Oh no. Not another M2 project.

[Lee]

The upper pan has now received the extension to seal. It is not welded yet.

[Lee]

Now to the next step. The bolt-on cage was removed and packed. The 2002 is now, since this morning, in warm garage where we are going (a friend and myself) to fabricate a 10 point cage, fully gussetted to the shell, with pick-up points on the front shock towers.

X to the back, X in the doors, underdash bar, firewall protection, etc. cage could have ben done in 1.5" tubing, but I elected bigger 1.75" as we already have te dies for the bender. We will holesaw 1.75" holes in the floor to allow lowering the cage when welding top portions. Then raise the cage and insert the floor plates at the end. Pictures to be posted when job starts.

Lee

[Lee]

Worked today on my 2002. Removed the dash, doors, windshield, side glass.

Started working on the cage. My friend and I went thru three sections of DOM until we got the perfect shape and length for the main hoop. It has about 1/4" clearance on top and on the sides. The bottom tubes will be cut by about 1/2" to fit over the rockers instead of being welded flat on the floor. The current fit is now perfect.

Tomorrow, we'll do the front bars. They go thru the under dash steel piece, so I will cut it out on the side, install the front bars, and then reweld the steel pieces around the front cage. We are doing X bars in the doors too. The whole cage will be fully gussetted to the shell for extra stiffness.

Will start posting pictures on Monday.

Still wondering how to do the underdash reinforcement tube while being able to remove the heater box down the road... Hmmm...

Lee

[peteinjp]

I'm sure you saw the cage discussion currently going on over at s14power- jake mentioned wanting to use something like this for removable sections. Could be a good way to pull one tube for access to the heater etc.... NOt sure how it would hold up but maybe worth an inquiry- or maybe something exists for this exact purpose.

Take tons of pics!!!!

http://www.sandsmachine.com/spec_ssc.htm

[Lee]

On Satuday, my friend with who I build my cage, was away to pick a 300hp (rear wheel power) Stickley motor for his own e46 racecar. We only worked on Sunday but achieved a few good things.

1- The dash bar is made. It goes on top of the steel tray and will be gussetted to the bulkhead.

2- The windshield bar is also done. Very nice and tight. It is also straigt with bends in the corner. It follows the shape of the upper windshield.

3- We also sanded all tubes before tacking them.

Next weekend , we will tack the cage in place. Work on the "V" in the roof area. Then tack everything and start welding the center portion of the cage. Then lowere it thru the floorpan to weld the top. Then back up on the floorpan, and time to make the door Xs and the reinforcements to the shock towers, thru the firewall.

[Lee]

We are now three weekends of work into the project. The whole cage when finished will have used about 120 feet of 1.75" x 0.095 DOM.

The pictures show where we are at now. Tubes are only tacked in place for test fitting. We are still missing the front bars to the shock towers, the X in the main hoop and the X to the rear. Four holes will be cut in the floor to lower the cage when we need to weld top sections. The cage will be fully gussetted to the shell after the cage is fully welded together. The lower tubes have been spliced in two (logitudinally) and welded on the rockers with minimal surface on the floorpans. The plates shown are temporary.

Enjoy. remember, it is not finished yet.

[JohnN]

(nt)

[Lee]

I don't know the brand. It is hydraulic and works on a compressor. Pretty easy to use. We did 4 rollbars last year. and this is the second full cage we do. The previous car was an e46.

[peteinjp]

Looks great Lee. With the lower sections spliced onto the inner rockers how will you lower it down through the floor to weld?

Also will the rear diagonals up from the wheel wells converge in the middle section of the main hoop (where the sections from the a-pillar meet) or will there be an X going to the top of the b-pillar section?

looks excellent!

Pete

[Lee]

Hi Pete

The tubes on the main hoop are currently slightly pressured onto the rockers with the hydraulic jack. When pressure is released, the posts will distance off the rockers and will go thru the floorpan. Remember that the cage is currently only tacked in place for test fitting.

The X in the rear section will probably start fro the main hoop's corners. As per FIA rules.

Lee

[Lee]

Also got that this weekend. On top of the fiberglass airbox I already had.

[Mike_B]

Did you get that piece from Jed, Markus, or Germany John?

[Lee]

This is the German airbox. It does have differences with the one offered by Jed in the US: runners' shape and length are different. Let's not forget the German airbox is also a ot more $$$$. I was extremely lucky to get mine at 25% its original cost. And it is like new.

[Mike_B]

Is it the 2002 specific airbox?

[Lee]

Is it the 2002 specific airbox?

No. But as I won't run a brake booster, it is not a problem.