Pre-Cut Roll Cages, Is there such a thing? Options

[soloracer]

I know that Autopower makes bolt in cages but is wondering if there was such a thing as pre-cut, pre-bent and weld it yourself cages. Anyone ever heard of such a thing? If so, where would I find one?

[BigD9146gt]

If your looking for simple and cheap, Autopower is the ticket. First of all let me say Autopower makes quality products, I've always made them a consideration when quoting roll cage jobs. However, from everthing I've seen, everyone I've talked to from supplier to consumer, I've come to this conclusion: Autopower and every other pre-bent kit has one downfall... they over-compensate tolerances, resulting in a cage that makes an already small cockpit smaller... I have two problems with this. One serious and the second annoyingness. No matter how much you spend on SFI approved, top of the line rollbar padding, simple logic still applies: Put the tubing as far away as possible. Roll cages serve two purposes; they keep other cars, trees, hard objects, etc. from entering into your personal space. In any case, steel tubing is still harder than you no matter what object its attempting to counteract. So the closer you are to the tubing the higher the odds that your going to do more damage to yourself. The annoying thing about the pre-bent kits is that they physically suck to get in and out of.

I've made everything from bolt in 914 & 911 hoops to full 8pt cages like the one in my 9146gt clone. If you can afford to spend a little more, I recommend finding a local off-roading shop or race shop and see if you can get some side deal going. Heck, even a 16yr old kid whos been making sandrails in his backyard works... as long as he has the right dies in good shape and doesn't waist half your expensive material on wrong bends, your good to go. Fallow PCA, POC, SCCA, etc's rule books for tubing size, and sketch out dimensions of the tubes you need bent up, then weld it yourself.

Good luck on your project. Don.