F150 Roll cage

Have Bill M. do a nice and simple Moly Cage, keep the leaves and stock suspension for now. Put some adjustable shock's and good wheels and tires and GO HAVE FUN.

Upgrade as you get the time and $$$$

Dougs Truck is a good example of evolution.............. He Started with nothing and has built a pretty damn nice truck along the way and I'm guessing it will keep evolving...... a Little nicer each season..... a little faster......

Oh ya,, I really want to go racing! Right now I wouldn't care if I was a blind, one legged man in a ass kicking contest.

Let me find that thread on yellowbullet for you. I want to say the shop doing the work was around Baton Rouge, LA, maybe Prairieville....


Also, PM "Blue Oval Forever" on here. Bobby is a friend of mine here locally. He also has a Gen 1 Lightning. And another friend of ours, Tim Palmisano, just did a CM cage for him. All custom bent too. Tim does good work. Not sure how far of a drive it is for you to come down here but it's another option. If anything get some pics from Bobby and get an idea of what you want.

jbozzelle wrote:Then cage it now. A good cage is worth it's weight in gold.

Just have Bill do something nice where the bars go through the window. Maybe go through the body above the window or have him trim the bar in sheetmetal and then notch the glass...

A cage is not only a required safety device, but also is a chassis stiffening and tuning device. Once you get this thing running you don't want to wear the motor out trying to get the truck to go down the track or even hook. Get it done now and decide how fast you eventually want to go also. Plan it out and stick with it. Once the cage and suspension is ironed out and in place you will be able to add more power to the truck and it willl handle it. Here is the link to my build........... take in mind that it has been 4 years now but I am still on track and doing everything myself except for the paint and body work....

http://www.429-460.com/proven-builds-f4/galaxie-build-lots-of-pics-update-june-28-t2619.htm

Oh and by the way thanks for selling me your nice D3 cylinder heads. They are going to work gret on my tow build.

Travis

Travis,
Your build is awsome and orderly where I have stuff scattered every where. I just try to do something everytime I go out there. I guess that's how I end-up with 6 things started and one finished.

I'm glad you like the heads, and sorry about the Duck Tape! I didn't want the card board to come loose or off. The guy asked me when I shipped them off how I was expecting you to open it. I told him hopefully with a very sharp knife, it's cast iron it won't hurt!

The trick to looking orderly is straighten up before you take ay pictures .............. I really am no more organized than anyone else. 40 things tore apart and 50 things to do yet I know where you are at. I have been 4 years now.

Travis

If your shooting for just the NHRA absolute bare minimum "rule book" roll cage specs why not save some money & go with mild steel vs 'moly. And don't forget that the NHRA rule book minimum cage specs DON'T apply to the passenger side door bars or rocker bars (if used). So if your cage is going to use them you can make them out of whatever OD & wall thickness tubing you want.

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:If your shooting for just the NHRA absolute bare minimum "rule book" roll cage specs why not save some money & go with mild steel vs 'moly. And don't forget that the NHRA rule book minimum cage specs DON'T apply to the passenger side door bars or rocker bars (if used). So if your cage is going to use them you can make them out of whatever OD & wall thickness tubing you want.

Really, I never knew that.

If your going to do the cage, Build it to NHRA spec and IMO the Moly is a good idea if you want to save a little weight. A few Extra bars doesn't hurt......

Build it so it can be or will be certified, it will be easier to sell later if you get tired of it and want to ditch it.

jones wrote:

DILLIGASDAVE wrote:If your shooting for just the NHRA absolute bare minimum "rule book" roll cage specs why not save some money & go with mild steel vs 'moly. And don't forget that the NHRA rule book minimum cage specs DON'T apply to the passenger side door bars or rocker bars (if used). So if your cage is going to use them you can make them out of whatever OD & wall thickness tubing you want.

Really, I never knew that.

Yep, for years the way I read the rule book I always assumed I was right on this but wasn't 100% sure. Then the subject came up again a while back so I emailed NHRA tech and according to NHRA's Pat Cvengros (Technical Services Representative) the passenger side door bar & rocker bar are in fact not a required part of the roll cage to be "rule book" legal (probably the reason the rule book diagram always shows the driver side of the cage). So these 2 passenger side bars can be made of any size/wall tubing you want.........and/or even left out if you want (but it makes sense to me to always use them even if smaller/thinner tubing is used).

Bill said from some of his figuring, going with CM would save me 75-80lbs over MS. If I compare the cost to weight savings It would be hard to find another 75lbs in that price range. (other than removing sheetmetal) Is my logic correct?

Hey Jones I mite get flamed on this but its the way I think. Do you ever plan on running in the 7.499999 in the 1/4 if not go MS just do a NHRA cage and get to work and get the truck done. If you are looking at going faster the 7.49999 then go CM you can tied up in this real fast make it fun not a job . Jason

Northwest outlaw wrote:.......Do you ever plan on running in the 7.499999 in the 1/4 if not go MS just do a NHRA cage......

You mean 8.499999 right?

jones wrote:...going with CM would save me 75-80lbs over MS....

That might be hard to say. I know that in their older catalog Chassis Engineering said that with their SFI legal full chassis there was about a 100lb difference between ms & cm. But even that number might be a little misleading because even though "SFI" legal is going to have more bars, they are allowed to use a thinner wall in many areas.

So the weight difference between ms & cm on a simpler NHRA/IHRA cage using the minimum number of required bars might be a decent amount less than 75-80 pounds. Just depends on how tight the cage is fit (a tighter fitting cage will use up a little more tubing length), & how much "extra" secondary tubing (such as diagonal bars/"X" bars) is added.

man what was i thinking your right 8.4999 working on the car and a truck i had a brain fart