Getting Cagey: What You Need To Know About Installing A Rollcage

 

Roll Cgae install

The idea behind building a race car is to travel from point A to point B as quickly or as fast as possible. To accomplish this, there is a need to make the car as light as possible, and make sure that it still maintains a certain degree of safety. One way to increase safety actually adds weight to the car, but the safety benefits far outweigh the negative affect of the additional weight—adding a rollbar or rollcage…

When the tubing of the Rhodes Race Cars rollcage are welded together, the car will not only create a safe environment for the driver, but elapsed times will also be quicker than the same car without a cage.

When the Camaro got to the Chevy Hardcore Tech Center, we didn't need to do much disassembly of the interior, as it had been stolen.

When the Camaro got to the tech center, we didn’t need to do much disassembly of the interior, as it had been stolen while the car was in the previous owner’s care.

There are a lot of companies that supply prebent rollbars and cages like the one we will be installing from Rhodes Race Cars (RRC). But, unlike our RRC cage, most are a “universal” fit. These sometimes require that the installer do major modifications to the bars, which can far exceed the capabilities of the do-it-yourselfer. Not only does a “bar” or “cage” add an immeasurable degree of safety, but it also adds to the car’s ability to reduce elapsed times, but we’ll get into that later.

Since most of our interior was already missing, we only needed to remove the dash, carpeting, and a few other interior panels.

We did a lot of research to find a company that could build a rollcage for our 2014 Camaro, and guarantee that we would be getting a quality component. Rhodes Race Cars have been delivering race components to winning teams for years, and since we have received great feedback from our readers about the company, we knew that they were the right choice to build our cage.

You Have Choices

When contacting RRC, you will have a few choices to make in regards to the style and materials used to build your rollcage. When it comes to materials, you can choose from either mild steel, DOM (Drawn Over Mandrel) steel, or chromoly. A mild-steel cage will definitely be less expensive than one made of chromoly, and unless you’re looking to eliminate every ounce of weight from the finished car, the added expense might not be worth it to you. A 10-point chromoly cage will save roughly 50-pounds over one made with mild steel, but will cost roughly $350 more.

Mild Steel, DOM, Or Chromoly?

Mild-steel tubing begins as a flat sheet of steel that is formed into tubing and is then welded by a process called Electric Resistance Welded.

DOM stands for Drawn Over Mandrel, and it is actually ERW tubing that has gone through a second process that shapes and smooths the tubing. This insures the walls are more uniform, which makes the tubing stronger.

Chromoly is a steel alloy that incorporates both Chromium and Molybdenum. Chromoly is stronger and lighter than both mild steel and DOM steel.

When ordering a rollcage from RRC, rest assured that their cages meet or exceed all NHRA and IHRA requirements when properly installed. Speaking of which, when installing a 10-point rollcage, you should plan on modifying your stock dash. The RRC 10-point cage is designed to install within the confines of the firewall, and will travel through the dash. Holes will need to be made for these bars to pass through. We also need to make you aware that installing a rollbar or cage is not something that a novice fabricator should attempt.

Both the NHRA and IHRA have standards that must be met in order for a rollbar or cage to be certified and considered legal. If the welded joints show any visible porosity, shoddy workmanship, or evidence of the weld being ground, it will not pass inspection. Therefore, the actual install should be completed by someone with a knowledge of the rules, and the ability to weld the cage to the satisfaction of the sanctioning body.

Rhodes 10 point

All RRC 10-point rollcages are available in 1 5/8-inch mild-steel tubing, 1 5/8-inch DOM tubing, and 1 5/8-inch 4130 chromoly tubing. Our 10-point rollcage came with notched tube ends to help with installation.

We are fortunate that we have a guy in the tech shop that is capable of properly doing the install for us, so all we needed was to get the proper cage for our application and put it in place. In our application, saving weight is a big requirement, so we chose RRC’s chromoly cage, part number 11-1534. This 10-point cage will make sure that the driver is safe, help launch the car perfectly, and make sure the car is legal to run our estimated mid-8 to low 9-second e.t.s.

Making It Hook

When completed, Project COPO Tribute will have a Moser straight-axle conversion underneath, but a car needs more than a great suspension to win races. Since the Camaro is a unibody design, we need to control chassis flex. Chassis flex is caused by force applied by the engine and drivetrain that initiate body flex, which wastes energy. When launching the car, you want the engine and drivetrain’s energy to be handled by your suspension. If the chassis is flexing, you have reduced control of how the suspension components are working.

When we outlined the plan for our COPO Tribute, we weren’t planning to weld the entire body together. So, by adding the cage and a few other chassis-stiffening devices, we can create a body that is rigid, and allows the suspension to properly do its job. Not only that, but the driver will be protected in the event of a crash.

If your car does not have a full frame underneath, then you must weld plates to the floor for the rollcage tubing to connect. While some of our connections will take place in this fashion, we have previously fabricated and installed a set of our own frame connectors with outriggers connecting the rocker panels to the frame. This not only helps stiffen the chassis, but gives a much better place to weld the cage bars.

launch

When your car’s chassis does not flex and the suspension can do its job, straight-ahead launches can be accomplished.

