I have not seen the autopower cage but if you are going to buy a kit why not buy one of the nice ones. Custom Cages in the UK sells them and will ship them to you. I was surprised how cheap getting a roll cage shipped from England was. I have seen one of these cages in a focus and it was awesome.

http://www.customcages.co.uk/

 

I've bought 2 roll bars (Honda CRX/ Spitfire) and a cage (Mustang LX) from AutoPower. I had a AutoPower bolt-in in a Mustang years ago. We used the slip joints and fill welded all the holes. I was concerned about my ability to weld all the way around the joints without setting the car on fire. Bolted it all together, then took out bolts one at a time and welded up the holes and welded to base plates. (SCCA GCR- general competition rules- has approved way to do this) Worked great, in fact the wife crashed tested it into a powerpole at the Beech Mountain Hillclimb. Held up great. Car was totaled- rippled all the way back to the c pillar. She was fine, save for belt burns. Oh, the kicker bars to wheelwell are a REALLY good idea. with 10" square plates, she managed to poke one through the floorboard from the force of the impact. Saved her some major grief to her legs, I'm sure. The tunnel was even rippled and firewall bent back.

 

I've bought 2 roll bars (Honda CRX/ Spitfire) and a cage (Mustang LX) from AutoPower. I had a AutoPower bolt-in in a Mustang years ago. We used the slip joints and fill welded all the holes. I was concerned about my ability to weld all the way around the joints without setting the car on fire. Bolted it all together, then took out bolts one at a time and welded up the holes and welded to base plates. (SCCA GCR- general competition rules- has approved way to do this) Worked great, in fact the wife crashed tested it into a powerpole at the Beech Mountain Hillclimb. Held up great. Car was totaled- rippled all the way back to the c pillar. She was fine, save for belt burns. Oh, the kicker bars to wheelwell are a REALLY good idea. with 10" square plates, she managed to poke one through the floorboard from the force of the impact. Saved her some major grief to her legs, I'm sure. The tunnel was even rippled and firewall bent back.

Thats a good story as I just added a full autopower to my car! In the case of the Fox the handling was much better! Worth the weight many times over

 

What is the price difference between the 2 cages?

I would opt for the WRC approved Custom Cages, UK, but I'm not sure how much more they are.

Aren't there any local welders in Idaho who could help you out? I know there has to be a race shop somewhere up there.

 

What is the price difference between the 2 cages?

I would opt for the WRC approved Custom Cages, UK, but I'm not sure how much more they are.

Aren't there any local welders in Idaho who could help you out? I know there has to be a race shop somewhere up there.

The welding part isn't the problem, I've been welding for 13 years so I've got that covered.
It's the problem of having a shop with a mandrel bender. There is 1 in town but their an off road shop and pretty much told me to kick rocks.
I just figured the U-Weld kit would allow me to get a nice, tight fit but I may be wrong :dunno:

 

Thats a good story as I just added a full autopower to my car! In the case of the Fox the handling was much better! Worth the weight many times over

This makes me want to put the front half of my Autopower cage in too bad i have to drive my car everyday

 

Can't really see the cage in this, but you get the idea. I like AutoPower stuff.

 

Wow thats a mess. Sounds like it did the job though.

 

This makes me want to put the front half of my Autopower cage in too bad i have to drive my car everyday

I daily drove my car with the cage in it... once she is running again I will do the same again... safety foam is your friend...

 

Just make sure you use the good ($$$) stuff around the head area if you do that though.

We'd like to keep you around.

 

I've been talking to a company called Kirk Racing Products the past couple of days. They made a bolt in cage for my buddies Jetta and it's an excellent piece.
They claim they've made a full rally spec cage for a gutted ZX3 so all I need to do is tell them what specs I want and they'll go from there.
Has anyone had any experience with KRP ??
Also what specs should I choose? For Time Attack, Pro Solo, Autox, and hopefully Circuit someday :dunno:

 

Make sure you read the rule book before going with a "rally spec" cage. The rally rule book is a lot more lenient when to comes to extra bars and attachment points. example, most road race cars have 6-8 attachment points. My cage has 14 - 16 and it goes up if you count bars that are stitch welded to body over their entire length. So always check the rules for the sanctioning body you want to run it before you make your purchase. Having to redo a cage would be a major pain in the butt.

The people I know that used the custom cages kits were very happy with easy of assembly. The fit to the body shell is great. Plus they are FIA certified cages so you can race internationally if you want :lol:

Cheers,
Andrew

 

I understand. I won't go with the exact rally spec cage they have already built, but make modifications and alterations to it to suit my needs

 

Any suggestions or drawings of what I should order?? I was thinking something like this....
http://forums.focaljet.com/rbr-focus-crew/512549-what-heck-another-update.html?highlight=update

Figured can't go wrong with such a work of art :thumbup:

 

You need to look at your sanctioning body's rule book and follow their diagram.

 

Kirk used to race with us, but sold out to a larger group. Kirk Racing Products is in Birmingham, Alabama and do great work, BUT get a rule book (check out SCCA.org club racing at top, then General Competition Rules- you want to start at page 88 -before you spent the big bucks (KRP ain't cheap). Shipping from San Diego (Autopower/ Pegasus/ I/O Port, etc) has got to be less for you. I have a buddy who shall remain nameless, but has worked in the racing industry for years, that bought a NASA car that was NO WHERE near SCCA legal, Not even sure it was NASA legal. You could see the tubing was too small from 10 feet away. Lotsa of work in it and it looked good. Petty bar and all. Just TOO small. Ended up the car wasn't such a bargain after he had to spend a couple of thousand more on a real cage.You can have any number of bars, but only 8 contact points with the body. No seamed to pillars, etc.

