Thought you might be interested to see...

[Shad]

..the latest addition to my car



















Just need to sort out dashboard fitment, have the dash bar welded up and get it painted.

Testing in August, race 1 in September, full season in 2008... lots to do!!

[Moby-Dick]

nice cage !

Zak'll love it

[Ant]

Snazzy mate! That's looking great. What more have you got planned?

[Shad]

Lots! Need to complete interior fabrication next which means getting the fuel cell sorted, new brake and fuel lines mounted up, dashboard in place etc. Then it can go out to paint, got a new engine to be built, electrical stuff, extinguisher, misc bits.

Then lots of testing

[BenW]

Very nice cage, wonder how much difference it will make to the handling of the car

[dave87]

Looking good, how long did it take to get fitted?

[Shad]

5 working days

The car is already much stiffer, lifting a front wheel while coming off the trailer and onto the drive yesterday! It was also happily sitting on 3 axel stands earlier as well

Found some problems today though... seat mounts are too far apart for my seat and I've got no headroom where I need my seat due to the roof diagonal. I'll have to have the seat right back almost in line with the door piller, but that means I'll need a pedal box and steering column extension.


£££

[jon bda]

Sexy scaffolding...

[Zak33]

AWESOME

Mines a Custom Cage too, and you my friend are about to experience a change in handling like non ytou've had yet.

When my Astra got it's cage and I drove it afterwards I nearly wet myself. It is the BEST thing.

You have GOTTA be proud of that

[Zak33]

oh im moist....I've just spotted the dash cross piece which is an AMAZING thing to have (me got one of those too, but the dash was a nightmare to put back andI lost allthe heat pipes to the side windows )

But I must ask (don't cry if the answers NO)

Does it triangulate through the front bulkhead onto the front turrets?

[Shad]

Thought you'd like it

No front triangulation, which is why there is gusseting inside to join it with the inside of the arches. The reason being that the towers are very close to the bulkhead already which helps safety wise. They could have done it (would have been a special case for me, no previous CRXs have had triangulation) but it would have meant I'd need to relocate the wiper motor and the throttle cable and possibly the clutch cable too.

It was something I specifically talked about when I first spoke to them but it would have been too much hassle for not that much benefit. I was already slightly over-budget by that point too


The down side is it seems like there will be quite a bit more fabrication required. The gear stick needs to come further back too, not sure how that could be done yet. I think I need to leave it with someone for all these problems to just be made to go away


Oh and the dash bar might be a nightmare for me too! Where the front tubes come down and with the gusseting, I can't get to any of the original dash mount points apart from one in the middle of the screen and a couple on the exhaust tunnel. I think I'll need to remove quite a bit of dash to get it to fit, but I really want to get it in to keep it looking tidy.

All good fun

[SilentDeath]

looks awesome, but it looks heavy... very...

[Moby-Dick]

Its pretty light car to start with but the benefits in having as stiff as if it had taken viagra and the fact that it WILL safe your life if you stack it outweigh it. Its also an essential once you hit certain levels of competition.

Why don't you try form something like Time Attack shad ?

[Shad]

Poor value for money. For the price of a Time Attack entry I could do a full race day including practice, qualifying and a 40 minute race.

Also it's easier to build a competitive car for Tin Tops than Time Attack

[Moby-Dick]

Its not too cheap - but I'd imagine a good position in TA would aid any possible sponsorship deals ?

[IainB]

Looking good Shad
Mind if I ask how much it cost - im assuming its CDS2 tubing?
Any why didnt they finish Tigging in the cross piece? (or is it a) my eyesite or b) only tacked in case you want to remove it?)