Carl Johansson

I had promised some people here photos of the welded in 6 point we put in the Bonneville car. Took me some time - the cage was in for a while - but i couldn't figure out how to post images.

From the passenger side - notice the handle we put in to assist exits. Improved exit from 17 seconds to 11 seconds!


From the pass side - Notice beside the traditional Petty bar - we added a similar one on the drivers side - to increase headclearance in case of rollover (more support = no crushdown!


From the drivers side: notice the 2 vertical support bars. originally the seat had 2 earflap stle head supports. They were flimsy and caused exit problems - so we took em off and put in bars to limit horizontal movement of the head (turns out to be a big killer)


From the rear: You can see the hoop construction and the support bars coming down. we cut through the plastic and welded them to the frame - using 4"X6" X 1/4" pads (all feet were anchored in the same way.


Basic design was done by Dave Cooper - formerly Rd Racing - Improvements/ additions done at the suggestion of experienced Bonneville salt Flats racers! All pipes (1.75" DOM) bent using Pneumatic mandrel bender and the bendit computer program.

Carl Johansson

BrianCunningham

Looks like it will keep you save if you turn turtle.

Best of luck with it.

pablocruise

Hi Carl
wow thanx for the pics!
How did the main hoop attach to the car?
(the one that follows the contour of the targa top hoop)

Carl Johansson

It's welded in right behind the seats. There is kind of a ledge there - we cut off the plastic to get at the metal - and custom bent a plate to fit on the ledge - and down the front of it - like angle iron. The tubes are welded to the top part of the plate.

Carl

N.C. Kid

Incredible. It looks amazing. Im speechless.

pablocruise

ahhh...thanx
Yes, this is the same concept I was thinking.
Does the plate connect to the frame under the door sills?

mrgrimes

Looks good.

Did you buy this as a weld in kit or did you make this from scratch?

BlackC6LS3

WOW!

comp

Carl Johansson

You have to cut off the glass on top and the inside of the frame rail. Inside is the frame - but it's not flat on the top - it has a funny u shaped dip in it - I'm sure for strength. So we bent a plate to fit across the top and down the side - then welded it into place. Then welded the bar to the plate. We also cut out fillers to fill in the Ushaped grove on each end of the plate and welded em in - more sturdy and keeps it from collecting water dust etc.

Carl

Carl Johansson

I made it up from scratch. Since Dave Cooper is no longer at RD racing - there is nothing on the market that, in my mind, was well engineered and safe. People will disagreee and tell me Arizona Marine or Autopower etc. I looked at em all - and with my *** on the line - I wasn't happy with their one size fits none approach.

You don't have alot of room inside the car to start with - using a design made to fit several cars and several different organizations - well it didn't work for me.
So I bit the bullet - bought a mandrel bender - and went to work!

carl

raccer

Um, if you don't mind answering " How much did the bender cost?"
and of course: "Have you thought about making a C4 kit?"
(by kit I mean all the bent tubes, unwelded.)
Awesome job on the cage by the way!

-Merrick