tjZ06

...for those of you that have had a C5 caged, what did it run? I'm considering have my Z caged-up. With the power and traction it has it just seems prudent, even if I'm not W2W racing. I'm curious what I'm getting into.

Thanks,
TJ

Jaymz

I would say that about 5k would cover it for a nice cage.

96CollectorSport

Give or take depending on what options you want.
Do yourself a favor and go to someone who has done a C5/C6 or two and if possible "try one on", see how you fit in the car with the cage and see if there are any things you need moved to fit you as a driver.
You'll be happy you did.

tjZ06

Thanks, that sounds like what I was expecting. I contacted a local builder who's done a lot of NASA/SCCA/CMC cars, including C5/6s. I'm in Afghanistan for another ~4 months and would love to take advantage of the forced down-time to get it done IF I decide to go for it. I know the final work (seat mounting etc) will need to wait 'til I'm there to measure up. But I think a lot of it could get done in my absence.

-TJ

exracer28

If you prep the car I would expect $2-3K. Lots of labor cost to prep car. Some shops want the fuel tanks out along with the windshield. On the last C5 I did we pulled all of the interior to include dash, fuel tanks and windshield out was less then 2k by Kirks, a local SE cage builder. The more you do the less you have to pay to have someone else to do but I enjoy working on the car where my racing partner is willing to pay for everything done.

Make sure the shop has a current copy of the GCR and agree to build a cage that will pass inspection.

BERETTA

I agree with the above posts, 4-5K should do it. On the C5Z you need to pull the rear window too. I think it is the best and the most important thing you can do if you are going to track your car...

sperkins

That's exactly what we did and saved a TON of money.

SIK02SS

Please make sure you have the cage built to SCCA/NASA standards. You may not race W2W now, but you may decide to in the future. Or if you sell the car, the next owner may want to.

I highly recommend printing out the rules for both (if they aren't the same) and give them to the builder and make sure they read through everything about the cages and abide by them...

Bink

Whatever you do don't buy a Wolfe drag race cage. I wasted a few bucks on that. Live and learn.

John Shiels

price I recieved

John Shiels

What happen with it?

0Randy@DRM

We get 5500 bucks painted in Flat black. Some of the tricker cages end up being more.

Randy

2000BSME

along the lines of things that you need to do to weld in a roll cage: putting the fuel tanks back into my vette with the driveline intact was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do mechanically. I wouldn't recommend approaching that job 'lightly'.

tjZ06

Mind PMing me who/where?

I wish you guys were closer. I'd have to spend $2k+ just to ship my car back and forth to you.

-TJ

Jason

Would it helpt to cut an access hole in the tub?

sperkins

Good lord I couldn't even imagine that. It was hard enough putting the tanks back in with everything out.

Jason

I can't wait.

tjZ06

I got a rough quote back from my local builder. It was right in line with what you all have said. Also, the first question he asked was which sanctioning bodies/series I was considering running so he could make sure it is legal. I think I'm going to move forward with it.

I still have some things to figure out though. Should I have it extended through the firewall to tie in with the front frame/suspension pick-up points?

If we do it, I'll also be deleting the airbags, going with a lightweight steering wheel, and some Kirkey seats with seat-mounts integrated into the cage (including seat back supports).

Anything else I should be thinking about?

-TJ

gkmccready

TJ, give Tony a call at www.tcdesignfab.com ... they build a lot of cages for folks around SFBA and I think they even show a C5 cage on their website. They've got my RX7 over there right now... you'll need to decide which rules package you want to build the cage to as it'll dictate much of the build.

BuckeyeZ06

IIRC, tying the front shock towers to the cage is not legal in T1. Get rid of those airbags, you can shed some weight and make the car safer by doing so.