Build: Track Duty Is Rock Solid…hahaha.

For those of you following the Track Duty build, my title will make sense; however, the rest of you may think me a perv. Haha

After figuring out where I left off, it is time to start again. When I last left you, I had the basic cage structure made and had the main hoop bars and “Nascar” bars remaining. They would then be followed by forward footings, welding, and corner bracing. Normally, I would show you pictures and have you follow me through the build, but I did all the above already.

I will say this before we get into pictures. If you have a an aging project/track car that you feel is showing its age in chassis flex and distortion, a cage may be the answer. I was kneeling on the door bar the other day while welding it up and gave it a little hop. I honestly thought I had forgotten to weld the door bars into the cage that is how much sag I felt. After a quick look I confirmed that I had in fact welded the door bars completely and they were solid. So what was I feeling then? Another quick hop and it was apparent I was feeling the squish in the TIRES! It was a pretty cool realization, I think Minty Smash needs a cage…haha.

Before the door bars could go in. The TD240 had to loose some weight.

Cage dropped for welding of top areas.

Cage dropped, side shot.

Main hoop in its box.

Dropped from the rear.

The reason for droppin' the cage.

The trimmed steering wheel bar.

The mess from notching everything!

Flash forward a day or two. I got the door bars in and welding along with some of the extra bracing.

I didn't like that the rear strut bar and the down bars were not connected which in my mind seemed weak.

This was my answer. I made sure to contact both bars and the strut tower.

Main hoop braces driver side.

Main hoop braces passenger side.

Headache bar bracing driver side.

Headache bar passenger side.

Where the A-pillar meets the roof I welded a plate. Then welded the cage to that for direct chassis contact.

Shows protrusion of the door bar.

Better shot of the protrusion.

Full side shot of cage. Notice the back of the door bar...

Where I had to notch the chassis for the door bar to fit. Welded it there for chassis strength as well.

The main hoop is very tight to the body which allowed me to weld it to the chassis too.

Driver's side cage shot.

Just a cool shot showing the tangle of metal.

Front foot plate.

Shows the minimal intrusion of the cage in the foot well. Nice and Tight.

Head on shot.

From the rear.

The list is shortened significantly now to:
dimple plate the cage (received the dies Friday)
prep, prime, and paint engine bay
prep, prime, and paint cage
prep, prime, and paint the interior