• From: Rockville, MD
  • Registered: 2010-12-15
  • Posts: 1,154

Topic: Tying OEM dash bar into the roll cage

I'm caging another Sentra, and there's an OEM 2" metal tube running from corner to corner, right about where a dash bar would normally be. It serves two functions: stiffening the car and holding the steering column.

Given how dash bar is optional, do I:

- Notch the OEM tube for front stays, install it in factory position, and weld it to the cage at the notches, or
- Notch the OEM tube but not weld it to the cage, or
- Install a new 1.75" dash bar and weld bits of OEM tube to mount the steering column onto the new dash bar, and weld stubs of OEM bar to tie it into the base of the a-pillar, or
- Install a new dash bar like above but skip stiffening altogether. (this is how I built the last one) or
- Mount the steering column to the firewall and skip all this dash bar business.

Anybody done one of those? I'd strongly prefer #1 but to this day I still don't have a firm written ruling on roll cage tie-ins and non-essential components of the cage being replaced with different diameter/thickness tubing.

K Car Stalker
  • From: Mankato, MN
  • Registered: 2015-03-20
  • Posts: 354

Re: Tying OEM dash bar into the roll cage

Done #1 and done my own bar, would rather do my own then I know what material it is and how strong it is. Most stock bars seem pretty flimsy

  • Registered: 2016-02-08
  • Posts: 45

Re: Tying OEM dash bar into the roll cage

We opted to retain the stock dash bar to simplify mounting the parts of the original dash we planned to keep.  We also installedl a dash bar in the cage.  Our car had plenty of room to do both once all the dashboard plastics were removed.  We have no plan to tie them together.

  • From: Rockville, MD
  • Registered: 2010-12-15
  • Posts: 1,154

Re: Tying OEM dash bar into the roll cage

In my case, I started with a naked interior and placed the front stays so they follow the a-pillar in the most optimal way - which intersects the factory dash bar. So I can only do one or the other. I haven't welded the cage to the floor yet so I can get a pretty good fit no matter what method I choose.

K Car Stalker
  • From: Rockville, MD
  • Registered: 2010-12-15
  • Posts: 1,154

Re: Tying OEM dash bar into the roll cage

Follow-up: turns out, dash bar is a 3mm wall, 45mm diameter erw tube. Which is, essentially, 1.75x0.120. No-brainer, really. Option 1:

https://i.imgur.com/VknU9WPh.jpg

YMMV and most dash bars aren't made of actual rollcage tubing. Yet another reason to race a Sentra!

K Car Stalker
  • gunn
  • Lemons Staff Stalker
  • Offline
  • From: SF, CA
  • Registered: 2010-12-18
  • Posts: 1,011

Re: Tying OEM dash bar into the roll cage

firegremlin wrote:

YMMV and most dash bars aren't made of actual rollcage tubing. Yet another reason to race a Sentra!

So you can now tell your buddies and the internets that your Sentra came with a factory 2 point roll cage from the factory?
That's mostly true, right?

Myopic Motorsport's #888 Ceci n'est pas une Citron Thunderbird ("This is not a lemon" but a 1995 tbird w/ 93 V8 swap + shopping cart rear wing + engine mounted frito maker)
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