• From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
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Topic: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

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So I went by Evil Genius Racing in Sacramento yesterday, to discuss getting an RX-7 rear end narrowed for my 20R Sprite, and ran into the guys from Red Rocket Racing getting a cage for their new Lemons car (yes, they're going with a Thunderbird Turbo Coupe instead of their Celica for the '10 season, because they respect Ford's win of the '09 Deconstructor's Championship).

It turns out that EGR will build a LeMons-spec cage for any car for $850 (plus cost of the welding supplies and the tax on the steel tubing used, which usually bumps it up to about $900). That's a pretty good deal, especially if you've selected a real Lemons car (i.e., some weird-ass hooptie that doesn't have cage kits readily available). So if you're in a panic because your Frank Sinatra Edition Chrysler Imperial (the one that came with a suitcase of Sinatra 8-tracks) doesn't have a cage yet, give John a call: (916) 374-1989

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  • From: Spring, TX
  • Registered: 2009-10-25
  • Posts: 459

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

that is a hella-good deal.

+1 for real Lemons cars not having off the shelf cages.

there should be a 10 lap BS penalty for any car that shows up with a bolt-in or weld-in cage that is readily available.

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  • From: Portland
  • Registered: 2009-05-02
  • Posts: 568

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

Phil, is this ERW or DOM?  If it's DOM, I'm towing my damn Anglia down to CA for a cage.

Matt
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Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

FreeRange wrote:

Phil, is this ERW or DOM?  If it's DOM, I'm towing my damn Anglia down to CA for a cage.

Got a two car flat bed?  :v:

5 Reply by Evil Genius (edited by Evil Genius 2009-12-24 11:26 AM)

  • From: Davis, Ca
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,843

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

Yep, DOM, there is no ERW in my shop, unless we cut it out of cars that are getting new cages, then it gets recycled.

Gosh, my business card says 'Tech Tyrant'
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Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

We had Evil Genius bend up all the tubing for a our cage.
A custom 'U-Weld-It' cage, if you will.

Trailered it to him.

Perfect fit rear hoop, a-pillar down bars and windshield top piece.
He sent us home with enough straight tube to finish and some 1" tube for gusseting. We passed tech the first time through with a big OK...

Turned out great.
Strong recommendation for EGR.


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  • From: Land Of Subarus, Colorado
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
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Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

mikespeed95 wrote:

there should be a 10 lap BS penalty for any car that shows up with a bolt-in or weld-in cage that is readily available.

No, because you can get off-the-shelf cage kits for such fine racing machines as the Triumph Spitfire and Datsun 710. Anyway, automatic lap penalties are like mandatory sentencing guidelines; they take all the discretion out of the judges' hands. The only automatic BS lap penalty we have now is the one lap we give a team for each Red Sox cap worn by its members during the BS inspection (this one will be a lot of fun at the Stafford race).

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  • laz
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  • From: Mt View, CA
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Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

Solid deal.

We paid $1500 for our no frills, but spec E30 legal cage, and somewhere in the same ballpark for the Mystery Machine's.

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  • Registered: 2009-05-27
  • Posts: 322

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

MurileeMartin wrote:

... one lap we give a team for each Red Sox cap ...

<sniff> no more Creme de Banana for you </poutyface>

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  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2009-08-17
  • Posts: 364

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

Hmmm... I wonder if Evil Genius would have done our Mercedes S600 cage and retain the full leather interior for $850.00  wink   Wish I had known! This sounds like a "I love Lemons cars" deal if I ever heard one.

At least tubing is cheap now. I caged our Jaguar is 2007 and prices for materials were through the roof and we had to use ERW for the cage. Then when I bought DOM tubing for the Mercedes a few months back it was just a fraction of the cost of what I had to pay for ERW a couple years ago. Crazy commodity market.

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  • Troy
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  • From: Houston, TX
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Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

I gotta agree that $850 for a DOM cage is a deal.

When I was pricing tubing in 2008, $5/ft was about average and there was little difference between ERW and DOM.  I finally found some cheap, less than $1/ft, 1.5" ERW and bought all 3 or 4 of the rusty sticks they had.

While Houston is a HUGE city, I have not found a great source for the tubing we need.  Every shop I have talked to that installs cages orders it from out of state.

Seems like going rate for a cage installed down here starts at $1500.

Looks like I need to try and get some current tube prices.

Troy

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12 Reply by Evil Genius (edited by Evil Genius 2009-12-24 06:47 PM)

  • From: Davis, Ca
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,843

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

Troy wrote:

I gotta agree that $850 for a DOM cage is a deal.

When I was pricing tubing in 2008, $5/ft was about average and there was little difference between ERW and DOM.  I finally found some cheap, less than $1/ft, 1.5" ERW and bought all 3 or 4 of the rusty sticks they had.

