mike4444244 Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Hi guys completely OT i'm afraid , I am restoring Cats mini for her, having seen the horrific results of mini crashes several times before we would like to put a cage in, this company here do cheap cages, they offer a 33.7mm CHS cage for £150 which i think is good value, and they offer the same in 48mm CDS for £550, again good value but still a sizeable chunk of cash... Is the CHS cage going to be strong 'enough'? i know its seamed but it has got 3mm wall thickness, also any roll in a mini will write it off so it hasnt got to survive multiple play days etc... given the small chance of a roll as its not being used competitively, is the extra cost of CDS justified? I think I know the answer myself but i'd like to have some other opinion... most of the mini forums i go on advise the fitting of 'show' cages mainly so you can mount your polished fire extinguisher and bling harnesses to it thanks mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro_Al Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 It'll be fine. As long as its not made from scaffold tube or similar, I'd be far more worried about the geometry, mounting points and quality of the fabrication than the material its made from. Buy yourself 400 quids worth of fluffy dice instead. Al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike4444244 Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 lol i'll let her know, I can get access to plenty of steel as I have a friend who is a welder so i'll be improving the design slightly anyway with a few more triangles and bigger feet etc, i want to get it welded in so i can cut all the grot out of the floor and sills without the shell corkscrewing, wish i'd never started the damn thing now but hey it only cost £48 Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hybrid_From_Hell Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 Hi guyscompletely OT i'm afraid , I am restoring Cats mini for her, having seen the horrific results of mini crashes several times before we would like to put a cage in, this company here do cheap cages, they offer a 33.7mm CHS cage for £150 which i think is good value, and they offer the same in 48mm CDS for £550, again good value but still a sizeable chunk of cash... Is the CHS cage going to be strong 'enough'? i know its seamed but it has got 3mm wall thickness, also any roll in a mini will write it off so it hasnt got to survive multiple play days etc... given the small chance of a roll as its not being used competitively, is the extra cost of CDS justified? I think I know the answer myself but i'd like to have some other opinion... most of the mini forums i go on advise the fitting of 'show' cages mainly so you can mount your polished fire extinguisher and bling harnesses to it thanks mike I would go for the MSA/FIA cages in CDS Period. Nige Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike4444244 Posted January 7, 2008 Author Share Posted January 7, 2008 thanks nige, kind of what i was thinking, just needed a gentle nudge to crowbar open the wallet mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro_Al Posted January 7, 2008 Share Posted January 7, 2008 DOH! Foiled again! [Mumble mumble ... 'Period' indeed ... bl**dy Americanisation... Grumble grumble...] Al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanny Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 I have a friend who is a welder pah, he's my friend, get your own. Oh he's still immobile at the moment as well. It's pretty simple choice really, there is a reason why all MSA and FIA require cold drawn and it isn't for the cost. I figure worst case scenario is a roll over, and given the shape of the mini i would imagine it will roll quite a few times, CHS is great for structure and load bearing, but i wouldn't want to repeatedly load it too many times as it WILL burst! I've met your wife and she's worth at LEAST the extra couple of hundred! I suspect most likely scenario when a cage would be needed (assuming your not driving) is on the motorway, big truck, little car, blind spot not a good mix all in all. It's not like your even paying! CDS period Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Mike, I also have a Mini and would be more than interested to know which one you settle on.. (if it's an 'off the shelf' job). Driving a rover mini cooper every day and working in Road Safety sometimes means I'm driving home concentrating extra hard! Most I've seen during my investigating do look more like show pieces Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon White Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 I had a rollcentre rollcage in my mini years ago. It was absolutely fine, however there are a couple of things to be aware of:- Door bars make getting in and out of the thing a PITA especially if you have bucket seats. A rear cage makes the rear seat unuseable if you get one with a diagonal (pointless having a cage without one IMHO) The front cage gets in the way of the sun visors so you cant use them. Finally make sure the cage is well mounted to the shell. It really need reinforcing plates welded to the bodyshell to bolt the cage to, as just bolting it through the existing panels is not strong enough, and in the event of an accident the cage will get torn out of the bodyshell. HTH Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Excellent advice The front cage gets