Quality of Autopower rollcage kits

I have enough time sucks on my plate right now so I'm looking to hit the easy button a bit and get a rollcage kit rather than bend up my own. I can't hillclimb again without a cage because I was under breakout time too many times. I'm bad at sand bagging and I'm adding a lot more power to the car.

Autopower is a well-known name and their DOM sizing makes sense (some cage kits seem undersized).

Anyway, I'm wondering about the quality of these kits. I'm fine with tailoring things and customizing, but I don't want to be re-bending bars because they're way out of whack. That negates the time savings.

Thoughts?

The big thing I see with all of the bolt in kits for an FC is the place they land teh main hoop. I believe autopower lands the hoop on the floor boards behind teh drivers seat. A much better location that is stronger AND gives you more room is the "shelf" behind the floor.

I also had another issue with the autopower cage in my FC. The drivers side bar above / beside your head intrudes into your head space quite a bit. I tried to rearrange this bar the best I could. It still sucked!

Hope this helps!

There is another alternative. I think the name is roll cage components. If you take soem measurements and tell them what you want, they will do a pre-bent cage for you. I have heard good things about them.

Rob R.

I'm looking at the weld-in kit, which supposedly has enough extra material to allow for proper positioning. Your feedback is valuable though since we have the same platform.

Does Kirk make one for your car? His stuff fit our BMWs like a glove.

These guys? http://www.kirkracing.com/

The bolt together in my FB is crap. From where it hits the floor to how close it is to the shell for helmet clearance. There is nothing about the cage that I would design the way they did.

mazdeuce wrote: The bolt together in my FB is crap. From where it hits the floor to how close it is to the shell for helmet clearance. There is nothing about the cage that I would design the way they did.

From what I've seen in IT7 cars, that's common. I've yet to see a bolt in that looks right or fits particularly well in a first gen RX7.

Local guy is using one in his Miata. He had a slow roll in the car and it held up fine but the points about bars in not exactly perfect places are accurate.

I've seen one in a friend's ITE FD as well and it didn't look particularly robust. Owner had a local, well known shop fab a custom cage and the car was magically much stiffer - to the point where he had to decrease spring rate.

If you have budget, I'd highly recommend getting a local, experienced cage builder to add one for you. It's much better in the end. Out here, cages aren't that expensive for a simple chassis like the Miata or RX7.

Had one in a TR8 and one in a BMW 2002. Both came in cars I bought. Both left way too much space in gutted cars. I believe they were designed to fit in cars that still used an interior. The 2002, I could pass a tennis ball between the bars and the body just about everywhere. The TR8 cage flexed so badly, I raced that car exactly once before chopping it up to use as a parts car on a brand new build. Buy the DOM and throw a cage building party. I'm about to do the same on another TR8 race car cage build. In the long run you will be much happier. Only problem is this totally uncooperative weather. At least today was cold enough to chisel away a good amount of the sound deadening on the 8.

I bought a Autopower roll bar as a start on my first race car. I also bought a Mustang race car that had an Autopower bolt in roll cage. The comment that their roll bar/cages are designed mostly for install into cars that still have most of their stock interiors is accurate! If you are building a track/race only car then get a pre-bent and cut to fit kit or go custom. The main thing is to not place the main hoop on the floor without tying it into the rocker, better yet move it back so that is sits up where the rear seat was.

A stock Autopower roll bar will punch through the floor in a roll over if you use only the plates they provide.

Looks like I'm going to suck it up and break out the bender. Thanks for all the feedback guy. You likely saved me an even bigger headache.

I don't know if he makes kits, but I've always here good things about http://www.izzyscustomcages.com/.

Here is an FC from his site:

http://www.izzyscustomcages.com/FCRX7Cage2.html

Izzy makes great cages

DaveEstey wrote:

mazdeuce wrote: The bolt together in my FB is crap. From where it hits the floor to how close it is to the shell for helmet clearance. There is nothing about the cage that I would design the way they did.

From what I've seen in IT7 cars, that's common. I've yet to see a bolt in that looks right or fits particularly well in a first gen RX7.

Same with my first gen cage and since I've started building my own the design flaws of bolt ins have become much more apparent. I don't know about their weld ins, though. If you are thinking bolt in, seriously if you don't have time to build it yourself then save your nickels and dimes and have a pro cage built.

I think s&w has decent weld together stuff for the FC.

I was very happy with the Kirk weld in cage in my b13 se-r.

Another person who has had a good experience with a Kirk Racing weld in kit. We put one in our 85 Supra LeMons car. It was about the same price as just buying the raw material to fab the cage ourselves and the fit was actually really good (tight on the A and B pillars like it should be). It held the car together in a HARD hit in the rear (it broke most of the welds in the unibody behind the shock towers where the cage ties in).

If I was building another race car, I'd order another weld in kit from Kirk.