Topic: Cage help! AW11

Our team was recently accepted to race at the real hoopties of New Jersey this May. We are very excited and acquired an MR-2 that already had a great deal of what we needed, safety wise, for the race. We’ve read that the area where most people fall short in the safety inspection is with the roll cage. It’s passed SCCA inspection for the past few years and we have the log book to affirm it. That in mind, would our cage pass Lemons safety inspection? If not, what recommendations do you have to help us get that pass? Thanks for the help and happy roadkill!

http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/turbo505ex/Lemins/IMG_7444_zpst6c5dnkx.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/turbo505ex/Lemins/IMG_7442_zpsiqoayblx.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/turbo505ex/Lemins/IMG_7440_zpslv2frqt5.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/turbo505ex/Lemins/IMG_7439_zpsnmqcvol0.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/turbo505ex/Lemins/IMG_7438_zpsycexat52.jpg
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p273/turbo505ex/Lemins/IMG_7436_zpsajnfzo4h.jpg

Re: Cage help! AW11

Bolted cage will require quite a bit of work. I'd start with ensuring the tubing size and thickness is up to spec. If not, that simplifies things. I've seen threads on here where a bolted cage was solidly welded everywhere and passed, but it may or may not be worth it. The approved design  is pretty well laid out in the rules and "how not to fail tech" manual, so I'll just start with all the bolted attachments will have to be full welded at a minimum. Tubing, spreader plates (which may be too small - can't tell), etc - all welded.

One intangible consideration may be that if you show up with a cage that was converted from a bolted design, I'd guess your car is going to get a lot more scrutiny all over during tech inspection.

Re: Cage help! AW11

Bolted cage will require quite a bit of work. I'd start with ensuring the tubing size and thickness is up to spec. If not, that simplifies things. I've seen threads on here where a bolted cage was solidly welded everywhere and passed, but it may or may not be worth it. The approved design  is pretty well laid out in the rules and "how not to fail tech" manual, so I'll just start with all the bolted attachments will have to be full welded at a minimum. Tubing, spreader plates (which may be too small - can't tell), etc - all welded.

One intangible consideration may be that if you show up with a cage that was converted from a bolted design, I'd guess your car is going to get a lot more scrutiny all over during tech inspection.

Re: Cage help! AW11

Bolted cage will require a LOT of work. Un-bolt it and sell it back to who ever you bought it from.

And are the harness' on single shear plane bolts?

Mistake By The Lake Racing (MBTL)
88 Thunderbird "THUNDERBIRDS ARE GO!", Ex Astris, Rubigo / Semper Fracti
A&D: 2014 Sebrings at Sebring (NSF), 2014 NJMP2 Jurassic Park (SpeedyCop), 2012 Summit Point J30 (PiNuts)
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Re: Cage help! AW11

As rebelgregory stated, the amount of work a bolt in cage would require to pass Lemons tech would be so extensive that you would be way better starting out with a proper roll cage. Judging by the pictures, it looks like the spreader plates would be too small, and all the bars that are bolted together would have to completely cut out and new bars would have to be welded in. And that's assuming the bolt in cage uses the proper tubing size (1.50" x .120" or 1.75" x .095" tubing). At best, your current cage really is only good as a template for bending out a proper cage.

Fourteen time loser. You'd think I'd know better by now.

6 (edited by cheseroo 2017-04-01 07:39 AM)

Re: Cage help! AW11

I don't think you'll ever get that cage to pass.  Bolt in cages dont pass.  Spreader plates too small (although thats fixable by welding more plate on) but I dont see how those backstays will fly (mounted too low on the hoop).  You also would need to knock holes in the roof to get 360 welds on those halo joins.  I'd email the head of tech directly john@evilgeniusracing.com but I suspect you are going to need every minute between now and the race to get a cage in that thing.  Also plan on bringing at least a spare short block or two.  Those are very blow-uppy.

1990 RX7 "Mazdarita"  1964 Sunbeam Imp (IOE 2013 Sears Pointless) 2002 Jaguar x-type (Winner C-Class 2021 Sears Pointless)
Gone bye-bye
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Re: Cage help! AW11

I'm one of the other team members with the AW11. Our team discussed cutting out the crossbar and the top of the let/right main bars. That way we could gauge tube thickness and diameter, but also convert it to a Halo style (Fig 1B in how not to fail Lemons tech). What do you guys think? Also going to measure the spreader plates as soon as we get a chance.

Re: Cage help! AW11

The top front bar, you can cut out and replace with a solid bar, as long as the front stays are one piece all the way from the bottom to the main hoop - I can't tell. Obviously all the spreaders are the wrong size, so you'll have to slice those off and build up short boxes to make up for lost height. Top Nascar bar needs replacing, too. Basically, see if replacing every bolted joint is possible, otherwise, your best bet is reusing the main hoop and going from there.

Do check your rear stays, they look marginal as far as being 6 inches from the top goes. Also, if you're going to reuse just the main hoop, see if you can make it straight and shove it back more. Mr2 is a tight car.

K Car Stalker

Re: Cage help! AW11

That 'aint going to work. I guess you could use the "bolt in" sections as a template.  Unless you have a welder on the team I'd recommend taking it to a fab shop, hand them the rule book and be done with it. They could probably use some of what you have and keep the costs down. We have a really good fab guy on our team but we wanted to pass tech w/o any issues so we paid for ours ($3000), we did add some extra things....
http://i68.tinypic.com/1zx427t.jpg

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: Cage help! AW11

Welcome to Lemons. We have been running an AW11 for the past 4 years, and like you bought the car with a bolt in cage that has been partially welded in(same autopower one you have). I can tell you now, if you can easily get rid of the cage and start fresh, do it. We ended partially cutting the bad parts off and welding in new, but it was more pain than it was worth, and is super hard to get in and out of, not a lot of room because it was designed to be a bolt in cauge and clear the dash, and not terribly safe.

Right from the get go, you will have to weld all of the sleeves in, or replace the tube if possible. You will also need to remove your rear window and cut out your rear stays. They need to go to the rear shock towers, the rear firewall wont fly.

In addition to what was mentioned by others, check to make sure your door bars are far enough apart.

If you have any questions let me know, happy to help another MR2 team. Also if you need parts, we have quite a collection of stuff we don't need.

The Cosmonaughts - 86/88 MR2 with 1MZ V6

Re: Cage help! AW11

Don't some of the MR2s run with exocages at least at the top?
I seem to recall seeing something like that at the Sears Point race a few weeks ago.
Judge Phil posted a pic of a Camaro with this setup
http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=9833

http://www.murileemartin.com/UG/LDTX11/LDTX11-UG-298.jpg
http://www.murileemartin.com/UG/LOR11/LOR11-UG-022.jpg

Other options:
http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewt … p?id=28302


Just google "MR2 exocage site:24hoursoflemons.com" and see what you pull up
or just "exocage site:24hoursoflemons.com"

This is another way to find out if your theme idea has been discussed previously.
-g

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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12 (edited by Evil Genius 2017-04-03 12:01 PM)

Re: Cage help! AW11

That cage is illegal.    We no longer allow bolt in cages, nor do we allow welded-up, modified bolt in cages anymore.  Yes, there are still some running in Lemons, but they are grandfathered in (and will most likely be illegal soon) we are not allowing any new ones.

Sorry to say, it's a complete do-over.     If you have questions, email me: john@evilgeniusracing.com if you want to talk it over. 

  John

     Tech Tyrant

Gosh, my business card says 'Tech Tyrant'