Dan's track day to race car progression thread

[martinpallot]

I have a pair of those door bars if you want them as im putting X bars in my cage. Going cheap if you're keen. You'll just need the other halves of the saddle brackets which are available from motorsport tools pretty cheap.

[DanThe]

Thanks Martin but ive got loads of tube I need to use up, I needed just over 7 metres to do what id planned but could only order in 6 metre lengths

Ive already bought the saddle brackets for the door bars too

[Demlotcrew]

Dan, have you got access to a machine to bend these pipes?

[DanThe]

I did the front roof bar with the help of a mates press bend, it only needed a few degrees putting in, similar to your door bars so no chance of squishing them

[DanThe]

Slow progress,,,,, had about 2 hours on it today, got the front brackets made and welded up





Didnt have to cut the body for these, the 10mm nuts dropped into the holes just nice

[UweM3]

I really like what I see. And I am a fussy fart when it comes to welding and fabricating. That's a very good example of what can be done at home just in a garage.

[Demlotcrew]

Very nice Dan and no slotted holes in sight

[GeoffBob]

Very nice Dan and no slotted holes in sight

Agreed, nice work indeed Dan.

[Rallyprep_UK]

fabrication porn. mmmmmmmmmm

[DanThe]

Thanks guys I love my welder

The cage is nearly there at last, just a couple of bends to put into the door bars weld the brackets on then it will be off for powdercoating! Will update soon


Meant to reply to your message the other day Will, but was busy and forgot
Did you see the west midlands E30 lot at the ring? They met your mate with the avo tattoo

[Duke137]

Looks good that does mate, very cool and good skills

[DanThe]

Pretty much there now with the cage itself, this is the plate I made to sit inside the box under the main hoop feet, ive made it so the whole plate can move around independent to the box, ive made some little tags that stop the plate falling away from the underside. The holes in the box are 12mm so its not going to move much, just enough to allow for any miss-measurements.



Door bars now done, had a right fck around getting these, ended up having to buy some different material, still CDS, that would bend in a press bender, the tube I already had just split when trying to bend it



With the seat



Ive kept them low and next to the seat, not above it, had to have quite a large angle at the front to get the tube back up square against the front section so it doesnt look very pretty there.
Thank fook thats done, seems like its taken an age to get this far....
Off for sandblasting and powdercoat next, need to finish welding the boxes and cut the jacking points off the front footwells so I can bolt through the floor.

[Jhonno]

Odd.. The idea of seamless is it doesn't split! Some nice work there though.. Where there's a will, there's a way!

[DanThe]

It split across the tube, not along it like id expect seamed tube to, so its not very bendy
Will get some pics up.

Cage has now been dropped off for blasting

[UweM3]

these are some very tight radii ! Not surprised the CDS gave in.

[DanThe]

Some pics of the split tube







Welding inside the car is now finished, did some prepping and a bit of painting over the last few days, tidied the sunroof edges and painted the roof. Suppose I will have to paint the rest of the inside with lazer blue now though, the undercoat is miles away from the actual colour of the car, why couldnt they chuck an extra litre around the inside while they were on
The chromie has as much paint inside as it does outside

[milescook]

Nice work! How many beers payment would you need to do mine?

[UweM3]

Nice work! How many beers payment would you need to do mine?

you will need to have shares in a brewery I guess.

[DanThe]

Unless its saleable, beer wouldnt interest me for this job! I often thought charges of about £1,000 for fitting a weld in cage was a bit dear, its not, there are much easier ways to earn a living thats for sure

[GeoffBob]

You can never spend too much time or money on something that's going to protect your life.

Sorry, I sound like a fortune cookie

Great work Dan.

[UweM3]

Unless its saleable, beer wouldnt interest me for this job! I often thought charges of about £1,000 for fitting a weld in cage was a bit dear, its not, there are much easier ways to earn a living thats for sure

exactly my findings. £2000 for a welded in cage as a
drive in - drive out job with the car all cleaned up inside ready for painting isn't that much money if you are on the receiving end. It's a lot of work.

[Kos]

makes the 6 point bolt in SD cages seem very reasonable now doesn't it

[UweM3]

makes the 6 point bolt in SD cages seem very reasonable now doesn't it

not the cage cost, the cost for fitting is what is underestimated.

How long would you give a garage to fit a 6 point bolt in cage?
And include all the removal of seats, trims, underseal etc etc.

[Kos]

well getting a bolt in cage fitted is significantly less involved than a weld in that for sure.

people underestimate the costs of cages, full stop !

[DanThe]

Getting there, slowly but surely

Cleaned up the underside of the reinforcing plates and cut off the jacking pads as they were in the way of bolting the front legs down, ran out of etch primer so it had to be dry galv spray, plenty of zinc, its basically an iS in a can!





Underside is now sealed up with some satin black over the top, I cleaned up the back half of the car and got some base coat lazerblue on the case, looks much better than the original undercoat or the standard satin black. Tidied the back end of the loom, removed central locking and courtesy light wiring and re wrapped with cloth tape, looks nice and original









Then decided to wrestle the back half of the cage in as it was back from powdercoat and just waiting to get knocked and chipped. This was a c unt to even get out before I had it coated, I wrapped some rags round the feet to prevent scratches and it seems to have worked





Also blasted some waxoil into the boxes I made as its all dry and bare inside, seems I missed a bit with the mig!

[Mikey_Boy]

Loving this thread Dan - I am getting cage envy!!

[DanThe]

Finally, its all back together and drivable

Kept the doorbars low, didnt want them any higher than the side of the seat for obvious reasons







Alloy footrest, the bolts and rivnuts were heavier I think





Back end showing the harness bar, you can see the blinds here which I bought a couple of weeks ago, they are very nice, I want some for my E34



Outside pics of the shades are not very effective, the sun was going down.









This is how you stick an aftermarket radio blank in place



Got the gauges mounted properly in some plastic and fitted in place of the centre vent, this is at idle (cold)



And this is with a few revs, I think it could be over reading?

[rix313]

Excelent!

Do you have any photo's of how the seats mount to the floor?

[DanThe]

You can see the outside drivers mount in the pic above, they are just bolted to the original seat fixing points in the floor

[Duke137]

Can't wait for a shotgun ride, it was an awesome car before you put the cage in! Running that home made 24 valver

Uber cool mate

[rix313]

What make frames are they and are the seats standard or GT width? My Cobra mounts are a fair way off so had to make a frame for it to sit on, never been overaly happy with the solution.

[DanThe]

Its growing on me even more after the koso car wash and sailing through the MOT this morning Ferg

No idea on either rix, I had to put a spacer between the seat and the inside mounts, about 12mm

[Rav335uk]

Can't wait for a shotgun ride, it was an awesome car before you put the cage in! Running that home made 24 valver

Uber cool mate

Fergi, it's quick ,if it's still got the same engine since I went out shotgun in it.

[DanThe]

Same donk Rav, cant wait to get the cams fitted now and some mapping, I now have some 'go faster' carbon door cards

[Mikey_Boy]

Excellent job Dan! Really super work...

I take it those are performance trim's go-faster carbon door panels?

After a set for idle moments whilst I am getting the S14 installed!

Look forward to seeing it in action!