in the way of the sun visors so you cant use them. Being 5ft 11" I've removed the drivers one already, it got in the way and when it was down I was lucky if I could see the end of the bonnet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon White Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 :-) I'm 6ft and dorve the thing - I just move the front seats down and back! One other thing - dont go for the "italian job" style cages with the rear mount that goes through the parcel shelf. Its not strong enough for mounting anything whatsoever to! Jon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 :-) I'm 6ft and dorve the thing - I just move the front seats down and back! Yeah, I already have extension plates on the drivers seat so it's as back as far as it can possibly go now I rarely use the back seats so don't see that as an issue and getting in and out with door bars shouldn't be a problem - that's what Yoga's for I'll probably rely on my air bags and side impact bars (posh mini dont'ca know ) but will still be interested to see what Mike settles on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
v8bertha Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 I'll probably rely on my air bags And what very nice air bags they are too my sweet! My coat and a black eye.... why, thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike4444244 Posted January 10, 2008 Author Share Posted January 10, 2008 thanks for all the above, given the design of that cage it could benefit from a bit of uprating, especially the mounts, I do tend to over engineer things normally (much to vannys disgust) and will be incorporating my own sillbars (i have to remove both sills anyway and theres space to put some tube down the length to tie front and rear mounts together), and other bits and pieces to make it mount properly. The idea is to save time and effort and get the cds cage, and order a length in then i can add bits as i install it, a fully braced cage would be ideal but it loses out in practicality as SWMBO will want to take friends shopping etc so back seat access must be kept... will hopefully get it ordered on payday then i can get on with chopping up the sills Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bishbosh Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 And what very nice air bags they are too my sweet! My coat and a black eye.... why, thank you! Would you like Lillies at your funeral Dan..? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fatboy Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 I crewed for one of this mob at the Tour of Mull this year. I can thoroughly recommend a chat with Daniel Harper at Minisport if you need some advice... He had some very trick toys on his machine! B) www.minisport.com Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astro_Al Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 At the risk of looking like I'm back pedalling... Re-reading the first post, I thought the options were blueband equiv. or CDS (hence saying blueband would do the job). As I said originally, I wouldn't suggest going with anything with burstable seams. Sorry for the confusion - I'm, regardless of cost, in no way recommending a cage made from cold-pressed sparrow farts. Words eaten. That will should teach me to read it before wading in... Now, what were you saying about air bags? Al. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jen Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 Would you like Lillies at your funeral Dan..? Bish, you are assuming there'll be enough left for a funeral.... Mike, sounds like your doing an interesting job, is there are pics etc anywhere on the internet (something like a mini version of our members vehicles?) .. one of my other vapour builds will be a 1978 Mini when I've finished my series and yours sounds like it's going to be pretty solid and to me that makes it interesting B) I'll second Mini Sport, always been good when I've used them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike4444244 Posted January 10, 2008 Author Share Posted January 10, 2008 lol i think at the moment cat is responsible for funding minisport! jen pm me your email and i'll send you what photos i have! Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vanny Posted January 10, 2008 Share Posted January 10, 2008 send yer pics to me and i'll build the mini a website ! i've probably got about 8 years before the mini is complete Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dazzler Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 just a bit of interesting reading for you http://www.minidirectory.co.uk/phpBB3/view...?f=1&t=7246 I would definatley recommend a saftey devices cage worth the extra cash IMO Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike4444244 Posted March 28, 2008 Author Share Posted March 28, 2008 Hmmm yes does look a bit suspect, mind you safety devices are no better since they moved out to poland or wherever, looks like i'll have to ask northern chris nicely! Ta Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smo Posted March 28, 2008 Share Posted March 28, 2008 Scary cages in that link, most have zero bracing so are useless.... Personally i'd give shaun @ north offroad a call, he can definitely build you a proper cage that will work and be a good fit with a good finish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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