E30 Zone

Hi everyove, i am currently working on my E30, preparing it for drifting. I am new to the BMW scene and am doing this as a fun usable project which i also use as a daily driver! Im looking for any pics/advice regarding fabricating a cage for my 2 door coupe. I am an engineer and have previous experience of building roll cages, just wondered if anyone can give me any tips and knowledge.

Im looking to build at least a 6 point cage - 2 mounts on rear seat base, 2 behind front seats and 2 running from B pillar along roof, down A pillar down to floor. I also want bars across the doors. I intend to keep the front door cards/ handles all intact.

Any help will be much appreciated!

Cheers

for what its worth you can buy a brandnew 6 point for about £360

I want 3 if they are that price fella.

More info on that 6 point please mate

http://rallynuts.com/motorsport/OMP_Rol ... 0_2503.asp

Guessing he means the OMP cage

yep omp cage there pretty good quality for the money. only thing you dont get with them is ready made floor plates but they suply the metal so you can make em, well my mates on did. or you can go with the sparco 10 point like ive got for 460 wich comes with everything and has diaganols in the backstays and the main hoop.

And fia won't approve them + they need painting.

sd cage ready to go will work out the same price and better quality.

sd cage ready to go will work out the same price and better quality.

And your on comission.

When you say your preparing it for drifting do you mean you want to compete in something such as BDC?

my sparco is fia approved. and having to paint it is a bennifit to me because im spraying the inside of my car so if i had a safety devices id have to fit it afterwards risking scratching the new paint, where as i fitting mine first and spraying it inside the car. how much would a 6 point safety devices set you back anyway? thought they were nearly £600

Starting at complete 600.

The Sparco is a good cage but omp. Looks only not really a life saver. As I have seen door bars put through the drivers seat.


Like tyers dont skimp when your life depends on it.

how much would a 6 point safety devices set you back anyway? thought they were nearly £600

almost £700 i think mine was . Can't rember now .

yeah the omp is a bit crap, its a cage for people who want to do the minimum to compete who arent really bothered about safety. kinda wished i had gone for a safety devices now would of been alot less hassle fitting wise, no cuting of dash no need to remove sunroof try, but i wanted more than a 6 point cage and couldn't afford the safety devices 18 point cage at the time, the sparco is a pretty good cage though just not as plush and a safety devices, sd's are like bmw of the roll cage world, where sparco are more vw/seat. with omp being shitroen

theres always a better option, you just have to buy the best you can afford on safety equip

SD cages are good but there aren't the be all and end all, theres other better alternatives, and other equal alternatives

I think to say OMP cages are only for looks is a bit daft, as there are loads and loads of OMP cages in the motorsport world, not just club racing either

Some of the custom cages i have seen are very well put together. I think i would go to them next time.

i think its mainly the omp bolt in ones that arent to good. ive fitted them before and never again. they do some very nice full weld in ones that i think are used in wrc. but there loads money. custom cages do a kit type one, which is weld in, and quite cheap as you only buy what you need. its on there site.
sd cages are ok, but i think i perfer weld in types.
like jimmy c said i think its what you can afford.

I was sure I read somewhere in the e30 318/320 racers regs that the OMP bolt in 6 point jobbies were not up to the job, bit of a bugger i thought, given I was running OMP 6 point cages in both my track cars, but I spotted an OMP in an e30 racer at Combe last mon, was exactly the same as the omp I had in my e30 track car.

Personally I don't think they are crap, of course not as good as a custom weld in multipoint, but can't really compare £350 with £1500 can you? I feel they are ok as long as the feet plates are mounted properly.

One bad point with the OMPs however is the method of fixing the door bars & the A- B pillar, a singel bolt fixing & not so great, the Safety Devices (& decnt weld ins with detachable door bars ive see i.e done by robinson race cars) have a much better 2 bolt method that looks a far stronger way of doing it, much more weld contact & double the bolts over the OMP single bolt & smaller flange area.

Arent Safety Devices bust now??

if not, any suppliers in the UK??

Mine like Jimmy's is a custom cage. Excellent cage, pig to fit

CraigG wrote:Arent Safety Devices bust now??

if not, any suppliers in the UK??

AutoMac GB are a uk supplier for Sd, omp, sparo ect.

SD are back in business and have been for quite a while, give Niel @ Automac a buzz (cabrio on here) he supplies SD cages for PBMW.

On the OMP cage- our regs have been updated to allow 6 point cages without a cross member between the b pillars- so there are OMP, Sparco and the SD basic casges allowed. They have to meet certain MSA criteria as set out in the regs, and beware that OMP and Sparco do cages with bars that do not meet our regs (ie the tubes are not big enough)

Regs here for anyone interested: http://www.pbmwc.co.uk/downloads/2008_P ... ations.pdf

Custom Cages are great if fitted properly, but they are a pig to fit, and alot of man hours, and a big labour bill!!

Hi

Lets dispell a few rumors here all roll cages are made to a mimum standard MSA or FIA, MSA center bar above your head can be 45mm, FIA centre bar has to be 50mm I have been involved in motorsport for 30 years i have fitted john Aley, Safety Devices, Custom cages, sparco, OMP the list goes on, the cage has to be by law suitable for the purpose, I fitted an early polish made SD cage and it was no where near the standard of the british made cage, I know that Phil at PD had problems with quaititly control early on BMW E30 cages when SD moved to poland

A cage is only as good as the integral strenth of the shell that you have fitted it to and the standard of welds that mount it to the shell. That is the important bit.

But the more bars, crosses and braced the better for an Internation standard cage the front has to be braced to the A post and the centre bar to the B post.

John

Ex MSA Scruitneer
Ex Vehicle and Accident investegator

Hi John

One of the oddities of the PBMW regs is that a lot of the safety requirements are above MSA/FIA level for a budget domestic race series. Until this season 6 point roll cages had to have an additional strengthening/reinforcement bar across the main hoop, regardless of FIA/MSA approval of the original cage. Also the cars have to run with an "eared" type seat rather than any FIA approved non eared one. HANS device is strongly recommended in the regs, but not yet mandatory. Building my car for next season (having this season off) and hoping that the budget end of OMP/Sparco do meet the series regs as that's most likely what I'll be using. Need to check the blue book section quoted in the regs before I start spending anything I guess

Cheers
Brian

Brian just make sure you dont get the 40mm diameter tube ones they both do, as that fails to meet regs

JimmyC wrote:Brian just make sure you dont get the 40mm diameter tube ones they both do, as that fails to meet regs

Cheers Jimmy, is 40mm Ok for the cage "bits" as long as the main hoop is bigger? (Sorry, chances Mickey finding his blue book are remote and not sure whether I'm going to renew my licence this year to get my own) Will PM you rather than hijacking this guys thread.

sparco has a 50mm main hoop if that helps has a diaganol on the main hoop aswell.

Brain

Thanks for the info i am not well up on the race regs for each championship, personal if the reg spec additional bars that has to be a positive in my book. Personal I am of the opinion that the race and rally tech group of the msa should get together with the people that build the cars and come up with a spec that is standard across the board I view Hans a being a positive but I have not done a rally with one on, as for the cost of them the MSA and Fia are giving someone the licence to print money this is where the MSA and FIA should step in if they are going to make them compulsery they should make them available at a affordable price.

By the time i had gone thru everyone elses chat i forgot my question i had asked in the first place!!! lol