Well... after this last accident...
Mar. 2nd, 2005 07:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolfwings...I've started looking into what a proper roll-cage actually costs.
And I ran across Red Line Motor Sports which specialized in unassembled rollcages, semi-customized to order.
Right now, whatever car I get next is going to have a roll cage installed, I'm taking this as a given simply because I don't feel like being wedged into the seat again, I'd rather have proper restraints and bounce around like a pinball than have my roof touch the floor next time. That, and it would allow me to mount proper harnesses inside the car.
Now to figure out what configuration to buy... the downside of more bars on the doors is that it makes the doors less and less usable, to the point where I'll eventually have to get in and out of the car Dukes of Hazard style if I went for 4 door bars on both sides, or just have to step over high bars if I went for the 2-bar 'Z' configuration. Mind you, in the DoH-layout, I could be side-impacted by a H2 and bounce away, other than the custom-molded door that would result when it wrapped around the steel tubing.
Solutions to the DoH problem mostly involve cutting in a T-Top style hatching system, and various ways to integrate that with the main door panels somehow, preferably to retain the 'drive into a cave and rotate something aside to climb out' concept the car had originally. Though, with the DoH-style layout, making the front windows slide into the rear body panels would work, akin to how a locomotive's train-doors function. Something similair could in fact work for the entire T-Top section including the front window, assuming I left enough room in the headliner for something like that. :-) It would just look odd, having that recessed area 'breaking' the lines of the roof where the slide-in sections were mounted.
If I go for one of their roll-cages, the most likely layout I'll get is the 4544X set, which is about $270 before shipping and handling. After that, I'll have to figure out the roll-cage construction for the back area of the civic I'll get, and seating. Seating will most likely be akin to a military hummer, but with a bench seat only along one side of the rear that can seat either two or three abreast, with leg-room and dedicated equipment storage across from that. Extra components (tools, spare tires and the like) would be mounted opposite that to balance the unloaded weight side-to-side, with loaded weight being sorted out seperately on a case-by-case basis. The bench seat would also serve to counter-balance my weight as the driver in the vehicle to begin with, actually.
The back 'door' I've decided is going to be rather unique, though. Nothing that fancy, actually. Just a roll-up panel door, like you'd find on a garage door, that has the track in the headliner. Something like a roll-up door but instead of the 'huge cylinder' that everything rolls into, it'll all just slide along a track.
And I ran across Red Line Motor Sports which specialized in unassembled rollcages, semi-customized to order.
Right now, whatever car I get next is going to have a roll cage installed, I'm taking this as a given simply because I don't feel like being wedged into the seat again, I'd rather have proper restraints and bounce around like a pinball than have my roof touch the floor next time. That, and it would allow me to mount proper harnesses inside the car.
Now to figure out what configuration to buy... the downside of more bars on the doors is that it makes the doors less and less usable, to the point where I'll eventually have to get in and out of the car Dukes of Hazard style if I went for 4 door bars on both sides, or just have to step over high bars if I went for the 2-bar 'Z' configuration. Mind you, in the DoH-layout, I could be side-impacted by a H2 and bounce away, other than the custom-molded door that would result when it wrapped around the steel tubing.
Solutions to the DoH problem mostly involve cutting in a T-Top style hatching system, and various ways to integrate that with the main door panels somehow, preferably to retain the 'drive into a cave and rotate something aside to climb out' concept the car had originally. Though, with the DoH-style layout, making the front windows slide into the rear body panels would work, akin to how a locomotive's train-doors function. Something similair could in fact work for the entire T-Top section including the front window, assuming I left enough room in the headliner for something like that. :-) It would just look odd, having that recessed area 'breaking' the lines of the roof where the slide-in sections were mounted.
