Yup... (Also more pics on my instagram @zilla_wcm)

 

Yup... (Also more pics on my instagram @zilla_wcm)

Looks awesome!!!

 

A rollbar won’t allow you to legally run any faster on an NHRA track than doing nothing. The cars are allowed down to 10.00 without it. 9.99 and faster requires a full cage.

 

I am in Denver and Bandimere Speedway told me that if I go faster than 11.5 I need a roll bar. I got a price from a local builder that will to do a full cage for $800 more than just a roll bar so I am leaning towards a full cage anyway. I highly doubt I will ever break into the 9's at this altitude but at least the car will be a lot safer just in case something was to happen. I have been running 11.7's consistently with the car stock and since then I put the 3.09 rear in the car as well as a 2.85 upper pulley and a tune. I am planning on running 11.1 or so and would be ecstatic if I can break into the high 10's at this altitude. We will see in April when the track opens. I did go from 488 whp to 736 whp at this altitude and the car really woke up now! Only time will tell, lol

 

Ok. I see. Unfortunately the NHRA suffers from this disfunctional nonsense when it comes to rules concerning these cars. Somehow these modern day vehicles with all of their government mandated safety equipment and design can run unmodified at a “street legal” event and are safe down to 10.00. But if you run brackets or some other category of racing then they have to meet the same roll bar requirements as any old piece of junk that never heard of a airbag. If a 6 point bar will get you down 10.00 then I would go with that. A cage is going to be heavier and also not safe on the street where a unhelmeted head could be exposed to the overhead bars. You could always extend the bar into a cage later if needed.

 

 

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That is a beautifully done cage! Where was that done and what do they charge?

 

"That is a beautifully done cage! Where was that done and what do they charge?"

Demon Performance, should have you talk with Skip regarding cost. The cage was part of a little bit bigger project, Don't want to give you an incorrect number.

"That came out really nice! Who did it? I see you are in Highlands Ranch. We are close, I am in Parker! I would love to meet up with you at some point and check out the cage in person. What else do you have done to the car?"

Cool! She'll be home in about 6 weeks. We can meet up then. Has a little engine and driveline work as well.

 

DMNKILR,

I also would like the cage builder info and approx. cost - feel free to private message that info if you like.

I see that yours has A pillar down bars through the dash. Do these go down to the floor? Or attached to the unibody cowl area somewhere? They did a real nice job of keeping the bars tight to the pillar and roof - looks nicely done. Seems to me that part of the cage isn't real well supported and adds very little to roll protection without a straight bar down from that bend at the pillar.... if that makes sense. I hesitate to have that part of a cage put into my car given that it cuts into the dash and has such long steep angles that wouldn't seem to support much impact/crush.

 

DMNKILR,

I also would like the cage builder info and approx. cost - feel free to private message that info if you like.

I see that yours has A pillar down bars through the dash. Do these go down to the floor? Or attached to the unibody cowl area somewhere? They did a real nice job of keeping the bars tight to the pillar and roof - looks nicely done. Seems to me that part of the cage isn't real well supported and adds very little to roll protection without a straight bar down from that bend at the pillar.... if that makes sense. I hesitate to have that part of a cage put into my car given that it cuts into the dash and has such long steep angles that wouldn't seem to support much impact/crush.

Soo, are you saying it's a nice cage, or unsafe lol

 

Demon Performance had Jeff Miller (Jeffmillerperformance.com) lay it out and build it. After bars enter the dash they head for the floorboard and meet the door bars. He did a great job. Everything in the dash still works, didn't even lose a speaker. As regards the angle.... they've put together a few cages in their time. I'm comfortable with their design. This is tight enough to strike a balance between accessibility and both adequate protection and the ability to get a sub 9.99 sec NHRA certification. Plus, a cage that turned and went vertical at the a pillar of junction would end up about 2/3 to 3/4 of the way from the back of the door opening. Might make it a little tough for those of us that could stand to lose a few pounds to get in and out.

 

Do you guys with the cages have any data on how much extra weight got put back into the cars?