While Houston is a HUGE city, I have not found a great source for the tubing we need.  Every shop I have talked to that installs cages orders it from out of state.

Seems like going rate for a cage installed down here starts at $1500.

Looks like I need to try and get some current tube prices.

We buy tubing 1000+ ft at a time, and we are located in a great industrial location (4 national metal companies within 3 miles competing for our business) so we get a great deal on tubing.  I sell 1.5 X .120 DOM for $3.15 a foot in full stick lengths..  Most places you can't touch that...   

A normal SCCA or NASA cage will cost about $1500 from us.  The Lemons spec cage is simpler, and most people opt for a few extra bars (right side door bar and dash bar are the most popular) and most cages leave the shop at about $1K.

Gosh, my business card says 'Tech Tyrant'

13 Reply by icemang17 (edited by icemang17 2009-12-24 04:30 PM)

  • Registered: 2009-10-25
  • Posts: 1,993

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

Evil Genius wrote:
Troy wrote:

I gotta agree that $850 for a DOM cage is a deal.

When I was pricing tubing in 2008, $5/ft was about average and there was little difference between ERW and DOM.  I finally found some cheap, less than $1/ft, 1.5" ERW and bought all 3 or 4 of the rusty sticks they had.

While Houston is a HUGE city, I have not found a great source for the tubing we need.  Every shop I have talked to that installs cages orders it from out of state.

Seems like going rate for a cage installed down here starts at $1500.

Looks like I need to try and get some current tube prices.

We buy tubing 1000+ ft at a time, and we are located in a great industrial location (4 national metal companies within 3 miles competing for my our business) so we get a great deal on tubing.  I sell 1.5 X .120 DOM for $3.15 a foot in full stick lengths..  Most places you can't touch that...   

A normal SCCA or NASA cage will cost about $1500 from us.  The Lemons spec cage is simpler, and most people opt for a few extra bars (right side door bar and dash bar are the most popular) and most cages leave the shop at about $1K.

This is a SMOKING DEAL.......Johns cages are top notch......The cage in the estate and my previous race 928 were both done by John & both will pass tech for ANY race group.....the welds are all excellent and everything is fitted properly....  I have seen spec miatas that had Johns cages that were hit HARD (think 60+mph, miata not moving) and the drivers walked away....... 

If John builds your cage you know 100% that it will pass tech!! but most important is your driver will be SAFE

Richard Doty
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  • From: San Francisco
  • Registered: 2009-12-24
  • Posts: 16

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

I'd like to do the install myself (ten years as a certified welder), would you be able to provide a "do it yourself" cage for a NX2K??
Thanks,

Nemo Money
  • From: Spring, TX
  • Registered: 2009-10-25
  • Posts: 459

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

MurileeMartin wrote:
mikespeed95 wrote:

there should be a 10 lap BS penalty for any car that shows up with a bolt-in or weld-in cage that is readily available.

No, because you can get off-the-shelf cage kits for such fine racing machines as the Triumph Spitfire and Datsun 710. Anyway, automatic lap penalties are like mandatory sentencing guidelines; they take all the discretion out of the judges' hands. The only automatic BS lap penalty we have now is the one lap we give a team for each Red Sox cap worn by its members during the BS inspection (this one will be a lot of fun at the Stafford race).

can we meet in the middle and agree to require all new e30 teams they are only allowed to run naturally aspirated toyota 5 or 6mge engines? tongue

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Former rotary brat pioneer.
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  • From: Los Fucking Angeles
  • Registered: 2009-04-30
  • Posts: 1,032

Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

MurileeMartin wrote:
mikespeed95 wrote:

there should be a 10 lap BS penalty for any car that shows up with a bolt-in or weld-in cage that is readily available.

No, because you can get off-the-shelf cage kits for such fine racing machines as the Triumph Spitfire and Datsun 710. Anyway, automatic lap penalties are like mandatory sentencing guidelines; they take all the discretion out of the judges' hands. The only automatic BS lap penalty we have now is the one lap we give a team for each Red Sox cap worn by its members during the BS inspection (this one will be a lot of fun at the Stafford race).

This is doubly true for any hosers wearing the wrong NFC North hat/jersey

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Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

One of our teamates runs an offroad shop and builds ours in house. He does a great job, usually we have one of the best looking cages at Houston. He would gladly do them at his shop in Dallas, though he would have to spit out prices.

Precision racecraft posted up about doing cages, and they might have been a hair cheaper, I know they were doing 6 oint cages in drag cars for $400. They are on the southside of DFW.

Both of these guys do good work from the stuff I have personally seen.

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  • From: Santa Margarita, CA
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Re: Evil Genius: I will cage any car for $850

Another vote for Evil Genius, they worked with my absurd and stupid timeline and gave us a cage I proudly painted with BBQ paint!

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