Browney's Workshop Nova Build's

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by ade

quality metal working skills there matey. I think I need to clean my garage out - your "cleanliness" makes me sick!

---

i think its called ocd mate you should see the my room and work van lol

i cant help it lol

damn that cage is impressive, good welding skills too. looks like you could drive it off a cliff, bosh it up, and carry on going.

is this going to be a competition rally wagon by any chance ?

Hi mate, reasonable effort I must say!

Just a couple of points to maybe help you out a bit...

First off, the harness mount plates should be inside the tunnel, they're spreader plates and are designed so that in a crash they have to pull through the panel. Welded on top it's too easy for them to rip free in a heavy shunt. Best way is to drill 3 11.5mm holes, 1 for the thread and 2 for puddle welds on opposite corners of the plate, keeps the heat affected area down making the mount stronger.

Next, your tunnel brace, or hoop brace or whatever they've called it, where it meets the hoop it should be at the same height as the door bars and rear stays for the most effective triangulationand hence strength. Just a minor thing as you have it pretty close anyway :)

And your issues with it hitting the roof and sides, it should touch the side of the car as that allows you to stitch it to the shell. As for the roof, there are a few options,
either the hoop is a little too long and needs 5mm or so taking off each end.
It could be bent unevenly and need a bit taking off one end so it sits square (very common due to the stretch in the metal as it gets bent), easiest way to check for this is to put a straight edge against the top of the hoop (on the straght bit) and measure down to the foot. Both sides should be the same.
You may have the hoop slightly too far forward or too far back,
Or it could be (probably most likely) that the cage was designed for cars with the roof strengthener cut out.

Hope this is of some help

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by jimbob-mcgrew

damn that cage is impressive, good welding skills too. looks like you could drive it off a cliff, bosh it up, and carry on going.

is this going to be a competition rally wagon by any chance ?

---

cheers mate, no mate just want it to save my life if anything ever goes wrong planning to doing some track, strip and hight speed runs :thumb:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Sturge

Hi mate, reasonable effort I must say!

Just a couple of points to maybe help you out a bit...

First off, the harness mount plates should be inside the tunnel, they're spreader plates and are designed so that in a crash they have to pull through the panel. Welded on top it's too easy for them to rip free in a heavy shunt. Best way is to drill 3 11.5mm holes, 1 for the thread and 2 for puddle welds on opposite corners of the plate, keeps the heat affected area down making the mount stronger.

Next, your tunnel brace, or hoop brace or whatever they've called it, where it meets the hoop it should be at the same height as the door bars and rear stays for the most effective triangulationand hence strength. Just a minor thing as you have it pretty close anyway :)

And your issues with it hitting the roof and sides, it should touch the side of the car as that allows you to stitch it to the shell. As for the roof, there are a few options,
either the hoop is a little too long and needs 5mm or so taking off each end.
It could be bent unevenly and need a bit taking off one end so it sits square (very common due to the stretch in the metal as it gets bent), easiest way to check for this is to put a straight edge against the top of the hoop (on the straght bit) and measure down to the foot. Both sides should be the same.
You may have the hoop slightly too far forward or too far back,
Or it could be (probably most likely) that the cage was designed for cars with the roof strengthener cut out.

Hope this is of some help

---

Thanks for you comments sturge,

with regards to the spreader plates i have already welded them in wtf should i do with them now as there is no way they are coming out :cry:

with regards to the hoop brace i am a little unsure weather i am going to use that setup at the minute, i may end up putting an x in there but fear it maybe more weight thats wasted over strength, there is still an x to go in back half of the cage yet. i can adj the height they sit at because i have still go to weld a spreader plate on were it meets the tunnel.

The cage a brought was just the hoop and lots of straight bits so i have had to profile and legth all the tubes my self, the main hoop didnt fit into start with so after trimming it down its just touching the roof as are the pillars which is what i wanted. The reason i bought an unprofiled cage rather than a profiled on :thumb:

Would you mind Pm'ing me how much and where that cage was from please browney?

pm sent buddy

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by djbrowney

with regards to the spreader plates i have already welded them in wtf should i do with them now as there is no way they are coming out :cry:

---

buy another set and use them on the other side :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by djbrowney

Thanks for you comments sturge,

with regards to the spreader plates i have already welded them in wtf should i do with them now as there is no way they are coming out :cry:

with regards to the hoop brace i am a little unsure weather i am going to use that setup at the minute, i may end up putting an x in there but fear it maybe more weight thats wasted over strength, there is still an x to go in back half of the cage yet. i can adj the height they sit at because i have still go to weld a spreader plate on were it meets the tunnel.

The cage a brought was just the hoop and lots of straight bits so i have had to profile and legth all the tubes my self, the main hoop didnt fit into start with so after trimming it down its just touching the roof as are the pillars which is what i wanted. The reason i bought an unprofiled cage rather than a profiled on :thumb:

---

Personally I'd probably just leave it where it is now lol was more for future reference and anybody else planning on fitting them :)

I think I probably prefer the x idea myself, provides a bit more support if you put it on it's roof, but then the current setup gives a lot more support in the event of a heavy side impact. 6 and two 3's I guess. Although a horizontal tube touching the tunnel with a V going from the centre of that to the top corners of the hoop is a more modern option. or even a horizontal level with the door bars and rear stay cutting through a single diagonal. Loads of options to consider depending on what you feel suits you best :thumb:

Must've picked you up wrong about it touching the roof, thought you didn't want that :wall: my bad lol

Fair play profiling it yourself too, it's a crap job to get right even with all the right equipment :thumb:

awesome skill going on in this build, keep it up.