This is mostly for anyone who is a 70-74 'Cuda owner and possibly Challenger owners who want to race their car on a limited basis. I will not imply that this is as strong or as safe as WELD IN roll over protection!
First off, I will tell you why I started looking around for bolt in cages/ roll bars. I have thrown a lot of performance parts at my car to include suspension and engine upgrades and thought what fun it would be to go to a track day a couple of times a year. I'm building my car to perform above stock levels and want to test the car on more than public roads. I do, however, plan on hauling my wife and kid around to the occasional show and cruises 99% of the time. As you know, hauling people around in a car with a cage is dangerous unless you strap them in with harnesses and put helmets on all occupants. What fun is that?
I am envious of the Mustang and Camaro guys who have bolt-in cages because they have the ability to purchase these products and have viable protection for track days and auto-crosses but still have the ability to bolt in a cage in about an hour and have not only SOME degree of protection when they want to let it all hang out on a closed track but they have the freedom of knowing their passengers won't bonk their noggins when driving them around because they can take the cage out for general hotrodding duties on the street by removing the cage.
Bonuses of a bolt-in cage are chassis stiffening and and added level of safety. As I mentioned before, it is not safe to run a cage in a car that you are using as a people mover. You chose when to use it!
Bolt-in cages meet the needs above without committing you car, with a weld-in cage, to the permanence. While weld-in cages are the highest level of protection in racing they do you no good on the street because they can be DANGEROUS!
It all depends on what you want to do with the car and YOUR judgment calls. If you race your car more than you drive it on the street I do recommend locating a reputable cage builder. For the rest of us, how do we solve the problem of having your cake and eating it too? Why, a bolt-in cage, of course.
I was searching for a company that provided for my needs. Sadly, I found none. I did, however, find a company that built bolt-in and weld-in cages for Camaros, Mustangs, Spec-Miatas, etc. I talked to them on the phone and they told me they didn't plan on building them for 'Cudas because there just wasn't the demand. It's true to some degree. There were more Camaro production than 'Cudas so the number of performance enthusiasts with those other models are greater than our numbers but we're still out here. I was able to convince them that there ARE some of us out there and if we demanded it he said he would build them.
So, here I am, trying to gauge the interest in the Mopar realm for bolt-in cages. The company is a reputable cage bulider in my area of Southern California and has gotten the approval from racing organizations, NASA and SCCA, for their cages. These are approved for racing! I will drop my car off for fitments so that they can replicate the cages for production, IF there is a big enough interest. If I can get enough people we can bring this to market.
We always complain, as corner carving enthusiasts, that there isn't as much aftermarket support for our cars. We, in the Mopar world, are known, mostly, as numbers guys. A lot of Mopar owners are content with rebuilding their cars and simply cruising them. Now, there are a lot of Mopar racers out there but racers usually use that car for mostly racing and opt for weld-in, custom built, cages. There just aren't as many 'Cuda owners that desire the duality of a Pro-Touring type of car like so many Camaro owners. I want to aid, not only myself, but those of you who really want to flog your car on the track with our street machines. Let's get this started. It will take public demand to get the aftermarket world to bring these products to the catalog of performance equipment.
Building a bolt-in cage yourself will require skills we may not posses so going with a company that already has garnered racing organizations approval makes perfect sense. The company I'm speaking of is Autopower Industries,
http://www.autopowerindustries.com/Take a look at their inventory. If you like what you see, in what they offer for Camaros and Mustangs, then get back to me. We can leverage our numbers and force this into market. I want a cage but if you are interested in just a roll bar that can be done as well. If I take my car into them they will fit the car with all the products they want to offer to the market, provided there is a market for these.
Remember, I am not saying this is equal to a custom built weld-in unit. I don't want it to be because it wouldn't, then, meet my needs. This is for people that have “street cars” that don't want the permanence of a weld-in but don't want to have a roof coming in on them, un-impeded, in the case of an on-track accident. I want some level of protection but don't want to subject my passengers to the dangers of riding in a car, with a cage, on the street. Even cages with padding can be dangerous without a helmet! It all depends on the needs of you and your car. My needs do not dictate a full time cage. With two track days a year I do not want to commit to the maximum level of TRACK safety because, overall, it wouldn't be very safe 95% of the uses of the car.
So, if you are interested, look at the products Autopower has for other makes and models. If you like what you see, we 'Cuda owners can have the same. Look at the prices, discuss it with your banker (mine is my wife), discuss it in this thread and let's get some aftermarket support for this product!
I am posting this on several websites where I know 'Cuda and Challenger owners hang out so if you have questions that aren't met in this discussion please feel free to email me at
BSL2SD3@gmail.com I may not be able to keep up with the discussion in the four forums I am posting this in. I told Autopower that I was going to charge into this and try to get some commitment from E-body owners. These are NASA and SCCA approved and it is a reality in getting this done if they can sell enough.
We may even get a break on pricing if there is an initial group order. Once they create the jigs production will move right along, swiftly. They do a lot of business and have name behind them. I visited their facility and it is not just some guy wanting to rush into business and get a bunch of pre-orders. We have to show them that we are demanding this. Again, he thought it would be hard to get E-body owners to bite. Google them, find owners with their products, research them by all means. I have and I'm excited to get these products into the aftermarket that the “other” guys are enjoying.
Again, comparable products to this potential one can be seen at
http://www.autopowerindustries.com/Again, my email is
BSL2SD3@gmail.com if you want to get on the list early and make a push toward development of a viable safety product.
-John
Admin, please move this to the appropriate area if it is not warranted for general discussion.