 

here, SCCA home page sucks now.
http://www.scca.org/documents/Club Rules/SportingRegulations.pdf
Page 88. Like I said KRP has all this information.

 

The welding part isn't the problem, I've been welding for 13 years so I've got that covered.
It's the problem of having a shop with a mandrel bender. There is 1 in town but their an off road shop and pretty much told me to kick rocks.
I just figured the U-Weld kit would allow me to get a nice, tight fit but I may be wrong :dunno:

Weird a business turned down money and a chance to try something new. Whatever.

I'll have to swing by Kirk Racing Products next time I'm home in Birmingham.

Good luck with the cage install! You'll be the premiere Focus cage installer in Idaho Falls!

 

Well I found a local shop that has built a ton of cages. Mostly for off road use but he has built a few SCCA compliant cages for some VW's and Honda's. He is also going to let me help in the process to save some money and so I can learn a thing or two.

Now I just need to decide what type of door bars to go with :lol: Any suggestions ??

Another question though. I looked in the rulebook and didn't see anything about this. For the front of the cage where it comes down along the A pillars and down to the floor is it legal to build a "box" to place the bar up on the rocker panel ??

The way the tube routes between the door and the dash has it hitting the step up in the rocker instead of the floor.

 

I've been reading on the SCCA rulebook for a while now and I'm not able to find where it states which class the Focus belongs in :dunno:
The way I'm reading it, it looks like I must use 1.5" x .120 DOM tubing through out the entire cage for a vehicle between 2201 and 3000 lbs. But there is another class of rules that states any car below 2500 lbs may use 1.5" x .095 DOM tubing so I'm not quite sure which one to go by

 

NASA has this rule for cages. It might give you a better description on a cage. It’s the same on all it’s road racing classes. http://www.nasaproracing.com/rules/ccr.pdf

Tube Size 2201 - 3000 lbs.
1.500” x 0.120” Chrome-moly / Seamless mild steel (DOM)
1.750” x 0.095” Chrome-moly / Seamless mild steel (DOM)

Main Hoop
The main roll cage hoop should be as wide as the full width of the interior and must be
as close to the roof as possible without violating CCR section #15.6.20 Inspection. One
continuous length of roll bar tubing shall be used as the main hoop. The main hoop
must consist of not more than four (4) bends maximum, totaling one hundred eighty
(180) degrees +/- ten (10) degrees.

Diagonal Brace
At least one (1) diagonal brace shall be used in the same plane as the main hoop. One
end of the diagonal brace shall attach to the corner, or horizontal part, of the main hoop
above the driver’s head, within twelve (12) inches of the driver’s-side corner. The other
end of the diagonal brace shall attach to the mounting plate (or to the main hoop as
close to the mounting plate as practically possible) diagonally opposed to the driver’s
head (passenger floor).

Door Bars / Side Impact Protection
At least two (2) door bars on the driver side and one (1) door bar on the passenger side.

 

Any idea on the mounting of the front hoop to the floor?? Is it legal to build a small riser box for mounting the bar to the floor/rocker??

 

I was actually going to ask about the Bolt-In Autopower cages, as far as i can understand, it comes in peices, and you bolted in the car right?
If thats how it is, im still going to weld all the bolts and bolt holes!
Any inputs on that?

 

uM, Yes..
I've bought 2 roll bars (Honda CRX/ Spitfire) and a cage (Mustang LX) from AutoPower. I had a AutoPower bolt-in in a Mustang years ago. We used the slip joints and fill welded all the holes. I was concerned about my ability to weld all the way around the joints without setting the car on fire. Bolted it all together, then took out bolts one at a time and welded up the holes and welded to base plates. (SCCA GCR- general competition rules- has approved way to do this) Worked great, in fact the wife crashed tested it into a powerpole at the Beech Mountain Hillclimb. Held up great. Car was totaled- rippled all the way back to the c pillar. She was fine, save for belt burns. Oh, the kicker bars to wheelwell are a REALLY good idea. with 10" square plates, she managed to poke one through the floorboard from the force of the impact. Saved her some major grief to her legs, I'm sure. The tunnel was even rippled and firewall bent back. :thumbup:

As far as class, you would be Showroom stock or IT AND registered after 1994. so go with the 1.5x.120DOM only. Again Kirk or AutoPower can point you in the right direction.

SVT's are SSB
ZX-3's are SSC

00-01 ZX-3's (02 as of Jan 1) are ITA
http://www.scca.org/contentpage.aspx?content=44
look under Showroom stock or Improved Touring.
Sounds like from your moods, you aren't really legal for SCCA. Might have to back track or NASA has groups based on upgrades, but uses the same cage rules.
__________________

 

As far as class, you would be Showroom stock or IT AND registered after 1994. so go with the 1.5x.120DOM only. Again Kirk or AutoPower can point you in the right direction.

SVT's are SSB
ZX-3's are SSC

00-01 ZX-3's (02 as of Jan 1) are ITA
http://www.scca.org/contentpage.aspx?content=44
look under Showroom stock or Improved Touring.
Sounds like from your moods, you aren't really legal for SCCA. Might have to back track or NASA has groups based on upgrades, but uses the same cage rules.
__________________

Are you saying my car isn't legal for SCCA events??