If I go for one of their roll-cages, the most likely layout I'll get is the 4544X set, which is about $270 before shipping and handling. After that, I'll have to figure out the roll-cage construction for the back area of the civic I'll get, and seating. Seating will most likely be akin to a military hummer, but with a bench seat only along one side of the rear that can seat either two or three abreast, with leg-room and dedicated equipment storage across from that. Extra components (tools, spare tires and the like) would be mounted opposite that to balance the unloaded weight side-to-side, with loaded weight being sorted out seperately on a case-by-case basis. The bench seat would also serve to counter-balance my weight as the driver in the vehicle to begin with, actually.
The back 'door' I've decided is going to be rather unique, though. Nothing that fancy, actually. Just a roll-up panel door, like you'd find on a garage door, that has the track in the headliner. Something like a roll-up door but instead of the 'huge cylinder' that everything rolls into, it'll all just slide along a track.
Rollcages.
Date: 2005-03-03 04:26 am (UTC)However, I'm wondering if you're over-thinking your design. Think of a Jeep CJ, and it's minimal but effective rollbar design. Maybe something simple will do the job?
Re: Rollcages.
Date: 2005-03-03 04:34 am (UTC)The primary safety is provided by the rear roll bar-like assembly though, which I like. :-)
And yes, I'll admit I'm over-thinking things, and if I have a cop ever look at my next car when I'm done, they're likely to think I'm getting ready to ram and rob a bank or something, from how custom the body is going to look.
That, and I want a car that's obviously very customized, but even more importantly is about as anti-ricer as can be imagined. Ricers try to look 'street' by leaving things like the main body shape and doors relatively untouched, but claim they look 'okay' with contour-breaking things like spoilers and similair installed. Slide-away and roll-up doors are honest, these were done for a reason by the owner, with no pretentions that this is a remotely-stock car anymore.
Yes, I may have to memorize large sections of the CVC and quote them as well as carry copies of it in the car with me whenever I'm pulled over, but that's fine with me. I can live with that quite easilly. =^.^=
Re: Rollcages.
Date: 2005-03-03 11:05 am (UTC)Re: Rollcages.
Date: 2005-03-03 01:22 pm (UTC)Where it wouldn't make much sense would be in a car like mine (I drive a 2003 Crown Vic that was once a cop car) where the car is already very difficult to roll over due to being so wide and is already reinforced body on frame construction. But then I already get not so great gas miliage (25 highway, 17 city) though I do far better than most people in SUV's. I live out where gas is relatively cheap, so this was an option for me.
So yeah, these days you generally have to sacrifice some economy for safety sadly. But I think adding a roll cage won't hurt him too badly. It might keep the car from caving in while rolling, but I don't know if it would have done much when he hit that truck sideways.
Wolfwings, you get any research on how much punishment one of these takes before they buckle? Just curious.
Re: Rollcages.
Date: 2005-03-03 04:14 pm (UTC)And no real research yet, but from what few figures I've been able to look up on tubular steel and aluminum of the stated thicknesses and tubular sizes as those rollcages, my car should be able to drop 10-15 feet onto concrete roof-first indefinately without any real harm to the rollcage. =^.^=
And just for the record for everyone, after everything is said and done... I should be making about 55mpg or better, perhaps as high as 60-65mpg with the vehicle. Right now a Civic of comperable year can easilly get 40mpg, and some models can already get 50mpg without any real changes at all. Between losing 30% of the weight off the car, and using a more modern engine, I think getting a 50% MPG increase is feasable. :-)
Re: Rollcages.
Date: 2005-03-03 04:09 pm (UTC)In all honesty, I'm still on target for ending up under 1000lbs, barely 70% of the 'stock car' weight, even with the full-blown 4544X rollcage. :-) When I go that route, I'm going to lose the roof anyways, and build a new framework over the rollcage, using thin sheet bolt-ons with padding on the inside, instead of having a heavilly reinforced roof AND a rollcage. So all-in-all, the rollcage will end up nearly-free for weight, especially since I'll be losing the heavy glazing windows in the rear at the same time.
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Date: 2005-03-03 05:06 am (UTC)BTW, I got a quick 3D of what I think can be done for a windshield, I'll upload it somewhere and post it on LJ...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-03-03 05:18 am (UTC)