 

Do you guys with the cages have any data on how much extra weight got put back into the cars?

Nobody knows...lol. I can guess though. I have the Speedlogix harness bar and it weighs 35 lbs. It is chromoly so it's as light as it can be. A cage like this is going to be about double that or slightly more using the same material. So.... I would guess about 70/75 lbs.

I like the tight fit on the one shown by DMNKILER and the way it follows the pillers through the dash. I would go about bracing overhead and in the rear a little differently, but that is super nice in a minimal design. If it serves the purpose of getting to run sub 10 seconds at the tracks then it's a hot setup for somebody not wanting to fill the car full of tubes to crawl through.

The only thing that concerns me about doing one of these is removing the dash if that is required to get it done. Unless somebody has experience with doing that and getting it back in place without breaking anything.... I don't know. I wouldn't want to have the rattles from hell to live with on the street as a result of not being able to get it back right. Full on race cars it isn't really a concern but for a nice street car (mine).....

I say that because nothing I take out ever goes back right when it comes to this plastic stuff in cars. It's like they are designed to snap together once at the factory and never are the same again once taken apart.

I built a cage for my Mustang a while back and didn't go through the dash. But.... it wasn't something that was used as a street car anymore so the gymnastics of getting in and out weren't a consideration. Not something I would want to do with my HC.

 

View attachment 371593 View attachment 371601
Nobody knows...lol. I can guess though. I have the Speedlogix harness bar and it weighs 35 lbs. It is chromoly so it's as light as it can be. A cage like this is going to be about double that or slightly more using the same material. So.... I would guess about 70/75 lbs.

I like the tight fit on the one shown by DMNKILER and the way it follows the pillers through the dash. I would go about bracing overhead and in the rear a little differently, but that is super nice in a minimal design. If it serves the purpose of getting to run sub 10 seconds at the tracks then it's a hot setup for somebody not wanting to fill the car full of tubes to crawl through.

The only thing that concerns me about doing one of these is removing the dash if that is required to get it done. Unless somebody has experience with doing that and getting it back in place without breaking anything.... I don't know. I wouldn't want to have the rattles from hell to live with on the street as a result of not being able to get it back right. Full on race cars it isn't really a concern but for a nice street car (mine).....

I say that because nothing I take out ever goes back right when it comes to this plastic stuff in cars. It's like they are designed to snap together once at the factory and never are the same again once taken apart.

I built a cage for my Mustang a while back and didn't go through the dash. But.... it wasn't something that was used as a street car anymore so the gymnastics of getting in and out weren't a consideration. Not something I would want to do with my HC.

Can you take a pic of the harness bar in your car?

 

^^^ thank you

 

No idea on the weight yet. As soon as it gets home, I'll get a weight in race trim and post it. A number of other changes were made, but hopefully we can sort out how much weight change is due to what.
Your point on the dash removal is well taken. Both Jeff Miller and Demon Performance haven't found any rattles yet, but it was no small undertaking.....
I've got my NHRA contact for the certification, plan on having it done locally as soon as it comes home. We have done all the other mods besides the cage to make the 9.99 Cert. We can go either window net or not, waiting to hear what the inspector says. I'm hoping the side airbags will suffice as well. If not, the bar and side tube are set up to hang the net. Something else I'll have to post down the road.
I'll post more when it gets back, but it's a little ways off.
I love the ProMod bodies, and Jeff Miller racing ran one of the coolest ones, so I like their fabrication work just a little....

 

No idea on the weight yet. As soon as it gets home, I'll get a weight in race trim and post it. A number of other changes were made, but hopefully we can sort out how much weight change is due to what.
Your point on the dash removal is well taken. Both Jeff Miller and Demon Performance haven't found any rattles yet, but it was no small undertaking.....
I've got my NHRA contact for the certification, plan on having it done locally as soon as it comes home. We have done all the other mods besides the cage to make the 9.99 Cert. We can go either window net or not, waiting to hear what the inspector says. I'm hoping the side airbags will suffice as well. If not, the bar and side tube are set up to hang the net. Something else I'll have to post down the road.
I'll post more when it gets back, but it's a little ways off.
I love the ProMod bodies, and Jeff Miller racing ran one of the coolest ones, so I like their fabrication work just a little.... View attachment 371657 View attachment 371649 View attachment 371665

Awesome, I know you'll be pumped when it get back home!