A Rollbar Or Cage

Every cage is vehicle and driver specific. Differences in vehicles and the driver’s build have a dramatic effect on if the installed cage is NHRA legal. – Josh Rhodes

We’re sure you have heard the words rollbar and rollcage thrown around when describing the visible pipes that are welded together inside a race car’s interior, but there really is a difference between the two. NHRA rules require that any full-bodied car running an elapsed time between 11.00 and 11.49 seconds in the 1/4-mile must have a rollbar connected to the car with at least six contact points. A contact point is any location where the bars contact the car’s body or frame. A rollbar usually includes one main hoop, two rear-support bars, and a driver and passenger’s-side door bar. Stepping up to a rollcage is mandated when any car is running the 1/4-mile at an e.t. of 10.99 seconds or quicker, or if it is traveling faster than 135 mph. A cage adds to a rollbar, a minimum of a roof hoop, which connects to the top of the main hoop and surrounds the front of the interior. This “halo” bar is supported at the front by two down posts located near the windshield, and these connect to the floor near the front door bar contact points.

All RRC rollcages meet or exceed NHRA and IHRA requirements (when properly installed). We ordered their 10-point cage in 1 5/8-inch by .083-inch thick-wall 4130 Chromoly tubing. When installing the bars, the main hoop must be installed within 6-inches of the rear or side of the driver’s head. It must also extend at least 3-inches above the driver’s helmet when the driver is seated in a normal position. If no driver is available during fitment, the main hoop can be positioned within 1-inch of the roof in the area above the driver's helmet.

Since our plan is to build a car that can consistently run the 1/4-mile somewhere in the realm of eight to nine seconds, we definitely need to install a cage. There are many places that can build and install a custom rollcage, but we felt that we could install a kit ourselves, and that would also give us the opportunity to show our readers some of the focal points of what is involved when installing one.

Getting Started

According to NHRA rules, when mounting a rollbar or cage to a unibody car like our Camaro, we need to attach the rollcage tubing to 6-inch by 6-inch by .125-inch thick steel plates that are solidly welded to the floor and/or rocker area. While this is sufficient for the rules, we did take things one step farther. When building a unibody-style car for racing, one of the first things you can do to stiffen the body is to install subframe connectors like we did.

Any place where two tubes connect, the connection must be fabricated by properly notching the intersecting tubes so they fit with minimum clearance. Crushing the end of a tube to an oval in lieu of properly notching and fitting the tube is not acceptable.

There are many companies that make frame connectors, but we chose to fabricate our own from square tubing. We tied the front and rear frame sections together, and then even added outriggers at the rear, to give additional support to the rollcage.

Correctly Welded

Welding a rollbar or rollcage into your car takes more than just a stick welder and a prayer. If you are not comfortable with your welding skills, hire a professional. Nothing looks worse than a badly-welded rollbar. What’s more, any grinding on the cage material or the welded joints will render the cage illegal for sanctioned racing.

All 4130 chromoly tube must be TIG welded.

Mild steel can be welded using either a MIG or TIG process.

All welding must be free of slag and porosity.

When installing your rollbar or cage, triangulation is the operative word.  You may have hated trigonometry in school, but now we bet you wish you would have paid attention. It’s no secret that triangles are the most stable and simple geometric structures. Think of it this way, without triangulation, a square has no lateral support, so it can be pushed on one side, and it will collapse. When building a rollcage, triangulate everything you can. This principle should be applied as often as possible to any chassis bars and cage design. In other words, every tube should be one leg of a triangle whenever possible. This is especially true with the primary structural tubes.

The quality of the materials used, and your workmanship, will ultimately determine the strength of the car’s chassis after the cage is installed. When fitting the tubes during cage construction, notching all tube ends that will be welded is a must. When fitting each pipe, a small gap (1/16-inch maximum) between each pipe is acceptable, and will actually help to maximize weld penetration. You can also chamfer each notch to improve the weld quality. Make sure the car is properly supported when installing your rollbar or cage. If you have the car on a lift with no support at either end, the front and rear of the car could sag while it is hanging from the lift. If you weld the bars in place with the car sagging, you will never get it straight. This will definitely cause chassis tuning and handling problems.

All vehicles with a frame, must have the cage welded or bolted to the car’s frame. Installing frame connectors on a unibody car does not constitute a frame. Unibody cars with a stock floor and firewall may have the rollcage attached to the floor with 6-inch by 6-inch by .125-inch thick steel plates that are completely welded to the floor.

Since our Camaro will be traveling the ¼-mile in roughly eight-seconds, the car and the rollcage must meet certain certifications as mandated by the NHRA. To get your rollcage certified, you need to contact one of NHRA’s inspection team members, and set up a time and location so they can inspect the car. In short, there are minimum standards that must be adhered to.

A rollbar and a rollcage are both designed to keep the driver safe should an accident occur. But while a rollbar and a rollcage serve the same purpose, they are two different devices. A basic, four-point rollbar consists of a main hoop, two rear struts, and a cross brace on the main hoop. Stepping up to a six-point rollbar adds driver and passenger side door bars. To be considered a rollcage, a halo bar is utilized, and extends from the main hoop, encircling the front-passenger compartment. The halo is supported at the front by down bars going to the floor, near or through the dash.

When an NHRA inspector checks your car and rollcage, he inspects each weld, does a sonic test of the tube material, and makes sure each connection point of the cage meets regulations. Once the inspector approves the rollcage, he will apply a non-transferable, dated sticker on the passenger side of the cage’s main hoop. The sticker is tamper proof and cannot be removed.

NHRA Bar regs

Specific rollbar-positioning measurements as taken from the NHRA rulebook.

Unfortunately, there was no way that we could cover every aspect of the rules and regulations regarding a rollcage or rollbar installation, there are simply too many variables that will dictate each installation. You’ll need to follow the NHRA rule book to get those, but hopefully we have provided a general overview so you have a good idea what it takes to properly install a rollcage into your car.

Article Sources

About the author

Randy Bolig

Randy Bolig has been working on cars and has been involved in the hobby ever since he bought his first car when he was only 14 years old. His passion for performance got him noticed by many locals, and he began helping them modify their vehicles.
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