.... Haven't welded for 15 years since academy shop and all we learned was acetylene brazing and welding and arc (stick) welding. So, this will be interesting...... Need to clear up some floorpan issues and then start building some frame stiffeners/cage items. (yes, I know I need a notcher and a bender and it is a ton of work and is cheaper to buy one and...........) Anyways....

A. What is the smallest, thinnest pipe size for cages allowed? I assume it only needs to be mild steel and I want the smallest diameter possible and naturally the lightest. I'm sure wall thickness and diameter is subjective or relationary to each other but imagine it all weighs the same/foot?

B. If you have a home-made cage and applied for or ever came under the scrutiny of governing bodies, some sort of testing would be performed?

C. Is there a minimum sole plate size/thickness? I have observed quite a few custom set-ups and will obviously build and tie it in a good as possible, but just want to make sure I don't break any minimums I don't know about.

I searched around a bit but only came up with "exhaust pipe size".

steve77

I think the smallest diameter allowed in an SCCA sanctioned even for your car would be 1 1/2 inch with a wall thickness of .120 if I remember right.. don't have the books here anymore so I'd have to do some digging... They will not allow mild steel tubing unless it is DOM tubing...

The mounting plates can be fairly free, up to a maximum of 100 square inches. Most times I think they are about the same thickness as the tubing they are mounted to for ease of welding.....

Yes, most sanctioning bodies will test them, you'll have to drill a hole in the tubing so they can measure the wall thickness.

Originally posted by 2ManyZs

even for your car

What's THAT supposed to mean?

steve77

Just checking to see if you were paying attention....

Actually I deleted my first sentence and forgot to delete the even ... my bad.....:stupid:

If first put, for SCCA sanctioned events and even NASA and most other sanctioning bodies require a certain size minimum according to your cars weight.....

So, you'll have to determine what you will be running as far as which sanctioning body you'll run with the most, then determine your cars minimum weight and go with whatever diameter/thickness they require.

As the diameter goes up, the wall thickness usually goes down incrementally with the change in diameter..

That better?:beard:

I just purchased 100 feet of DOM (Drawn Over Mandrel) tubing at 1.5" diameter and .120 wall thickness for my EP car. I could (if I read the GCR correctly) gotten away with .095 wall at 1.5". Oh well. Anyway, ITS and EP rules state that a 240Z can run 1.5" at .095 wall tubing (because of the weight)

I know this is an old post, but I've been AWOL...

Don't forget to consider the number of mounting points for the cage. The class in which you choose to race may have rules regarding the maximum number.

SCCA ITS for example limits the mounting point total to 6, with 2 optional forward bars for extra foot protection.

Lastly, for your safety, please make sure you are getting enough penetration with your welds. A roll cage with cold welds will do more harm than good!

SAFETY FIRST!