Once the cage pads were made and the areas prepped for their installation, it was time to scale the car before any real work was performed. The car weighed in at 2,220 lbs with a 2,200 minimum weight per the GCR. This was without the stock fuel tank or fuel cell, with a gutted interior (dash and door panels remain), but very little removed otherwise (still has stock wheel well liners). It's fairly front heavy with only 840-850lbs in the rear and only 6 lbs difference between the right rear and left rear weights.

After corner weighing the car, it was leveled to within 0.01 degree on the drivers side, and 0.0 degrees side to side and on the passenger side.

As of 1/5/05, the main hoop, front downbars and optional 7th/8th point pads have all been installed.  The rear brace pads are in process. The rear presents a little bit of a problem due to access through the “trunk”. There's not much work room. We're also adding a crossbar between the rear brace pads so the bar may be added to the pads outside of the trunk and then welded in as an assembly.

1/8/05: Main hoop and front downbars have been completed and temporarily installed.
Hoop and Downbar Pics

1/9-1/10/05 Downbars were further tweaked for the tightest fit to the chassis as possible. “Headache“ bar, lower crossbar, and Pass. side forward brace test fit and tack welded. Rear hoop braces as well as main hoop diagonal cut and fit. Package tray had to be trimmed further for proper bar placement. Sections of the package tray that were removed will be welded back in to help retain the rigidity of the package tray. Rear crossbrace installed and is the first bar permenantly welded into the chassis.

1/11-1/13/05 Minus the Petty Bar, the cage is complete and ready for dissassembly and cleanup. The tubes will be completely degreased of any manufacturing oil as well as cutting oil used in notching the bars. This helps to keep any contamination out of the welds as well as making paint prep much easier.

1/14/05 Cage fabrication is complete. Window Net, starter switch, master switch plate, seat mounts remain on the to-do list.

The cage should be completed in the next 4 days with and paint following close behind.

1/17/05 The roll cage is being installed. Main hoop, downbars and upper and lower crossbars, rear hoop braces and forward 7th & 8th point braces are complete. The master switch plate will be installed at the intersection of the harness bar and passenger side doorbar. It will also act as a gusset for the cage and add the weight (however small) of the switch, plate and battery cables required to the passenger side.

The window net mounts presented a little bit of a problem as the owner wanted to have a upper and lower release mechanism in case he ever ended up “turtled.“ The solution was to cut the aftermarket mount kit apart and add a loop to the bar to use a cable system between the rod and the catch.

1/19/05 Minus the drivers side door bars and Petty bar, the cage is complete. The door and Petty bars will be installed after all of the extra interior work is completed. The starter button addition is in process as is the seat mounting and harness reinforcement.

More pics coming soon.

www.izzyscustomcages.com

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