Mad
Well-Known Member
I decided to have a go at fitting my Cusco (I think) 6 point bolt in roll cage at the weekend so thought I would post up some basic instructions on the forum -
Time - Circa 4 hours
Fitting - 1 to 2 people
Parts
1 Centre bar
2 side Rear bars
2 side Front bars
1 Front crossover bar
20 bolts, washers and nuts to fit to the floor plan
6 rounded end bolts and nuts to join bars
1 - Put the roll cage together outside the car so you can get an idea of how it will fit (not essential)
2 - Remove as much as your interior as you can as it makes it a lot easier to fit and install the cage. My rear seats were already removed so I moved the front seats, seatbelts, gear knob, centre console (around the gearstick) basically as much as you can. The cage fits better with carpet removed as well but this is not essential and you can overcome this later. I would also recommend removing your inside mirror for the time being. You will also have to take off your sun visors as these will not fit after fitting.
3 - Next step is to move the centre section into the car. This is a little tricky as as far as I know, it only goes in 1 way, which is through the passenger door. Maneuver the centre section with the top of it airming towards the back of the car, flat and the legs aiming towards the front of the car. Slowly move the centre section upwards so it sits nicely in the middle of the car, behind the front seats before where the floor plan rises. This should sit nicely in there for the time being. If you go in feet first into the car, when you try to bring the top of the bar up, it hits the roof.
4 - Now time to install the side bars, front and rear. It does not matter in what order this is done. Loosely bolt the connecting bolts and nuts so that there is a bit of play in the cage but they wont fall and hit you on the head.
5 - Next step is to fit the front crossover bar to the drivers side. Dont tighten it fully just yet. I would now recommend fitting your inside mirror, placing your crossover bar on the dashboard. Once the inside mirror is fitted, bolt the passenger side of the crossover bar up.
6 - Tighten all of your nuts and bolts holding the bars together.
7 - Once your roll cage is in, move the legs around so that you find the best position for bolting it to the floor plan.
8 - I found the glove box would not open easy as the cage was in the way so I put a split in the carpet in the drivers side front to move over the bar as far as I could. This works well and I can now open the glove box.
9 - Once you have the cage lined up, its time to drill the holes through the floor plan. I started with the passenger side front first, moving it as forward and wide as I could.
10 - Now you have drilled your first holes (there are 3 for this mount) put the bolts through, using a washer on both sides and mount the mounting plate from underneath the car. This can be a bit tricky as one of the bolts from inside the car has to go in at a difficult angle (unless you have removed the whole dashboard). If struggling with this, use a smaller bolt.
11 - Move onto the drivers side and repeat process 10.
12 - Now you can drill the holes for the centre section (3 holes again). This is much easier. Bring the centre section as far back as you can.
13 - Next is to fit the rear bars. These come with 4 bolts and fit at the rear of the car. My advise on this is alighn them up straight with the centre bars as I found that the mounting brackets underneath have limited space and can be tricky to fix underneath. Again, if you struggle to fit, you may want to use 1 smaller bolt although I would always recommend using the largest ones possible.
14 - Make sure all your bolts are still tight.
15 - Put your interior back together and now time for the test drive.
The Test Drive
The first thing I noticed was that the car felt a lot more stable under braking. It was quite noticeable as the car had a tendency to pull to one side upon heavy braking but the roll cage had almost eliminated this.
The second thing I found was that when cornering, I could feel exactly what the car was doing and had a lot more control and understanding of the car and I could now push the car harder as I knew where the limit was.
Conclusion
A full weld in roll cage is always going to be better but my first experience with a bolt in cage was that I was very impressed and have noticed a substantial difference in handling. I am now able to brake later with confidence and I have more control of the car when cornering so a well worthy investment.
Time - Circa 4 hours
Fitting - 1 to 2 people
Parts
1 Centre bar
2 side Rear bars
2 side Front bars
1 Front crossover bar
20 bolts, washers and nuts to fit to the floor plan
6 rounded end bolts and nuts to join bars
1 - Put the roll cage together outside the car so you can get an idea of how it will fit (not essential)
2 - Remove as much as your interior as you can as it makes it a lot easier to fit and install the cage. My rear seats were already removed so I moved the front seats, seatbelts, gear knob, centre console (around the gearstick) basically as much as you can. The cage fits better with carpet removed as well but this is not essential and you can overcome this later. I would also recommend removing your inside mirror for the time being. You will also have to take off your sun visors as these will not fit after fitting.
3 - Next step is to move the centre section into the car. This is a little tricky as as far as I know, it only goes in 1 way, which is through the passenger door. Maneuver the centre section with the top of it airming towards the back of the car, flat and the legs aiming towards the front of the car. Slowly move the centre section upwards so it sits nicely in the middle of the car, behind the front seats before where the floor plan rises. This should sit nicely in there for the time being. If you go in feet first into the car, when you try to bring the top of the bar up, it hits the roof.
4 - Now time to install the side bars, front and rear. It does not matter in what order this is done. Loosely bolt the connecting bolts and nuts so that there is a bit of play in the cage but they wont fall and hit you on the head.
5 - Next step is to fit the front crossover bar to the drivers side. Dont tighten it fully just yet. I would now recommend fitting your inside mirror, placing your crossover bar on the dashboard. Once the inside mirror is fitted, bolt the passenger side of the crossover bar up.
6 - Tighten all of your nuts and bolts holding the bars together.
7 - Once your roll cage is in, move the legs around so that you find the best position for bolting it to the floor plan.
8 - I found the glove box would not open easy as the cage was in the way so I put a split in the carpet in the drivers side front to move over the bar as far as I could. This works well and I can now open the glove box.
9 - Once you have the cage lined up, its time to drill the holes through the floor plan. I started with the passenger side front first, moving it as forward and wide as I could.
10 - Now you have drilled your first holes (there are 3 for this mount) put the bolts through, using a washer on both sides and mount the mounting plate from underneath the car. This can be a bit tricky as one of the bolts from inside the car has to go in at a difficult angle (unless you have removed the whole dashboard). If struggling with this, use a smaller bolt.
11 - Move onto the drivers side and repeat process 10.
12 - Now you can drill the holes for the centre section (3 holes again). This is much easier. Bring the centre section as far back as you can.
13 - Next is to fit the rear bars. These come with 4 bolts and fit at the rear of the car. My advise on this is alighn them up straight with the centre bars as I found that the mounting brackets underneath have limited space and can be tricky to fix underneath. Again, if you struggle to fit, you may want to use 1 smaller bolt although I would always recommend using the largest ones possible.
14 - Make sure all your bolts are still tight.
15 - Put your interior back together and now time for the test drive.
The Test Drive
The first thing I noticed was that the car felt a lot more stable under braking. It was quite noticeable as the car had a tendency to pull to one side upon heavy braking but the roll cage had almost eliminated this.
The second thing I found was that when cornering, I could feel exactly what the car was doing and had a lot more control and understanding of the car and I could now push the car harder as I knew where the limit was.
Conclusion
A full weld in roll cage is always going to be better but my first experience with a bolt in cage was that I was very impressed and have noticed a substantial difference in handling. I am now able to brake later with confidence and I have more control of the car when cornering so a well worthy investment.