after 6 months of the shell sitting out side work started again this weekend.

I had to but out the old roll cage mounting points so that I could do the job to MSA spec.

so did that and put the new cage in the car ready to start fabricating the new mounting points in the car

here are some pics. this is what I call the dry build stage where I build the car without paint and make sure everything works

and fits before taking it apart again and painting it.

Edited 23 August, 201213 yr by heg123

looks like a good job, dont want to make me a rear one do you :p

cool good to see some progress on it!

how the roll cage shoulda been done originally. I remember seeing it before, as well as the arch work..

what are your plans engine-wise?

well that looks great allmost of us can do is dream on though

it will be running a 16v 1.4 on bike carbs with some nice cams :-D

its a safety devices cage I didnt make it just putting it in correctly.

i want to add the rear between strut bar and also the one infront of the rear seat to mine.

is there a reason for it being cranked? surely in a side impact its more likely to bend lke that?

i want to add the rear between strut bar and also the one infront of the rear seat to mine.

is there a reason for it being cranked? surely in a side impact its more likely to bend lke that?

I think its bent mainly because it bolts in to the rest of the cage and the floor, the bolted joints need to ne somewhere near 90deg's.

However if the car did sustain a side impact maybe it will take the hit and then bend a little saving the otherside of the shell. ? sound right ?

I have a fully welded in cage in mine and am deliberating on this very issue.

yeah it bolts to the tunnel so it has to go down that low. you could put one

straight accross up to personal preference really.

but if you had a side impact bad enough to bent that bar the car would be finished.

If I was doing a fully welded in cage I would have it straight accross and weded to

the seat support thing that sould be very strong.

I might be wrong but when the cage was designed I don't think the horizontal bar between the main hoop was a necessity- i.e when they put one in it didn't have to be a proper one, if you look at all cages designed by rollcentre, custom cages etc etc then they all use straight bars on the horizontal- presumably as it is stronger than a bent one.

it would deffanetly help in a side impact but it is not nessesary to have it for british rallying.

it helps more with the handelling of the car and stoping it flexing.

Its an FIA approved saftey devices cage so its going to be strong enought for the rallying

I will be doing.

but yess straight accross would be stronger in impact but haveing it fast in the middle

helps keep the car rigid so as I said a straight across stitch weled into the seat support thing would be

Ideal if I was making a weld in cage.

I might be wrong but when the cage was designed I don't think the horizontal bar between the main hoop was a necessity- i.e when they put one in it didn't have to be a proper one, if you look at all cages designed by rollcentre, custom cages etc etc then they all use straight bars on the horizontal- presumably as it is stronger than a bent one.

straight bar seems much better to me.

i think i will go with a straight one and it can also support my false floor and i recon if i put some tabs on it could bolt to the holes where the seat would hinge from.

also for the rear cross brace, do you think i should attach it to the base of the diagonal and have a removable L shape or put in a whole separate bar / removable bar?

ALSO!! what standard are cages welded to, are the welds tested, or will an experienced welder be ok to do it to a good enough standard? mines only an OMP and will only be for road/trackday use but dont want to add bars in to find they are making it more dangerous!

that hoop brace is an FIA requirement, but, new FIA spec usually has to have a single or double diagonal on the hoop. thats ever since ford sent a car out on a round of the wrc with the navigator sat behind the main hoop of the cage, a diagonal is supposed to stop this

very true Mr pinches.

the safety devices cage for a polo is the best bolt in cage you can buy for a polo and I'm happy with that they know their stuff

but a weld in cage would be better as you could but extra stuff in. but I've got this so this is what I'm using.

good stuff, same cage I've got in my polo. I think if the car got a side impact hard enough to bend that roll cage tubing to the point where you could get injured, it'd have annihilated the door bar and killed you already anyway! In any case, they obviously felt that design was good enough for the G40 Cup cars since it was safety devices who made those cages so it'll do for me!

I'm sure its more than up to the job. i was just wondering about a straight tube as for me it would be a lot easier not having to bend it!

beautiful stuf mate, hope your well, should be home soon so will call up an finish the lovely GT. cant wait to see this finished

good stuff tom.

some pics of some more work being done.

Nice work mate.

Good to see the car is being built properly this time. 'Twas a right fucking bodge up before with those cut away arches and crappy cage installation.

Are you gonna seam weld the engine bay and gusset the chassis legs at the bulkhead?

Keep the updates and pics coming, and most of all the good work Heg.

Cheers, Richard.

ye the whole car has ben seem welded.

and here is a pic of the guseting samea as I did on blondie

Are you gusseting the rear beam?

i considered triangulating the beam myself, but, i decided i would rather bend the axel than bend the car!

I was on the same thinking as pinches for a long time on this one but after three bent rear beams I thought I would try strenghtening a rear beam and since then never bent another one or the back of the car plus I would never go back to a non strenghtend one as the cars handeling improved so much. here are the pics of the rear beam

today I decided to build my rear beam assembly.

so I had new discs new pads new bearings.

sternghtend rear beam

the rest was off scrap cars that I've been collecting for a while I also referbed the calipers with a service kit.

calipers and beam have had paint even thou it wont be seen that often.

here are the pics

are they mk2 or mk4 golf anti seize calipers....

did you need to do any calculations for that strengthing bar or do you need to whack in a bit of metal and weld it? I'm doing a disc conversion on the mk1 pretty sooon and thinking of getting hold of a spare axle to build up in the house