Rollcage Installation - Caged Fish

Fitting the front bars is trial and error. The bars in the kit are long enough that they'll need to be trimmed to fit. Using a sharpie to mark the final location helps to locate the plates that will be welded to the floor.

Once fitted, the location of the front bars was marked on the main hoop of the rollcage.

We decided to locate the forward down supports of the main hoop over the front frame of the car, close to where the frame connectors attach to the front frame. This will provide additional support in case of a rollover accident, keeping the frame bars from punching through the floor of the car. An additional benefit is the extra stiffness these bars will provide.

Since the front down bars must also be welded to a metal plate, then the floor, and since the front floors have a contour, we had to bend the plate to fit. This was easily accomplished with a hammer and vice.

Once our forward plates were fitted correctly, they were also tack-welded in place, then the forward down bars were welded to the main hoop and the floor plates. This forms the foundation of our cage, so then we could begin fitting the additional bars that make up the 12-point rollcage.

The rear bars should be placed over the car's rear framerails for maximum support. We like to get them as close to the rear leaf-spring mounting area as possible to support this high-stress area. Again, where they attach to the floor they must be welded to the metal plates provided with the kit. Be sure to grind away the paint for a clean weld.

After marking the center of the frame-rail under the main rollbar, we used a plumb-bob and string to determine where to locate the rear bar on the main rollbar. Doing it this way ensures the rear support bar will be directly above the rear framerail of the car.

While all the tubes in our Competition Engineering rollcage kit were prebent, most are left long so they can be trimmed for a tight fit. A good metal cutting saw is mandatory to fit the bars.

Installing a rollcage isn't really an exact science. In fact, we made most of our measurements with a simple tape measure. Just remember to measure accurately and avoid cutting any of the bars too short. Cutting the bar a second time is a lot easier than trying to add metal to a bar that you cut too short.