Izzy's Custom Cages

The Neon is coming along nicely if a little slow. Top half of the cage is complete. Main hoop, lateral bars, windshield bar and gussets, roof bar and temple bars are all finished up. 6 of the 8 pads are complete. Still haven't decided the location for the optional 7th/8th points. The old 100 square inch pad rule is enough to allow the front pads to incorporate the lateral bar mounts and the 7th/8th points on one pad, thus making 1 point ;-). We're trying to stay within the 100 inch rule as NASA still uses the 100 sq/in limit while SCCA has upped it to 144 (Hopefully NASA will 86 the SFI 38.1 HNR rule and we'll be able to run with NASA more than once since we both have Isaac products).

The rear hoop braces will be complete tonight then the main hoop will get welded in final position. I usually wait a little longer before the hoop gets welded in to the the pads, but thats the beauty of a 4 door car... no problems getting to the backsides of the doorbar welds :D

Front suspension is pretty much finished up. Still waiting on some loaded hub assemblies to show up then everything will get buttoned up. New sphericals and poly bushings up front, new tie rod ends and ball joints, new hubs/bearings, sway bar end links and mounts. We've got the rest of the poly kit waiting for the rear... just depends on time at this point.

For exhaust, we need to rework the AFX Longtube header a little for clearance. The collector flange needs turned so that the bolt isn't pointing down so that we get a little more ground/trailer clearance. A 3" flex pipe is going to be added between the collector and the flange, then 3" collector reducer to a Magnaflow universal muffler then dump to the side. We thought about going with a straight pipe, but REALLY don't want to blow sound and have to deal with it at the track.

We've still got a pretty good list left to do:

• brake & WOT indicators for video
• hook up tach and shift light
• reinstall dash (much bigger project than usual... goofy dash design)
• right side net
• window net
• fire system install
• seat installs for both driver & pass. side
• paint interior & cage
• exhaust
• alignment
• new paint/graphics scheme

Hopefully, I can get most of the big stuff done by this weekend as the next cage project will be knocking on the door this coming weekend. This will be a new one for Izzy's... a Mitsubishi 3000 GT!