Move existing roll cage to new (identical) car? Cost effective?

[turbogrill]

Hi,

 

Is it cost effective to move a roll cage to a new car? The car is identical to the existing one. 

Or does it make sense to just fab a new cage.

 

 

 

 

[TiredBirds]

that's why we have this as a spare.... step 1 cut out old roll cage, step 2 remove roof step 3 weld roll cage in step 4 re-weld roof.  Our cage cost over $3000....

[LAMR2]

Didn't you just race your first race? What happened to make you want to change shells already?

[turbophil]

We had our first car wrecked.  We rough cut the cage out and cleaned up the bases, levelled and braced the new car before cutting the roof off.  It wasn't difficult and less time/money than building a new cage. 

[Team Infiniti]

If the cage is good, transfer it and save a ton of hassle/money

 

 Cut deep into the junk car, trim it back as needed.

Edited March 20, 2017 by Team Infiniti

[mhr650]

I did it and it was pretty easy. I cut the top off of the wrecked car to get the cage out, then cut the cage into 2 pieces. On piece was the main hoop and door bars, the other piece was the halo and front down tubes. Welded in new base plates and cleaned up the bottom tubes to fit. While I was at it I moved the cage as far as possible to the drivers side and gained more than a half inch of helmet clearance.

 

I welded in new rear down tubes because I didn't like how they were in the old car. There is the biggest issue, almost everyone has something they would do different if you were to do a cage a second time so it's really tempting to just start over. 

[theamsoilguy]

I have done it with ice racers. We cut the cage in a few as places as possible to remove. New base plates in the second car and then sleeve the bars. You have to make sure the rules allow this for whatever series you run the car. Sleeve is the same as a bolt in cage anyways. However we sleeve inside then weld and outside and weld. The sleeved part is stronger than the original cage. This way it is done without removing the roof of the new car.

 

Cut the main hoop and a-pillar right at the base plates. Knee bar on each side to sleeve. Make new rear uprights and door bars ( or sleeve the door bars ). And then somewhere on the halo hoop about 6 inches from the main hoop and sleeve that.

 

[Brick House Racing]

I moved one between e30s.  Cut the cage out of the old car including base plates.  Grind the sheet metal off the base plates.  Cut the roof off the new car mid pillar.  Make sure you weld braces on the new car below the cuts to maintain the structure integrity.  Drop on the new cage and weld the roof on.  Much easier than making a new cage and costs nearly nothing.  I did need to spread the new shell a little to get the cage to drop in but it popped right back in place and the roof fit back on nicely.

[Brick House Racing]

It also gives you the opportunity to inspect and improve the cage welds in hard to reach places while the cage is out.

[Evilwheel]

Do it, we did it, unless you want two cars to play with ???        We were able to keep our cage fully intact and just cut the roofs off and transplant.  

[Black Magic]

Keep in mind it is often easier to "clip" a damaged car. I have done this to the neon once. It took 8 hours to replace the car from the strut towers fowards, much faster than building a new car. 

 

On the neon this is easy because the k member was left intact. Using oem spot welds it is possible to realighn the clip close enough to allow suspension realignment to oem specs. 

 

The front clipped neon was wrecked last december to the point it was a total loss. Not even one crack was present at the point where the car was clipped. Devil is in the details, but done well the repair is stronger than new. Pm me if you need example pics. 

[turbogrill]

My problem is that our current car is cursed. 

 

I figured if we get a new car and cast some magic spells the new car will be much faster.