Howdy,

I am in the middle of a zero cylinder conversion - nice high-torque, air-cooled AC electric motor.

At the rate things are going, I will be installing batteries later this summer. Since I am adding 600 pounds in the front trunck and 600 pounds in the engine compartment (offset by the missing engine), I want to stiffing up the middle of the car - especially to prevent bending in the middle. A full roll cage seems like a good idea...

I've no welded in 20 years and am not ready to do my own. Any suggestions for a installation shop in the LA area? I am near Pasadea - closer is better.

Thanks in advance.

- Randy

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=3560

TonyC

Randy, I am having my tube car built in the city of Orange - not exactly "close" but within an hr-1.5hr drive. AJs welding is awesome and if you have something specific in mind (how you want the cage done) he can get you what you are after.

My car isn't the best example as I am full tube, but he does cages as well. He builds mostly bajas, but has built some serious race cars in the past and recently did a really nice cage in a BMW sedan racer. His pricing is very reasonable as well (WAAAAYY better than the quotes I got from the bay area shops for instance).

PM me if you are interested in his info. You could swing down to the shop on a Saturday when I am there as well and I will show you some of his welding, introduce you to AJ and so forth.

Nice looking stuff. The 914 cage is just what I am looking for. Unfortunately, I am not ready to ship the car a few hundred miles for the roll cage just now.

Thanks.

One of the Guys here posted not long ago about his roll cage, he got it pre-

made from a vendor.I won't swear to it but it could have been Trekkor.

If you did your own cage, it would pay for the materials, equipment and tools. 9Xauto.com has some realy nice cages if you wanna bolt them in yourself. They are pricy but look good.

California? I thought there was a race car / custom car shop on every corner.

David

Thanks - for now I am going to try to find something closer - somewhere that I can visit my car easily while it is in the shop.

Good luck with your project.

autopower makes bolt in and weld in kits for our cars....

nothing is as good as a custom built one tho

My friend Randy Beck owns a Porsche race car fabrication shop in Rancho Cucamonga near the ONT airport. Name of the shop is RPM. PM me for his number if you are interested. He has built hundreds of cages for 914's, 911's, etc...

Bill

thats local to me. might be worth dropping by to see what the master is up to!

whats a roll bar or a cage run?

There is a highly reccomended kit in the Resources, search for Engman kit, that adds reinforcement to the inner frame of a 914. Gud for high hp and heavy conversions, much lighter, and inconspicous. I've bought other cool stuff frm Engman, but haven't needed that kit yet.... I actually am planning an electric conversion too in the near future. Nice to hear you are going AC! Most people on this site are happy to give pointers on almost any 914 conversion attempt, and help dream up new ones
For now, I'm enjoying 30 mpg and trying to save $$$ (but buying other 914 parts instead)

Here's the link
http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?show...12376&hl=engman

Randy does fabulous work. He is pretty fairly priced. I believe a full cage will run around 2K. Better to ask him directly. PM me for his number.

Bill

Understood... just FYI, AJ works from around 11am to about 9pm and is there noon to "late" on Saturdays, so it is really easy to get there during business hours. I usually roll down for an idea of the progress on Wed nights around 8pm (since traffic has died down then) and I am in Orange w/in 40 minutes. Saturdays I mosey down around noonish and work on it myself (he is cool that way) until around 8pm - or later if they are staying. He is at Baja 500 racing this weekend or I would be there right now!

I am not going to quote my cost - but suffice it to say I am paying HALF to LESS THAN HALF of what my quotes were from the "Porsche" shops - and using all chromoly tubing as well v. cheaper/heavier DOM.

Besides a full cage doesn't really take that long so you would really only have to make a couple of trips to verify progress, give him the thumbs up and weld away. My whole car is tacked right now and when it is all together and I throw the thumbs up, he will weld away.