 

Yes... definitely a very high level of expertise going on there. I can only imaging the amount of work involved in removing the interior, windshield, steering, etc and then fabricate it to those tolerances. You are definitely getting what you pay for but has to be !!!! Thanks for the pics. Always nice to see artist at work.

 

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Is it weird to get sexually aroused by a cage???

 

No. Just don’t try to sleep with it. Very uncomfortable!

 

Great info, even better pics! That rocks.

 

 

 

 

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Man!! What are those door panels doing in there?

 

^^^^^^^^^^^^^ This one is all business. I'm trying to fit mine into a lot of different niches

 

They were not needed to be removed to install the cage.

Plus you have to continue to look GOOD while you knock down those low E.T.s

 

good looking rollbar

 

Man, they did do an amazing job fitting that cage in along the top of the roof and down the a-pillars, the windshield removed pics really show the quality job they did getting it to fit right. The dash work they did to make it fit and work right - top notch! Good to know the bars drop down to the foot plates for the door bars.

Did you have to remove the parking brake for this to work or is it still functioning and accessible?

The mustang cage pics shows what I was talking about perfectly - much stronger support for the a-pillar and front part of the roof in a roll. Given the speeds these cars see, if it rolls over, it's gonna be a multi-roll and the roof will likely take a beating, not just roll onto it's roof once and be done.

I have lots of experience in the off road rock crawling aspect of cages and those are built for a low speed roll situation and aren't generally built to the high speed requirement level. Off road cages for crawlers just need to support the weight of the rig, but not necessarily built to withstand severe impacts, multiple times.....and yes, I'm well aware there are exceptions to this..... like those lunatics running LS engine powered, rockwell axle sportin' 42" stickies at full throttle attack monsters.......

 

Man, they did do an amazing job fitting that cage in along the top of the roof and down the a-pillars, the windshield removed pics really show the quality job they did getting it to fit right. The dash work they did to make it fit and work right - top notch! Good to know the bars drop down to the foot plates for the door bars.

Did you have to remove the parking brake for this to work or is it still functioning and accessible?

The mustang cage pics shows what I was talking about perfectly - much stronger support for the a-pillar and front part of the roof in a roll. Given the speeds these cars see, if it rolls over, it's gonna be a multi-roll and the roof will likely take a beating, not just roll onto it's roof once and be done.

I have lots of experience in the off road rock crawling aspect of cages and those are built for a low speed roll situation and aren't generally built to the high speed requirement level. Off road cages for crawlers just need to support the weight of the rig, but not necessarily built to withstand severe impacts, multiple times.....and yes, I'm well aware there are exceptions to this..... like those lunatics running LS engine powered, rockwell axle sportin' 42" stickies at full throttle attack monsters.......

Yes the Mustang cage was much more ‘braced’ than the one in the HC. I personally built that and designed it that way because it needed to be. That Mustang was a tin can compared to these new cars. Those are poor pictures that dont really show the structure of that thing. It had horizontal bars running the from the rear to the front at the floor under the door bars and also crossed bars from the top of the roll bar tied into a strut tower bar in the rear to stiffen everything. That was because the car was such a Twizler when it came to chassis rigidity that it needed to be tied together way beyond the “subframe connectors” of the day. Anyway... today’s cars like the HC have built in roof and door protection (along with a million airbags) that are so much safer then the cars of that Mustangs era. I wish the NHRA would have someone with automotive engineering knowledge rethink the roll bar requirements for these things. That whole door bar requirement is completely unnecessary with the doors on these cars today.

 

Is it RPM that makes a roll bar for the Hellcat I like the look of it and thought about getting one in white to match my car plus for the safety factor even more so