Cheers pal, I had a quick read and decided Im not going to race!! It means more mods to what Ive already done, and to be honest as long as its safe for my family which it will be, Im happy. It would mean I would have to compromise too much to get it all to conform to regs, and the interior would suffer, sheila says no!

Onto today progress and theres no going back now...

Started off by welding in two foot plates for the main hoop, they are 120mm x 100mm x 4mm and they fold up the back of the front wheel tub behind the bulkhead. All welded in...



Then set about the front anti leg mashing frame, already had a bit done on this before so it was a matter of continuing where I left off really and mirroring it, but I decided whilst the front panel was off to strengthen things considerably...



If you look closely you will see Ive popped a piece of 40x40x4 in the crossmember and welded it in, then sandwiched it to drop the uprights off, its extremely strong!! That enables me to attach the drops from the halo bars to it, which will really help in a frontal impact...

Gave it all a coat of rattle can primer for the night and popped the front panel on with some clamps just to check clearances, all good, got the left side to sort tomorrow, the tubes are ready as I bent those today, just need welding in, then its the halo bar and the A-pillar drops... Tomorrow!!



Cheers guys, hope it makes sense!!

You can still race just not in any 'proper' classes, RWYB is fine and you've already done more than most who do

Good work as always

With all the extra metal you're putting in the fuel economy's bound to suffer.I just wish more people were like you

Not bad youth for a beginner!!

I know and Im happy to settle for that really as its for safety really. At least in a crash our legs wont instantly be severed!



Good job I have a friend in that game then isnt it really



Cheers bud! Im learning...

Pics are just uploading ready for the next update, its a gooden, even if I say so myself!!

So a long day today on the van, started early and within 10mins of bein there ran out of welding gas!!! So a 1 and a half hour round trip later and we were cooking/welding on gas again!

Needed to get the Right hand support in for the pedal assembly so fishmouthed a 20x40mm box to the correct profile and zipped that in...



Zipped in



Then decided I needed to get everything behind the dash in the cab area sorted before finishing stripping the old paint and priming it. This meant the roll cage needed finishing, daunting!

After copious measurements and a template, started bending...



And fish-mouthing properly too



After about two hours and thirty trial fits we had this...



To say I was happy is a huuuge understatement, I am sooooo chuffed, never ever built a cage before so expected a lot of wasted tube which is quite expensive, but managed it and Im really happy with the result, its not a bodge!!



I didnt photo the making of the drop bar in the middle of the nose, but its fixed to the top of the H piece in the middle.



...



Its discreet which was Shielas request too from the sides you can only see the centre support and from the front it looks like this...



Know its sacrilege to some but its perfect for our little family, and I am happy as larry!!

More tomorrow!!

Bloody hell Wejjy, that looks solid

Remind me to make sure that you're not following me in the convoy to Stanford Hall in case I stop quick

Once it's all painted I'm not sure that it's really going to notice to an untrained eye, which is a credit to you. Well done

Haha! I know, I think I will be able to go through things now with it, I can lift the front with the engine hoist via that H beam alone!

Hopefully it will be discreet, with kick panels in place most of it will be out of sight and then the headliner will take your eye more than the hoop. We hope! Soon see as paint is getting closer!

Cheers mate!

Edit: forgot to post this...



The old one is on the right, and the new on the left, almost twice the size and power, exciting!!

Blimey you really are cracking on....well done


It look the dog's mate


chuffed for you and you've made a hard job look easy so hats off to you sir


Mark

Nice looking cage buddy. Great skills on show here!

Just spotted a problem……



Where's your ash tray going?

Haha, one step ahead mate, it fits in the original place, and it still opens too! Not that I will use it but I may pop a couple of usb charging points in it to charge the phones etc.

Well spotted though, you must study these piccies!!

Hi mate Just went through all 15 pages. Great skill and amazing work going on. Love the roll cage and peddles




marco

Cheers pal. Glad you like her!

Update coming later on, just uploading some piccies...

Great thread.
I always thought a roll cage is something that is not done enough on these splits.
That and a flipped gearbox tdi conversion.